ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => Victorian Education Discussion => Topic started by: macca69831 on February 05, 2010, 11:11:23 pm

Title: Studying Help
Post by: macca69831 on February 05, 2010, 11:11:23 pm
Im doing Physics, Methods Cas, Chemistry and English (All units 3 & 4), and im not sure how to study for them in terms of leading up to sacs and exams. I was just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to study for these subjects, ive tried many methods of study (at least i think it was study) and they dont seem to work. HELP
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: TrueTears on February 05, 2010, 11:23:22 pm
What have you tried? :P
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: macca69831 on February 06, 2010, 12:35:21 pm
In terms of physics and chemistry, ive tried summary notes and stuff like that, but it doesnt seem to stick in the brain. with math i kind of write summary notes as well i spose
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Studyinghard on February 06, 2010, 05:09:30 pm
First thing to do is try EVERY SINGLE question you can find. Summary notes is useless if you cant do the questions. Get a nice big notebook and start fresh, question by question. If you dont know how to do something of the questions come and ask them here in the respective areas.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: superflya on February 06, 2010, 05:15:37 pm
questions are useless if u dont know the theory behind it.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: the.watchman on February 06, 2010, 05:17:42 pm
First thing to do is try EVERY SINGLE question you can find. Summary notes is useless if you cant do the questions. Get a nice big notebook and start fresh, question by question. If you dont know how to do something of the questions come and ask them here in the respective areas.

+1
When you find out how to do a type of question, I find the best way to test your understanding is to write yourself a similar question (albeit with different numbers), and try to answer it.

(Actually, this is my school (and Dr He :P) exam revision technique)
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Studyinghard on February 06, 2010, 05:27:13 pm
questions are useless if u dont know the theory behind it.

The best way to fully understand theory is put it into practice.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: superflya on February 06, 2010, 05:33:05 pm
so u blindly attempt questions without knowing what its actually asking for. waste of time IMO.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: IntoTheNewWorld on February 06, 2010, 05:36:13 pm
so u blindly attempt questions without knowing what its actually asking for. waste of time IMO.

This is what I did last year =\

...I failed. Maybe it depends on the person. I found that trying to do lots of questions didn't help me too much as I had no idea where to start with them =[
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: The Detective on February 06, 2010, 06:03:24 pm
Summarize and learn concepts then attempt as many questions as possible.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Studyinghard on February 06, 2010, 06:08:22 pm
I am not saying not to learn theory. but looks like macca should have a decent grip on the theory after all the summarising. now all to do is put it into practice and see what you dont understand and then go back to it. Thats what practising questions do. Helps you figure out what you know and what you dont.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Greggler on February 06, 2010, 07:59:01 pm
yeah
My plan at the moment for my two science subjects (chem and physics) is to summarise/review/take notes at my own pace. Then i will probably be doing checkpoints also in my own time along as i summarise each area.

In relation to sacs and stuff, i will just try and get my hands on as many questions as possible in relation to the SAC and start doing them about a week/week and a half leading up to the SAC.




Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: kyzoo on February 06, 2010, 08:46:53 pm
You shouldn't study specifically for a SAC, for Methods I did very little in the week leading up to SACs.

You should be learning things as they come; you should not delegate learning to the last few weeks before assessment. Try to use the "learn-it-once" principle, where you only have one chance to learn something, and that is when it comes up. In the short term is takes more effort and time, but it makes SAC/Exam preparation period so much more relaxing as you've already learnt everything by then.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Mao on February 06, 2010, 09:00:47 pm
Form study groups, help each other in understanding concepts, and if you can, teach others. This is the best way to gain a conceptual understanding, as you'll be seeing a concept from other perspectives. Often, the reason concepts don't stay is because they were delivered in a way you don't understand, not because they are too hard to understand. You just have to seek explanations that you do understand, eureka!
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: the.watchman on February 06, 2010, 09:02:55 pm
Form study groups, help each other in understanding concepts, and if you can, teach others. This is the best way to gain a conceptual understanding, as you'll be seeing a concept from other perspectives. Often, the reason concepts don't stay is because they were delivered in a way you don't understand, not because they are too hard to understand. You just have to seek explanations that you do understand, eureka!

+1, in order to teach someone something, you have to understand it fully yourself, so it is a good test for yourself
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: Mao on February 06, 2010, 11:01:51 pm
Form study groups, help each other in understanding concepts, and if you can, teach others. This is the best way to gain a conceptual understanding, as you'll be seeing a concept from other perspectives. Often, the reason concepts don't stay is because they were delivered in a way you don't understand, not because they are too hard to understand. You just have to seek explanations that you do understand, eureka!

+1, in order to teach someone something, you have to understand it fully yourself, so it is a good test for yourself

Exactly. And also, teaching others forces you to have a logical structure for your understanding, so that you can explain to others in ways that make sense. It kinda acts as a mental defragmentation, putting pieces of information into the right place that you can easily access.
Title: Re: Studying Help
Post by: mba on February 07, 2010, 12:13:59 am
Hello,
Firstly you must realise that everyone learns differently therefore there is no "perfect" way to study.
How ever, I have found a few things that have been able to help me maximise my study potential.
Over a two week period, set one hour blocks for each subject were you simply review the material you have
learnt in class over the prior period. E.g.: on Monday: Methods, Wednesday: Chem, Sat: English etc. It is
pretty easy to do as you are simply spending only ONE hour, which is not much time at all reviewing the
material you have all ready learnt. Don't set times though, just do it when you can. I find study "timetables"
to be quite pointless with exact timings silly as we all have busy lives and it can be hard to stick too. However,
a one hour time slot every few days should be managable. You could even do these in study
periods at school with a few mates from the same subject.

For maths subjects I have a small note book were I write down all the questions that I have trouble with.
You don't need to study material that you all ready understand in depth, so this book comes very handy in
the lead up to SACS and business time of the year in prep for exams. You know exactly what you need to
review and revise. Make sure you do all the questions from the text book too, sometimes my maths teacher
says to only do every second question. Repitition seems key for maths subjects to imbed the info in your head.

Apart from that, I just do the assigned homework and work that I don't finish off in time. I review my notes
from my work books in prep for SACS too.