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How many of you take this approach to studying...

M

Mucman

Diamond Member
I'm really sick of this stressed out feeling before exams. The anxiety drives me up the wall, and causes
me to be less productive as a result. I don't get great excellent grades, but they are high enough that
I was able to get into Computer Science via internal transfer (where acceptance is relative to the grades
of everyone who applies).

One thing I am good at is attending every lecture and actually paying attention. I believe I retain most
of my knowledge by listening... of course more procedural courses (like math, and programming) does
requires some hands on work. Still, exam material is usually based on lectures, so listening in lectures
is really helpful.

I've now taken the don't study approach to midterms. It's just not worth the stress and anxiety to do
it. If I don't study I can pass the exam and sometimes I can do really well too. During the finals, I will
most likely spend 1 day reviewing material, and working a strategy for writing the final. Just curious
to see if anyone else does this.

Now before you come in here and call me a slacker, this approach does not reflect how I am in when
at work. I am a hard worker, and my boss considers me an extremely valuable employee.

With tuition hikes, it's getting harder to weigh how much I like the material versus how much stress is
caused. Thanks god I only have 9 more courses left after this semester.
 
I did that in most of my classes. If you go to lecture and actually pay attention, you shouldn't need more than 30 min of review before a test. Just learn it the first time. 😀
 
Don't get me wrong... I don't despise school 🙂. I would like to do graduate studies when I am 30 or
so (heck, at the rate I am going... I might not get my degree until then 😛)
 
Originally posted by: TheBDB
I did that in most of my classes. If you go to lecture and actually pay attention, you shouldn't need more than 30 min of review before a test. Just learn it the first time. 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah... I paid big bucks for this, I might as well sit and listen. In one of my classes there are 30 students, and
only 10 show up for lectures. About a quarter of those are sleeping in the back. Usually the combination of
doing the assignments and being attentive in class should be enough to learn the material.

 
its okay to hate some of the classes u take in college, but if u hate like 80% of the course u take, u might wanna consider a major change
 
Originally posted by: EliteOrange
its okay to hate some of the classes u take in college, but if u hate like 80% of the course u take, u might wanna consider a major change
Click to expand...

lol, I agree 🙂 I love 80% of my courses. In fact I like all my courses this semester! The material is interesting, and it's a good
mix of practical and theoretical studies. It's just that I hate being graded 🙂 So I guess I should quit school all together if that's
the case 😛. In most of my courses I would say that I am in the top 25% of the class when it comes to interest in the material.
I always
rolleye.gif
when I am in a class and the dude next to me says how much he hates programming... wtf would you go into
computer science?

 
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Studying does little for me, as do lectures. I learn visually. I just read the text.
Click to expand...

Umm...wouldn't that be considered studying?

As for me, if I don't study then I generally won't do well on an exam. By well, I mean A-level. Anything less pisses me off, as I need to keep the good ol' GPA as high as possible for grad school apps. But yes, it's very possible to only attend lectures, never study, and pass all of your exams. I just like to be sure that I'll kick academic a$$, and so I generally review before every test.

 
That's pretty similar to what I do. I don't do a lot of studying, if I didn't get it during the month or two before the test, I'm probably not going to get it in the last day or two.
 
Originally posted by: Mucman
I'm really sick of this stressed out feeling before exams. The anxiety drives me up the wall, and causes
me to be less productive as a result. I don't get great excellent grades, but they are high enough that
I was able to get into Computer Science via internal transfer (where acceptance is relative to the grades
of everyone who applies).

One thing I am good at is attending every lecture and actually paying attention. I believe I retain most
of my knowledge by listening... of course more procedural courses (like math, and programming) does
requires some hands on work. Still, exam material is usually based on lectures, so listening in lectures
is really helpful.

I've now taken the don't study approach to midterms. It's just not worth the stress and anxiety to do
it. If I don't study I can pass the exam and sometimes I can do really well too. During the finals, I will
most likely spend 1 day reviewing material, and working a strategy for writing the final. Just curious
to see if anyone else does this.

Now before you come in here and call me a slacker, this approach does not reflect how I am in when
at work. I am a hard worker, and my boss considers me an extremely valuable employee.

With tuition hikes, it's getting harder to weigh how much I like the material versus how much stress is
caused. Thanks god I only have 9 more courses left after this semester.
Click to expand...

This is what worked for me:
1. Go to every class and take good notes.

2. Rewrite the notes, plus add information from the book and professor on any point I did not understand.
I have had professors who were crappy lecturers or did not cover everything during their lectures.

3. Review\study notes until I fully understood everything.

If you mean you are not going to cram anymore, I can understand that approach.

But if you mean you are not going to study before your tests..... lets us know how that works out for you.


 
Dr Smooth, I will go over my notes, and take a note of the topics that professors stressed during the lectures... So I will do a 30 minute review I guess. I'm definitely not going to cram ever again. The last time I crammed was a couple years ago. Pulled an all nighter for two final exams I had the next morning. Ended up with C+'s in both courses... Not sure how much the cramming really helped.

Does anyone fault the teaching methodologies for exam stress? I find that I always have two objectives to every class. Learn as much material as I can, because it either is very interesting or I can apply it to my work. And try figure out what will be asked on the exam and how exactly it will be marked so that you can do a minimal amount of in depth studying so you can get a decent mark in the course. Of course the ultimate solution is to know the material inside and out, but that's not realistic if you are taking a full course load, have a job, and have a life (unless your life is your studies, then all the power to ya).
 
The other key is to get a good nights sleep before a midterm... so I'm going to bed now, wish me luck 😀
 
I study a considerate amount, and I pay close attention to lectures/ask Qs. I can't stop studying before an exam though, must be my paranoid nature

--GiLtY
 
Originally posted by: Mucman
Dr Smooth, I will go over my notes, and take a note of the topics that professors stressed during the lectures... So I will do a 30 minute review I guess. I'm definitely not going to cram ever again. The last time I crammed was a couple years ago. Pulled an all nighter for two final exams I had the next morning. Ended up with C+'s in both courses... Not sure how much the cramming really helped.

Does anyone fault the teaching methodologies for exam stress? I find that I always have two objectives to every class. Learn as much material as I can, because it either is very interesting or I can apply it to my work. And try figure out what will be asked on the exam and how exactly it will be marked so that you can do a minimal amount of in depth studying so you can get a decent mark in the course. Of course the ultimate solution is to know the material inside and out, but that's not realistic if you are taking a full course load, have a job, and have a life (unless your life is your studies, then all the power to ya).
Click to expand...

I was in a similar situation, carrying a full chemistry course load, working, and having a life (a girlfriend, friends, play guitar, etc,). I found the least stressful approach to exams was knowing the material inside and out. It came down to studying two or three hours every night. It was great taking an exam and not worrying about it.

I am only writing what worked for me.....


 
Dr. Smooth, Dedicating an hour a day would probably make me a much better student! I think if I did 2-3 hours every night I wouldn't have to worry about studying at all! The problem with computer science is that you can get programming assignments that take 30 hours to complete. There have been many projects where I had coded for 5 hours to find out that my approach was all wrong and I had to start from scratch again. I spend on average 4-6 hours a day doing homework, which makes fitting in an hour or two to study very difficult.

Time go and rock this midterm now 🙂
 
as long as you understand everything, it doesn't really matter what you're doing to study.

i generally take the same approach except i'll learn more from the book and hw than from lecture because i tend to fall asleep in lecture. i haven't really seen a strong correlation between grades and how much i study, but perhaps that's because i internally meter it based on how well i perceive myself to know the information.
 
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