Effective Studying

M4573R

Hi all
I was just wondering has anyone got any good study tips for someone doing all higher subjects, I am studying now its just that I feel that I am not getting enough in or just being really ineffective.
My main method of study for most subjects is by just doing exam papers but I don't feel that it works all that good. Is there any other methods of study that you guys recommend? I've gotten those "less stress for more success" books but I don't think there all that good.

Thanks

keith16

Hello M4573R

Without knowing the specific subjects, I found reading aloud the material to learn really helped me.

Particularly for subjects like History, Geography or Biology where you have to learn long sections.

Read it out loud like a story. A story that you are practicing to tell someone (imagine talking to the person without the book - and coming across like you are an expert - read it aloud like you are explaining it to someone).

Sounds ridiculous and may not work. But worth a try if you are not finding the conventional means working for you.

Also, have a one page sheet for each subject with the course outline in it (or the exam outline with the questions you need to know under each section).

Once you feel comfortable with a section - highlight it green, yellow for areas you need to work on. Good tool for focusing.

M4573R

keith16 wrote: »

Hello M4573R

Without knowing the specific subjects, I found reading aloud the material to learn really helped me.

Particularly for subjects like History, Geography or Biology where you have to learn long sections.

Read it out loud like a story. A story that you are practicing to tell someone (imagine talking to the person without the book - and coming across like you are an expert - read it aloud like you are explaining it to someone).

Sounds ridiculous and may not work. But worth a try if you are not finding the conventional means working for you.

Also, have a one page sheet for each subject with the course outline in it (or the exam outline with the questions you need to know under each section).

Once you feel comfortable with a section - highlight it green, yellow for areas you need to work on. Good tool for focusing.

Thanks for the tips, I actually do History and Biology so i'll give these tips a go.

keith16

For Biology practice on the short questions is yer only man. Learn from the ones you get wrong. Also have a good look at results and marks you get from in class tests. Go through each question when you get it back - don't just look at the top line result and forget about it. Learn from your mistakes.

For long Biology questions, practice makes perfect. Things like the nitrogen cycle and photosynthesis can be really long winded and it can be easy to get bogged down in topics like those. Break them down into bite size chunks.

M4573R

Thanks again!

thelad95

If you just do exam questions, you won't get the whole course covered. They are trying to make exam papers less predictable so basing your study only on what's come up in the past is a dangerous tactic. In saying that Exam papers are an integral part of study, just not on their

Different people have different methods and there is no 'right' method. People could probably offer more specific advice if we knew your subjects?

spurious

thelad95 wrote: »

Different people have different methods and there is no 'right' method.

This. The OP needs to find what works for him/her.
One method being a fantastic help for one person means nothing in relation to another person.

M4573R

Sorry I didn't post my subjects earlier
Maths
Irish
English
Physics
Biology
DCG
History

Thanks for the replies.

thelad95

For History, don't learn off essays learn off topics and put the information together yourself on the day. For me, the best way was to flashcard every single aspect of every single topic. For example, write Propaganda in Nazi Germany and on the other side write all the information to do with that. May not work for you though. (Also, I may not be the best person to take history advice off. I studied like mad for it, got a C3 and never want to see the subject again. Complete torture IMO)

For Biology, take one chapter at a time and break it down as much as you can. Be specific in your aims as well. Don't say 'I'm going to study plant reproduction' in Biology and glimpse through all 30 odd pages in your textbook. Instead, say 'I'm going to learn seed dispersal, seed dormancy and adaptations of wind-dispersed animals'. You still have plenty of time so if you split long chapters up like this it will become a lot easier.

For English, don't spend all your time on Paper 2 and say 'sure paper 1 is just on the day' because it's not. Practice comprehensions and B parts and most importantly choose 1 of the 100 mark essay types, perfect it by practice and answer that on the day. Don't learn off an A1 short story to reproduce on the day, examiners can see right through it, and although it's not cheating, their impression of you will immediately lower. For paper 2, know all characters in your single text (presumably Macbeth?) as a character question always comes up. For the Comparative, if you practice every exam question going back through your exam papers, you will have it mostly sorted as they essentially ask the same questions every year with a slightly different angle taken. Also if you are stuck on the day in the Comparative for a few quotes or references to the text, chance your arm slightly. Whereas if you made up quotes for Macbeth, they would spot it immediately but there are something like 40 possible comparative texts they won't know every single one inside out like they would for Macbeth (ONLY USE THIS AS A LAST RESORT THOUGH!!):rolleyes:

For Maths, there is only one way to learn and that is practice. However be specific in what you're doing again. A lot of people will open their Maths papers on page 1, flick through about 40 pages, realise they can't do anything and give up. Revise a topic in your book first, look at the examples, try to write out the solutions to the examples without looking try a couple of questions in your book and then go to exam papers on that topic.