How to Study Effectively: Tips & Tricks

[Fantini]

Hello! :)

This has been on my mind for quite a while. How do you guys study? I keep trying to improve my study style and I'm interested in how everyone else does it.

I've started to LaTeX my notes: writing down comments about the text, proofs of unproved statements, solutions to exercises and problems. I also have the habit of redoing most of what the book does. I find that I have much difficulty recalling things if I merely read them.

How about you?

 

[Jameson]

Good topic!

I think organization is important up to a certain point. Keeping notes organized and filing away graded quizzes/tests is very useful, but I can sometimes take it too far by focusing more on the idea of organization that learning. If you can type of LaTeX quickly then that sounds great, but I'm kind of slow. For my second bachelor's degree I typed up every single homework assignment in LaTeX and it added an extra 2-4 hours of work each time, I would guess. Don't know if I would do that again, ha.

Proving concepts already covered without any help is really useful for me because it's often very easy to read over someone else's work and think "Oh that makes perfect sense" but if asked to produce the same thing from scratch, I am totally lost.

The last thing I can think of is I gauge my study habits to the course and to the instructor, which might be good and bad. It's good for grades but can be bad for learning. There's probably a good balance somewhere to be found.

 

[Fantini]

I think organization is important up to a certain point. Keeping notes organized and filing away graded quizzes/tests is very useful, but I can sometimes take it too far by focusing more on the idea of organization that learning. If you can type of LaTeX quickly then that sounds great, but I'm kind of slow. For my second bachelor's degree I typed up every single homework assignment in LaTeX and it added an extra 2-4 hours of work each time, I would guess. Don't know if I would do that again, ha.

I have a LaTeX model file which I just fire up and start typing whenever I want to make new notes. Presentation isn't a problem, it's all ready. It hyperlinks whatever I may need and so it's easy to find topics in the PDF. I started typing my lecture notes for the first time this semester, but only because I'm taking a single course. :) This leaves plenty of time to type it out, study and take care of my other duties. As for my personal study notes, I tend to avoid accumulating things: whenever I have four or five pages I get them LaTeXed. Not everything goes in the final version, since there are many mistakes or false steps that are written down but don't have to be in the notes.

Proving concepts already covered without any help is really useful for me because it's often very easy to read over someone else's work and think "Oh that makes perfect sense" but if asked to produce the same thing from scratch, I am totally lost.

Agreed. My learning goals always involve (1) being able to reproduce what I've learned, (2) be able to adapt it to close enough situations, (3) be able to flex it to attack to new situations, (4) investigate the method's limitations. This is too time consuming though, and I often don't know how to achieve these goals. :)

The last thing I can think of is I gauge my study habits to the course and to the instructor, which might be good and bad. It's good for grades but can be bad for learning. There's probably a good balance somewhere to be found.

How does this gauging happen? What do you mean by gauging your study habits to the course and instructor? :) This is something I'm interested in. I've realized one thing: most courses are designed merely so that what you must do is pass. Learning is optional; while a few others have built-in the need to learn (some) of the material. Ideally tests would be just a formality, but that's far from the truth.

 

[Henry R]

Hello! :)

This has been on my mind for quite a while. How do you guys study? I keep trying to improve my study style and I'm interested in how everyone else does it.

I've started to LaTeX my notes: writing down comments about the text, proofs of unproved statements, solutions to exercises and problems. I also have the habit of redoing most of what the book does. I find that I have much difficulty recalling things if I merely read them.

How about you?

I try to study very hard, love my life and avoid distractions.

 

[Jameson]

I have a LaTeX model file which I just fire up and start typing whenever I want to make new notes. Presentation isn't a problem, it's all ready. It hyperlinks whatever I may need and so it's easy to find topics in the PDF. I started typing my lecture notes for the first time this semester, but only because I'm taking a single course. :) This leaves plenty of time to type it out, study and take care of my other duties. As for my personal study notes, I tend to avoid accumulating things: whenever I have four or five pages I get them LaTeXed. Not everything goes in the final version, since there are many mistakes or false steps that are written down but don't have to be in the notes.

That is very smart! I should have used templates to save time. I wish there was an interface similar to our Quick LaTeX available. Showing algebraic steps and typing out lots of subscripts just takes a while. :(

...
How does this gauging happen? What do you mean by gauging your study habits to the course and instructor? :) This is something I'm interested in. I've realized one thing: most courses are designed merely so that what you must do is pass. Learning is optional; while a few others have built-in the need to learn (some) of the material. Ideally tests would be just a formality, but that's far from the truth.

I admit that my second time as a student, from 2013-2014, I was very determined to make all A's, which I did. Learning the material to a high level was equally as important but I knew that I needed to have a very high GPA to apply to grad school.

I would ask around about certain professors as well as scan their CV. There are sites like ratemyprofessor.com which are marginally helpful but often not. I tried to make a good first impression during the initial week of class and gauge how the professor teaches. It pretty quickly becomes clear which professors want to see you in class every day and interact, which ones just test you on the material and that's it, and which professors don't care what you do. It's really disappointing to have a teacher who openly doesn't care about the class but it happens and with those I know I can focus elsewhere. I then use this info when planning future semesters and avoid the people I don't mesh well with. Sometimes it works out nicely and other times it doesn't.

 

[ModusPonens]

There's a very good MOOC called Learning How to Learn, on Coursera. I took the course and it helped me a lot to find good studying strategies. It also helped me to realize what mistakes I was doing and what studying techniques are actualy flawed.

EDIT: There's also a book by that teacher, Barbara Oakley (I think that's her name), which has all the course material: "A Mind for Numbers"

 

[Fantini]

I would ask around about certain professors as well as scan their CV. There are sites like ratemyprofessor.com which are marginally helpful but often not. I tried to make a good first impression during the initial week of class and gauge how the professor teaches. It pretty quickly becomes clear which professors want to see you in class every day and interact, which ones just test you on the material and that's it, and which professors don't care what you do. It's really disappointing to have a teacher who openly doesn't care about the class but it happens and with those I know I can focus elsewhere. I then use this info when planning future semesters and avoid the people I don't mesh well with. Sometimes it works out nicely and other times it doesn't.

This is why I'm tired of coursework. I like having a knowledgeable person to discuss the subject and remove my deficiencies, but that's not what a course is generally designed to do. Don't you feel you work better now self-studying rather than taking courses?

@Modus: I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Fallen Angel]

In my case it depends on what I'm studying for.

If I have to do a test or something then I simply try to do the more exercises I can.

If I'm studying just because I want to then I take a book, a piece of paper and start reading and making some (usually cryptic, because I don't like to waste much time writing) notes, and always proving (or trying) my own ideas about the book, that almost every time occurs a few pages after.
Actually, I'm really chaotic when studying by myself, but I think it works for me.

 

[ineedhelpnow]

Just don't do what I do (pull an all-nighter every night).
I find that if you redo the same problems over and over again then it begins to make a lot of sense. not just the problem, but the concepts itself...

 

[Dethrone]

Depends on what subject, and right now, it seems to depend on what professor you have. In high school, I would redo all the exercise problems, but doing that now won't even help at all.

I mainly go over the proofs in the textbook, doing the challenge problems in the section, and most importantly, the past final exams. Most of the time, the format is very similar.