Studying ahead

[EspoirTron]

So if you are up to it, it takes serious dedication and make sure you revise and review old topics constantly. You'll be surprised how quickly you will forget them if you don't revisit them. 

 

I agree with Shadows, it takes a lot of dedication to stay ahead, I mean firstly you have to continually revise because you don't get special treatment for being ahead, you get the same SACs and the same tasks as if you were working at the pace of the class. Now this is actually a good thing, because if you're a person who is seriously dedicated these SACs and tasks allow you to go over and revise areas that you have covered earlier. This will cover your revision component.

mod edit, Brenden - fixed quoting code

[b^3]

I think studying the whole course before the year even starts is a bit too far, although I think it's more about finding what works best for you. I started a little early in the summer holidays for Methods and Specialist, I didn't do the whole course, but did what I was comfortable with. Rather than saying "I need to get this done by this date", I just worked through at a pace that allowed me to deeply understand the content. What I'm getting at here is that if you're going to study ahead, then you want to be learning the content properly. I think this may be one of the reasons some people who do everything too early don't end up doing as well, they think they've covered everything that they need to do, and as a result slack off in class, which in some cases means they miss key points or concepts that they didn't realise that they'd missed.

You don't want to burn yourself out early though, you need to have a big enough rest that allows you to take on the year properly.

However, if you are motivated,  feel like working ahead because you enjoy it then go ahead. I just don't think it's necessary if you feel that is mandatory, and feel forced to do it. I'd recommend working ahead in the summer holidays, by opening your book when you feel like it, and probably doing the first couple of chapters.

Totally agree with this.^

The second area where I think that causes some trouble is (it's partly already mentioned) is that you need to be constantly revising throughout the year. Some people I've seen finish the course real early and then slack off and not revising. As a result all their hard work at the start of the year is lost, and as the content now seems dull to them, they have trouble getting back into it and re-learning it again and as a result their results suffer.

It really depends on the person but if I commenced the year whilst completing the course what would I do for the whole year?
I'd most likely just slack off, waste time, and forget everything I've learnt a year ago.

Now this is what seems to happen, but what you can do, something that I did while working through the end of the course material for Methods, is to go around and help others in the class out. If you can explain a question/concept well enough for someone else to be able to understand how, what and why, then you know that you've understood the material properly, it also keeps most of it fresh in your mind (this is more thinking if you were studying ahead to finish a term or so early, not a whole damn year early). This also helps prepare you if you want to go on to do some tutoring next year

Overall I think that studying ahead can be a good think, depending on how you learn. If you can be a great independent learner and make sure you do miss anything, then sure, go for it. But if you're going to struggle to learn on your own then it's probably not the best idea. Just don't go into overkill, completing the course before you even start the year isn't always such a great idea. As said above by others, I guess it depends whether you're dedicated enough to keep going over what you've learnt, to make sure it all sticks.

I probably should also bring up not starting practice exams too early, again you don't want to burn yourself out and you want to have your experiences and what you've learnt from prac exams fresh in your mind near exams (not saying start too late, more just don't run yourself into the ground too early). As with this, I should make the point that it should be quality, not quantity. Some people start doing prac exams way early, and don't learn anything from them, or forget what they learn from then since they've started them way back in January. (You can also run the risk of running out of exams, and end up doing the same ones over again, where you lose the element of surprise).

(...started summarising above before tangenting off... soo..) Study ahead if you can, just don't study too far ahead, don't burn yourself out early for no reason (again this will vary person to person), you just have to find what works best for you.

[Guest]

Wow, this actually makes so much sense now. Seriously got to reconsider things and alter my studying patterns if that's is the case. I'm motivated by my peers, so if they start practice exams early I probably will too....    VERY BAD reasoning but it's become more of a habit which I need to get rid of 
Thankfully, the last few comments have made me realise many cons of starting too early.

[psyxwar]

Wow, this actually makes so much sense now. Seriously got to reconsider things and alter my studying patterns if that's is the case. I'm motivated by my peers, so if they start practice exams early I probably will too....    VERY BAD reasoning but it's become more of a habit which I need to get rid of 
Thankfully, the last few comments have made me realise many cons of starting too early.

wait practice exams for what?

[pi]

wait practice exams for what?

Probably 4th year med.

I mean if you're studying ahead, might as well actually study ahead properly.

[Shenz0r]

The question I have here is: WHY do you think people who prepare ahead get disappointing scores? This question, in particular, has been really bothering me in the midst of my work in VCE subjects that I'm currently doing a year ahead, because it causes me to question whether what I'm doing is actually worth it in the long run. At the moment my thought on this issue has been that people doing subjects earlier tend to lose focus in higher year levels as they are continuously doing work a year ahead. In due time consistency is lost and they aren't able to switch between relative workloads on whatever subject it might be. However, this is somewhat of a theory that I developed so far. The chances are that it is incorrect since I don't have the experience to comment on such an issue. Will appreciate it if someone's got their own opinion or logic to share as to why some people doing subjects earlier succeed while others still fail.

The most common reason is that they don't regularly revise and slack off in class because they "know" the stuff already. Some of them also don't address the gaps in their knowledge, and, as was mentioned earlier, they tend to jump into the deep end without fully understanding the basics. In short, they go through the course a lot less thoroughly.

The most successful students, from what I remember, were the ones who regularly revised and helped other people with their questions.

[Edward21]

I pre-read all my Unit 3 chemistry content at the start of this year, made basic summaries and it helped majorly!! Don't go too far, but be familiar with the content for sure, but make sure you're still learning it thoroughly,