How do you study?

Tommy1995

So I'm currently in my last year of high school and I just completed my biology exam and I did quite poorly in it.. But the thing is I studied really hard for it, spent like an hour and a half every day before the exam (2 weeks). The way that I studied for that test however was by writing out heaps of notes. I pretty much kept repeating a constant cycle of writing the same thing over and over again... However, many of my other peers barely studied that much for the exam and they aced it.

So how do you guys study for science and how useful is it?

vincent_vega

sounds like you just had a bad test, happens to everyone. I usually review course notes and then work as many problems that I can find solutions for (this obviously doesn't apply to biology).

Woopydalan

Well, you know the difference between ''quasi knowing'' and really knowing the material stone cold? A's reflect knowing the material stone cold, where the rate determining step to answering a question is writing down your answer.

tahayassen

Tommy1995, check out Cal Newport's books.

Tommy1995

Hmm just looked at the reviews... seems useful but I can't find it in any of my libraries or book stores, not even sydney university library has it LOL, you rekkon you could gimme a brief summary of his guide? :D

dustbin

Just read Cal Newport's blog. I didn't find anything in his books that differed significantly from his blog material.

kinof

I've never taken a serious biology class before, but I know that for physics and math you really just need to do a ton of problems. I've seen lots of people try to sell special techniques and "hacks," and these can work, but if you haven't done the work you can't truly expect to know the material.

Synchronised

Just read the textbook then make detailed notes like these http://www.mediafire.com/view/?yc1y3ja4p43tmfk
My physics teacher convinced me to drop biology though, he believes that bio isn't a real science, only physics is haha and i never enjoyed bio tbh
anyway, i find this to be the best way to study science, get ur syllabus, make detailed notes like in the link, then do practice question. Learn the theory then apply it, basically.

Tommy1995

Damn straight holmes!~
daaaammn straight.

Dembadon

Seriously? Biologists just make it up as they go along, right?

My advice is to disregard egotistical rubbish. It's unbecoming of an educator, especially in science.

How to study (from a physics and mathematics perspective):

- Consider the homework the bare minimum. You should work as many problems from relevant sections as you have time for. I'd spend at least an hour a night working problems from the current section being studied.

- Take the mistakes you make on homework and exams to a TA or professor and have them show you where you went wrong if you weren't able to figure it out for yourself. Then go to the corresponding sections in your textbook and work relevant problems, again.

bp_psy

Considering that biophysics is one of the most active fields of physics research at the moment. I think you should stop listening to your teacher. A good quantitative biology course should be a requirement for any science degree.

micromass

Very true!! Biology is as much of science than physics. It may very well be that you don't like biology very much. But to say that it is not as much of a science as physics is rubbish. I am appalled that a teacher makes such statements!

Synchronised

My biology teacher and physics teacher have these kinds of discussion all the time :)

tahayassen

For some reason, I think your physics teacher is joking.