How can I increase my scores in my studies?

[Frigus]

I am very irritated by remaining at one level,
Since this year I am not able to get better at studies like continuously I am getting exactly same marks with few numbers up and down for example in my last test I got 586 out of 720 and in second last I got 585 out of 720,

I feel like whenever work compiles I try hard to complete work and when I have achieved a certain amount of work then I start getting slow,this happens each and every day,I want to get out of this and become better.
☹

 

[fresh_42]

Are we talking about school or university? And which classes?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Here's a past message.

Hemant, let me give you two pieces of advice I gave you before.
You've disregarded both, and now you're unhappy. I think if you were to take this advice seriously, you'd be happier.

And the two pieces:

Hemant, you are replying immediately to the messages you get, I think you will have a better outcome if you think about what people say before responding - it can take a few moments.

If you want to understand physics, you need to put more effort in.

and this:

you are wasting the time of the people trying to help you as well as your own by not thinking about the answers you are getting. How do I know this? Because your responses occur only minutes after someone else's post. You're not leaving enough time to think about it - and you just turn around and demand answers.

I don't think this is the first time this has been pointed out to you.

If you don't understand something, think about it. If you still don't understand, think some more. If you still don't understand, write a carefully composed message showing you have thought about it and discussing exactly what you don't understand. Don't just demand answers of us.

You keep being told what you need to do, you keep not doing it, and you keep being unhappy with the outcome. Asking yet again won't get you a different answer.

 

[Frigus]

Here's a past message.
And the two pieces:and this:
You keep being told what you need to do, you keep not doing it, and you keep being unhappy with the outcome. Asking yet again won't get you a different answer.

I personally feel that I am now doing these things less that you have mentioned and I am still trying to overcome these mistakes.
Thanks for figuring out my mistakes and helping me.

Are we talking about school or university? And which classes?

I am preparing for an competitive exam i.e NEET

 

[fresh_42]

What always helps: Try to explain what you want to understand. This shows you the gaps. Then think about these gaps until you can fill them.

 

[Frigus]

What always helps: Try to explain what you want to understand. This shows you the gaps. Then think about these gaps until you can fill them.

Thanks,
I will try it and will tell you how it worked for me.

 

[Choppy]

Some tips to help preparing for an exam...

• Consider how much time you're putting in. Does your performance increase if you put in more time?
• How often do you take breaks? And what do you do for those breaks? Are you able to concentrate more if you take more frequent breaks?
• Environment. Are you able to concentrate when and where you study? Does music help or hinder you? How often are you distracted?
• How many people have you talked to who have been successful on this exam? What advice to they have? Do you have any teachers who've successfully mentored people through this exam?
• Study technique. How closely does your approach to studying mimic the exam situation? Are you just reading or are you solving problems? If you are solving problems, what kind of feedback mechanism do you have? How do you know if you're practicing the right or wrong way of approaching a problem?
• Exam strategies. Are you nervous for these exams? What are you doing to help calm yourself and focus?
  What problems are you spending the most time on? Do you go in with a plan of attack, or do you wing it?
• Self-care. Before anything else make sure that you're getting adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise and some positive socialization. If you're hitting the books all lethargic, tired, or desperate just to chat with some friends you're not going to be all that productive.

 

[Frigus]

Some tips to help preparing for an exam...

• Consider how much time you're putting in. Does your performance increase if you put in more time?
• How often do you take breaks? And what do you do for those breaks? Are you able to concentrate more if you take more frequent breaks?
• Environment. Are you able to concentrate when and where you study? Does music help or hinder you? How often are you distracted?
• How many people have you talked to who have been successful on this exam? What advice to they have? Do you have any teachers who've successfully mentored people through this exam?
• Study technique. How closely does your approach to studying mimic the exam situation? Are you just reading or are you solving problems? If you are solving problems, what kind of feedback mechanism do you have? How do you know if you're practicing the right or wrong way of approaching a problem?
• Exam strategies. Are you nervous for these exams? What are you doing to help calm yourself and focus?
  What problems are you spending the most time on? Do you go in with a plan of attack, or do you wing it?
• Self-care. Before anything else make sure that you're getting adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise and some positive socialization. If you're hitting the books all lethargic, tired, or desperate just to chat with some friends you're not going to be all that productive.

Thanks for giving me these tips,
From now onwards I will try to figure out if I have any of these hurdles but problem I am feeling now is that my brain somehow has sticked to a particular level that is it is neither going downwards nor upwards like whenever I have a lot of time to study then material doesn't seems interesting so i can't study with full concentration but when time is less then I find it very interesting and I start studying at much faster rate.
I know it sounds stupid but I feel it.

 

[Choppy]

Thanks for giving me these tips,
From now onwards I will try to figure out if I have any of these hurdles but problem I am feeling now is that my brain somehow has sticked to a particular level that is it is neither going downwards nor upwards like whenever I have a lot of time to study then material doesn't seems interesting so i can't study with full concentration but when time is less then I find it very interesting and I start studying at much faster rate.
I know it sounds stupid but I feel it.

Sometimes that happens because you're tired - either physically in need of sleep, or because you haven't been giving yourself enough down time. What can happen is that when you have a long period of time to study, your mind wanders and it's only when the stress of a time crunch forces you to focus that you're productive.

Other times it can be almost the opposite. These days with video on demand, video games, social media constantly begging for attention etc. it's easy to get so over-stimulated that when you have quiet time your brain actually craves the constant stimulus.

The solution to this is, generally speaking, to make a habit of doing some calming activities in your down time. Go for walks or runs, read up on things that interest you, draw, paint, knit, etc. Then when you have an opportunity to study, you can lock into it faster and for longer.

You might also try different approaches to your studies. Often when you reach a plateau it's because that's the level that your current studying methodology will alloy you to reach and you need to try something different.

And one other idea is to find some people who have similar goals. If there are others who are performing better than you, you could try spending some time with them and figuring out what it is they do differently. It doesn't always work--some people are just plain smart cookies--but sometimes you can pick up some tips that raise your game.

 

[Frigus]

Sometimes that happens because you're tired - either physically in need of sleep, or because you haven't been giving yourself enough down time. What can happen is that when you have a long period of time to study, your mind wanders and it's only when the stress of a time crunch forces you to focus that you're productive.

Other times it can be almost the opposite. These days with video on demand, video games, social media constantly begging for attention etc. it's easy to get so over-stimulated that when you have quiet time your brain actually craves the constant stimulus.

The solution to this is, generally speaking, to make a habit of doing some calming activities in your down time. Go for walks or runs, read up on things that interest you, draw, paint, knit, etc. Then when you have an opportunity to study, you can lock into it faster and for longer.

You might also try different approaches to your studies. Often when you reach a plateau it's because that's the level that your current studying methodology will alloy you to reach and you need to try something different.

And one other idea is to find some people who have similar goals. If there are others who are performing better than you, you could try spending some time with them and figuring out what it is they do differently. It doesn't always work--some people are just plain smart cookies--but sometimes you can pick up some tips that raise your game.

I increased 37 marks with the help of these tips and I am really very thankful to you for telling me these and the problem I faced this time was that I was capable of increasing 60-70 marks this time but the day before test I had covered all the syllabus and I was so sure that this time I will progress too much and because of this I got into comfort zone and rest is what I got.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Your prof in each class is the best person to ask.

For most classes I've taught my answer would be (in order of priority):
1. Carefully complete every assigned homework problem, with an intentional method, carefully writing out each step using the problem solving methods demonstrated in class.
2. Get help for every assigned homework problem that you cannon complete on your own - preferably from me, but working with other students, or folks at the tutoring center can be useful also.
3. Attend every class meeting and take careful notes. Write down everything in your notebook that I write on the board, along with additional notes you're likely to need for understanding later.
4. Do careful reading of all the assigned reading at the proper time - usually BEFORE the class meeting discussing the material.
5. Begin reviewing for exams several days before the scheduled data. Review all the notes and assigned problems. Pick additional problems from the book that are similar to assigned homework problems. At least half your study time should be spent working problems - either reworking assigned homework (without looking at your original solution) or working similar problems from the book.
6. Your total effort preparing for the class should be at least 2-3 hours outside of class for each class hour. A 5 credit hour physics or calculus class will require 10-15 hours preparation outside of class each week.

 

[Frigus]

5. Begin reviewing for exams several days before the scheduled data. Review all the notes and assigned problems. Pick additional problems from the book that are similar to assigned homework problems. At least half your study time should be spent working problems - either reworking assigned homework (without looking at your original solution) or working similar problems from the book.

I think this is the one of the point I am lagging,
This time I completed my whole syllabus at the pace of class but the thing which I was unable to achieve was to rework all the questions and I hadn't done extra books also.
I will try to eliminate this problem and hope this time my marks increases more.

 

[Frigus]

I have one another question i.e how to prevent silly mistakes.
In this test I lost like 30-40 marks by just silly mistakes and it happens every time.
For e.g:- In one of the ampere circuital law question a wire was encircled two times and I just added it once,it was just simple 1+1=2 question.

 

[Haborix]

I have one another question i.e how to prevent silly mistakes.
In this test I lost like 30-40 marks by just silly mistakes and it happens every time.
For e.g:- In one of the ampere circuital law question a wire was encircled two times and I just added it once,it was just simple 1+1=2 question.

On exams there are two broad classes of silly mistakes: those made while doing a calculation and those made conceptually. I think the example you give is more of the conceptual type of error; your error in this problem was made before you started doing any math. These mistakes can be avoided by having worked so many problems that you've seen all the tricks. But the best way is to stop and think, which, ironically, is an impulse that often gets suppressed during exams. I think of studying as a practice which frees up more time to pause and think on the exam. Someone who has practiced and can work through problems quickly and efficiently has more time to stop and think about what is being asked.

Furthermore, it is to your credit that you go back and look at the problems you have missed. Learning doesn't stop the second the exam starts.

 

[Choppy]

I have one another question i.e how to prevent silly mistakes.
In this test I lost like 30-40 marks by just silly mistakes and it happens every time.
For e.g:- In one of the ampere circuital law question a wire was encircled two times and I just added it once,it was just simple 1+1=2 question.

There can be a lot of reasons for making "silly" mistakes - those mistakes you make when you know the correct answer (or at least in hind sight is seems obvious), but you goof up something simple like the algebra, or forget to provide something that was specifically asked for.

It could help to look up exam-taking strategies. Sometimes these are obvious, but sometimes a little bit of forethought and planning can help you to maximize your score.

• If you know the format of the exam ahead of time, make sure you prepare by studying problems of similar format.
• Once you've reviewed the material, consider how you might examine students on it. What questions might you come up with if you were preparing the exam as the instructor? Going through this exercise can help you to predict what you're likely to encounter. (Sure, there are always those questions from left field, but if you do this enough, you should find you can get pretty good at predicting approximately the questions that you're likely to face.)
• Set a time-budget and stick to it. Silly mistakes tend to increase under time pressure.
• Take your time reading each question and make sure you understand what is being asked.
• If you have time afterwards, review your work.
• Have you answered everything that is being asked?
• Do your answers make sense from an order of magnitude estimate point of view? Do the units work out?
• Practice taking the exam under time pressure.
• Practice taking the exam in as similar of an environment to the actual exam that you can manage. (An examination hall can be a lot different than a Starbucks cafe with headphones on.)
• There's also a self-care factor here as well. The frequency of "silly" mistakes increases when you're tired, unable to focus, or stressed. You can't eliminate these factors completely, but you can play the long game to control them as much as possible.
  

 

[Frigus]

I will now try to adapt to these points and will share my result of next test.
Thanks for helping .

 

[mathwonk]

go to every class and sit in the front.
ask questions and go to office hours.
work with other students and work the more difficult problems, not just the assigned ones.
find copies of old exams and practice on them, or make practice exams and practice taking them for speed.
consult other books and work out their problem sets as well.
ask the professor what are the most important things to know, and KNOW THEM.
prepare well in advance.

 

[Frigus]

go to every class and sit in the front.
ask questions and go to office hours.
work with other students and work the more difficult problems, not just the assigned ones.
find copies of old exams and practice on them, or make practice exams and practice taking them for speed.
consult other books and work out their problem sets as well.
ask the professor what are the most important things to know, and KNOW THEM.
prepare well in advance.

This time I will try to practice more,i always feel some void before giving test and maybe it is because of less practice.

 

[Frigus]

Once you've reviewed the material, consider how you might examine students on it. What questions might you come up with if you were preparing the exam as the instructor? Going through this exercise can help you to predict what you're likely to encounter. (Sure, there are always those questions from left field, but if you do this enough, you should find you can get pretty good at predicting approximately the questions that you're likely to face.)

For first time I got 170 out of 180 in biology with the help of this method,so thanks again,
But I am not able to overcome this graph

Can you please give me some tips to change this graph to straight line parallel to x axis.

 

[Choppy]

You might need to go into more detail about the specifics of what you want help with when it comes to that graph. There are multiple ways to interpret 'productivity' and 'syllabus.'

The way I'm interpreting it - syllabus is course material and productivity is the time you're spending on a given subject and perhaps how much you're learning about it. You tend to spend a lot of time on a small amount of material, leaving little left over for the rest?

Perhaps the first question to ask is whether you really want that. For STEM classes in particular, the material is not all independent. The more complex concepts tend to build on a foundation of basic material. And so it makes sense to elevate your efforts on the core elements of the syllabus. The more time you spend on more complex material without knowing the basics, the more time you're wasting.

Another interpretation is that you're getting bogged down in some subjects/material and for whatever reason are working on them to the exclusion of others. Say you have an assignment with 10 questions that *should* take about 10 hours to complete. But you struggle with question 1, spending 5 hours on it. Now you either have to spend 14 hours in total on the assignment or more likely have to cut your time down on the other 9 questions to get them done in your allotted period. Since time is a finite resource, students tend to be faced with the latter.

Tips on how to deal with that...

• Invest some time in planning how you spend your study time. Develop a time budget for your studies.
• Build in time to deal with the unexpected. This is of course impossible to do perfectly, but the point is to have open or flexible time in your schedule to deal with those unexpected challenges that come up. You have have rough 'go to' plans for cases when that time actually is free, but don't fill it with anything important that will hurt you if it doesn't get done.
• Self-discipline is huge here. Letting go of one thing before it's complete can be very hard for some people. But once you've spent your allotted hour on a problem, you have to move on and come back to it when you can.
• And sometimes you have to make decisions - if you feel that you need to work through that first problem to really understand what's going on in the rest of the assignment, you might have to over-ride the point above.

 

[Mark44]

But I am not able to overcome this graph

I'm with @Choppy here. What does this graph mean?
Does productivity mean how well you are doing in the class?
Does that graph mean that you do well on the items in the syllabus at the start of the term, but then your grades decline as more material is presented? If my interpretation is correct, then a better label for the horizontal axis would be "Time".

 

[Frigus]

I'm with @Choppy here. What does this graph mean?
Does productivity mean how well you are doing in the class?
Does that graph mean that you do well on the items in the syllabus at the start of the term, but then your grades decline as more material is presented? If my interpretation is correct, then a better label for the horizontal axis would be "Time".

I didn't thought that it can be interpreted that way ,
Sorry for too vague question,
I tried to plot The syllabus of test(which is given) on the x-axis and amount of work I do in certain amount of time on y axis,
I wanted to say that as I reach nearer to my goal I start getting into comfort zone and when I reach my goal almost then the productivity approaches 0.
I Hope I have described my problem clearly this time.