study?

Jimlad

Hello,
Im planning on starting study after Christmas for my Jc, as much as i can, any advice?

Second of all, im not to sure how to study..anyone help me?
Thanks

Indiego

Everyone's different when it comes to studying, and different methods work for different people depending on what way you learn best. But I did my JC last year so I'll give you my two cents

Firstly, If you're saying you're going to start after Christmas, set a date, and start on. that. day. because if you don't you'll just keep putting it off
But that doesn't mean you have to be doing 6 hours of non stop study everyday, that's not realistic, and 'cmon, if you do that after a week you're going to have lost the will to live :pac:

So what I'd recommend is to start off small, maybe do a half an hour of revision of something you find difficult ontop of you're homework, and work it up from there in the next few months, even knowing that you've done that little bit more will really put you at ease when it gets closer to the exams.

What I did last year was go through all of my books contents pages and wrote down any chapters that I really struggled to understand, and in the case of languages like irish I split the subject into 6 'chapters' - Verbs, Vocab, Reading, Listening, Grammar and Writing, and picked out the ones I found hardest.
Then every day I'd pick one of the hard topics and go through it and write out notes picking out the main points and then I read through it again and then went through the exam papers and picked out a few questions to do.
Once I had tackled all the things I struggled with I moved onto the things I found the next hardest, and so on until I had covered all the courses.

Something I think is really important is having realistic goals when you start an evenings study, you finish up feeling like you have accomplished something rather than feeling dread at all the other stuff you still have to do.

Exam papers are also your best friend, especially in Maths imo. What I did, rather than go year by year, was go question by question, and by doing this I noticed any repeditiveness in the way questions are asked or topics.
In maths just pick a question, and do as many as you can, look at the marking schemes to help, but only when you've attempted the question to the best of your ability! I definitley think this helped, the questions are actually very repeditive, they tend to ask basically the same questions but maybe jumbled around or with a little extra thrown in

So really to sum it up:
Exam papers. Goals. Tackle the course a little bit at a time rather than all at once. Start with what you find hardest. Dont put it off, you'll only be kicking yourself in June when it sneaks up on you


Thats pretty long, sorry

Jimlad

Thanks for that..
ill set my self a goal and follow the steps..
studying for me is a struggle so i will start of small, get into a habbit ans work my way up..

I hope it pays off next summer!
Thanks!:D

spurious

The more you listen properly in class and the better you do your homework, the less study you will need.

shadowninty

A great way to study is to write things out after repeating them - try to do it without looking at the text. I've crap concentration (and interest all too often ), but thi gives me set targets and makes me less likely to start staring out the windows. Works fantastic for me with history, as well as chemistry definitions. As for how much you need, dont worry much at the moment, just make sure you do your homework fully and properly evry night, and maybe do some exam paper questions in subjects your weak in.

bluejay14

I'm gonna echo the thing about listening in class and making sure that you do your homework.

From doing the JC 2 years ago I can remember how much paying attention in class actually helps towards learning stuff and remembering it later on. It was weird actually how when I was revising some of the stuff I could practically hear the teachers voice in my head in the exact way they said it during the class that we learned it in or some little comment that they made about it.

With regards to doing your homework it's farily essential that you do it. Even if you can't complete the question aka maths, at least have a try at it. Then the next day ask the teacher to go throught the questions that you got wrong ti check where you went wrong, make sure you can really understand what you've done wrong and write down the correct solution/answer. The that night, it may seem kinda stupid, but try the question again from the start without looking back at the correct method/answer and see how far you can get without getting stuck and if you do then look at the correction and maybe a few days late rgo back and do the question again and try it again every few days/weeks to make sure tat you can do it. Try similar questions from your book etc. to see if you can do them.

As for me studying, I was never one for making goals, still amn't. The closest that I got to goals was writing out all the chapters for a particular subject and then crossing them out when I'd learned and than revised them. It was kinda satisfactory to see the lis slowly getting smaller and seeing whole sections soon crossed off. But of goal settig works for you, definately go for it. At least try it for a while.

Another thing I was never good at was sticking to a study timetable. I was the whole timerearranging it to suit what mod I was in so I'd end up having a week of solid religion study or something depressing like that. But if you do go for a study timetable I'd say don't make it too eager just 2 subjects a day or an evening or whatever. Pair up a subject that you find easy and one that you enjoy woth one that you find difficult or absolutely hate. Stick to it no matter what (don't follow my example!)

Like everyone else has said aswell, don't go mad with the study thinking that you have to get everything done as soon as possible. Start off slow with half an hour a night and then build up until the exams. You've still got more than enough time to get everything covered more than monce. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.

Jimlad

thanks all and bluejaymraz for posts!

Yeah I think i should make a timetable and stick to it much as possible...I wouldnt be the type of person to stick at studying find it hard, but i shall do homework correct and start studying a half hour and build up..

English is very difficult in a sense writing about the play i have studied.. trying to layout the answer correctly is the most difficult, but i will crack it some day!