Studying What are your goals during a study session?

[ZeGato]

When you're studying, do you set goals for yourself? If so, do you set time-based goals, such as studying for X number of hours, or do you set task-based goals, such as completing Y number of exercises, or going through a certain number of pages in notes or a book? If neither, what type of goals do you set for yourself in a study session that you feel that work best for you?

 

[Ophiolite]

For me a mixture of approaches would be most successful.

• By committing a specific amount of time to study you more readily overcome those periods when you "just don't feel like it". (Consequently the targets must be set within short periods - not weeks and months.)
• By targeting specific objectives you increase the chance that the time you spend produces the desired results.
• That said, I learned most by randomly reading textbooks and research papers that caught my interest!

The last point reflects the fact that learning should be fun. The first two points reflect the fact that some of it is hard, frustrating, time-consuming effort, but it should - ultimately - be worth it.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Since goals need to be measurable so one knows if they are met, I usually preferred the goal of working some number of problems - usually making proportional progress on an assigned problem set. Since readings were also assigned, occasionally a goal was to complete a reading, but I don't think I went many days without working problems.

I viewed time as a limited resource, since there were only so many hours in a day. I did schedule certain one hour blocks for studying each subject, but the goal was never really to use ALL the time, but rather to have all the time available to complete my work. I would not reallocate time for recreational uses until my real studying goals were complete. However, I also would not keep studying beyond the allocated time (sacrificing sleep). My experience was that if all the time had been spent with honest effort, I could return to the problem the next day with fresh eyes and be in a better place to make progress.

 

[ZeGato]

Thank you for your replies. What about when you just don't feel like studying for the whole day, how do you force yourself to study?

 

[Ophiolite]

Thank you for your replies. What about when you just don't feel like studying for the whole day, how do you force yourself to study?

Two possibilities, the first more comical than serious, the second apparently comical, but astoundingly effective.

1. Go do your nearest fast food restaurant and ask yourself, "Is this how I see my future?"
2. Take a newspaper. (Broadsheet, preferred to tabloid.) Roll it up tightly. Clear a desk, table or counter top. As hard and as fast as you can strike the surface with the rolled up newspaper, repeatedly, until it is in tatters. The release of adrenalin will furnish you with the energy to engage in study. Repeat as necessary.

Note, that since there is more to life than study, sometimes it's OK just to take a day off and do something completely different, something refreshing. That way you can come back the following day with renewed vigour.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Thank you for your replies. What about when you just don't feel like studying for the whole day, how do you force yourself to study?

Two possibilities, the first more comical than serious, the second apparently comical, but astoundingly effective.

1. Go do your nearest fast food restaurant and ask yourself, "Is this how I see my future?"

Actually, that's how I did it. From age 12 to 18 I worked numerous food service jobs in New Orleans. As one person put it (not exactly): working poopy jobs for poopy wages surrounded by poopy people. All my uncles and cousins worked similar jobs well into their 30s and 40s. I didn't know what I really wanted in life, but I knew I wanted to break the cycle of menial jobs in New Orleans. Everyone kinda told me that succeeding in college was my path out, and I believed them. My ACT score earned a scholarship to LSU. My only goal the first semester was earning a 3.0 GPA to keep that scholarship. But I so, so wanted to make sure, sure, sure I kept it that I worked as hard as I could, as hard as I knew how. That was 60 hour weeks, because I saw the alternative as losing the scholarship and having a life as a loser in food service.

Going into finals that first semester, I was in the high B range in Calculus and Physics - 10 of my total 15 hour course load, so looking at a solid 3.33 GPA. Then a miracle happened. All that hard work paid off on those finals and I earned a 4.0 GPA (straight As). Over winter break it dawned on me that if such a work effort could pull it off once, I could do it again. So I did. And Again. And Again. Next thing I knew I was getting accepted to Princeton, Stanford, and MIT for graduate school.

But you have to want it.

 

[ZeGato]

Two possibilities, the first more comical than serious, the second apparently comical, but astoundingly effective.

1. Go do your nearest fast food restaurant and ask yourself, "Is this how I see my future?"
2. Take a newspaper. (Broadsheet, preferred to tabloid.) Roll it up tightly. Clear a desk, table or counter top. As hard and as fast as you can strike the surface with the rolled up newspaper, repeatedly, until it is in tatters. The release of adrenalin will furnish you with the energy to engage in study. Repeat as necessary.

Note, that since there is more to life than study, sometimes it's OK just to take a day off and do something completely different, something refreshing. That way you can come back the following day with renewed vigour.

I don't go to fast food restaurants, so I think I'm going to try the 2nd one. Just got to remember not to that when I'm in the library

Actually, that's how I did it. From age 12 to 18 I worked numerous food service jobs in New Orleans. As one person put it (not exactly): working poopy jobs for poopy wages surrounded by poopy people. All my uncles and cousins worked similar jobs well into their 30s and 40s. I didn't know what I really wanted in life, but I knew I wanted to break the cycle of menial jobs in New Orleans. Everyone kinda told me that succeeding in college was my path out, and I believed them. My ACT score earned a scholarship to LSU. My only goal the first semester was earning a 3.0 GPA to keep that scholarship. But I so, so wanted to make sure, sure, sure I kept it that I worked as hard as I could, as hard as I knew how. That was 60 hour weeks, because I saw the alternative as losing the scholarship and having a life as a loser in food service.

Going into finals that first semester, I was in the high B range in Calculus and Physics - 10 of my total 15 hour course load, so looking at a solid 3.33 GPA. Then a miracle happened. All that hard work paid off on those finals and I earned a 4.0 GPA (straight As). Over winter break it dawned on me that if such a work effort could pull it off once, I could do it again. So I did. And Again. And Again. Next thing I knew I was getting accepted to Princeton, Stanford, and MIT for graduate school.

But you have to want it.

Wow that's an inspiring experience! To be honest, I just want to finish my course and go work as soon as possible, but I'm definitely trying to learn as much as I can from every subject.

 

[opus]

I always go until the work is done, but I do have daily minimums of study time and that's 6 hours at my desk in solitude (no phone or internet, only music, books, notes, etc). One thing that I do that I guess would be considered a goal, is when I time my individual time blocks (90 minutes long), I set a goal to hit some degree of completion. For example, I may say that in the next 90 minutes, I want to complete at least half of my homework problem sets. Sometimes I meet the goal, sometimes I don't but meeting the goal isn't the point. The reason I set the goal is so that I know I'm on the clock. In doing so, I know there isn't time to let my mind wander, or to check my phone, etc.

 

[opus]

Thank you for your replies. What about when you just don't feel like studying for the whole day, how do you force yourself to study?

There's a podcast by Jocko Willink (I think the last name is that), and he talks about this but not specifically to studying. He was a Navy SEAL commander and someone asked him a similar question and he had a great answer. He said that when he would have the feelings of not wanting to train sometimes due to feeling burnt out, what he did was to just "go through the motions" and get it done. His explanation was that sometimes you get hit with that lazy bug that keeps telling you that you need a break, when most times you're just being lazy (not at all saying that this is your case). But by going through the motions, you just get it done, and if you get to the next day and you're still feeling burnt out, go ahead and take your break. But in most cases, you realize that you didn't need the break and you can keep going. The idea is to never give into that initial desire to take the day off, but to work through that and then take the break if you still feel that it's necessary.