#to do written & oral exams!

[the---hermit]

My Study Method

I have quickly mentioned my study method in several posts through the years but I don't think I have ever written a proper post about it, so here it is.

I have to say that overall my study method is quite time consuming, but in years of experience it's what works best for the type of learner I am, the materials I have to study and the type of exams I have. I believe these three elements are the fundamental things you should figure out when creating your own study method. Let's go over these things quickly. Firstly I am an history student, tho not all my exams are history based (I have taken some language, philosophy, anthropology and litterature classes) so my method is proofed for most humanities. I am a learner with terrible memory, if you give me a list of things to learn by heart expect me to fail because my brain simply cannot do that. So I have to train myself to learn things when studying for an exam. As for the type of matherials I have to work with when studying for an exam, they are mostly full non fiction books, sometimes I have to work on articles as well, and depending on the class I have lectures to attend.

The fundamental element of my study method are the notes I write. That's why in my daily posts I am constatly mentioning them. The lectures I attend are turned into notes, the books and articles I have to read are turned into notes, everything you leave me with for too long will be turned into notes. The very act of writing is what truly helps me get into the topic, understand it, and memorize it. I might write an indepth post on how I write notes in the future, but for now what you must know is that the goal of my notes is to be the only material I actually study in the end. As I mentioned the very act of writing is itself a huge part of my study process. When I am listening to a lecture I try to write down notes as tidy as possible, and then try to fix them at home if needed. So there's not much to say there, as for the materials I have to read here's how I do it. When I get a book I have to study I usually read a chapter and underline all the important bits that I will be transferring to my notes as I am reading. When I am done with the chapter and have the topic still fresh in mind I write down by hand all my notes. The goal is to write everything I need to know, in a direct and easy way using my own words. By re-elaborating the original text I am making sure I am not blindly copying things, and actually understanding stuff. Once the entire book has gone through this process, the book goes back on the shelf and as I said I only work on my notes from then one.

Once I have all my notes ready a long time has probably passed, but in reading and writing I have already started to memorize things in general. I try to highlight my notes as I am writing, but in case I don't I go back once I am done writing, doing a quick reread and highlighting important stuff. I usually use two different colours: yellow for the important dates and another colour for the other informations. At this point there's two more steps left. Repeating and writing key words.

If writing notes can be counted as half of my studying, repeating outloud is the second half. Since I have oral exams I have to make sure I am comfortable with exaplaining things, showing I have understood things and I am not just midlessly reciting a list, and using the right terms. I am a very lucky person because my dad is both retired and quite interested in the topics that I study, which means that I get a lot of help from him in this phase of studying, because basically what I do is following him around the house for a few days exaplaining my notes to him. If you do not have someone to annoy with your study, talking to yourself works too but you have to speak outloud and honestly pretend you are giving a lecture. If you just go over your notes and read them it is not the same thing, it's way less effective. I usually do two rounds of repeating. The first one looks a lot more like reading and saying things outloud in my own words. By the second one I am usually much more comfortable with informations so I have my notes there only to guide me through topics making sure I don't miss anything. Having someone who actively listents to you is definitely a bonus because if they ask you questions they challenge you in the exact same way an oral exam does, and you make sure your exaplainations are as clear as possible.

The very last step is going through my notes one last time with the goal of writing a long list of key words. This is a tool I specifically use to review things quickly the day of the exam. Usually during my commute I reread the list of words in my head and I mentally make sure I remember about everything.

As mentioned this is a longer study method but it truly locks things in your brain, and paying that much attention to note writing also makes them a tool that lasts in time. If I am interested in the informations of any of the books I read during my degree I can pick the notebook in which I wrote those notes and find the information right away without even having to open the actual book. I usually dedicate a whole notebook to each book, in order to archive and find them easily. I will be writing a specific post on the way I write notes, maybe including a few pictures, but in the meantime I hope this was somewhat helpful.

[armenelols]

I needed 6 points on my organic chemistry exam and I got 4. Do you know where I lost a point. Do you. I wrote -OH (hydroxy group) instead of OH- (ion). Yeah.

[thesungod]

i don’t even have the strenght to cry i’m just so fucking sad and defeated

[1eeminho]

not to rant on here again but how can my uni justify having exams that arent comparable but will get people the same degree. like. my friend and i are both getting a masters in psych and we can choose three modules out of five available ones. we did the same except for one module. for the one he chose he had such a simple exam where the prof mostly talked to himself, asked easy questions and he got the best grade comfortably (ofc he prepared but it was comparably comfortable). now for me i have the hardest fucking exam in my entire uni career, the prof expects us to be Experts in this field she has made multiple people cry before in her exams and its So Much Input that i have to study all while this grade weighs the same as my friends grade in the easy module like ???????? how can this happen fr how can they let exams be so biased. their entire grading system is bullshit

[dullahandyke]

how many exams do you actually have to do like for our hs graduation we just had to write 3 and do an oral exam and a presentation

Well rn I'm in leaving cert, where u either do 6 subjects or 7 subjects w your worst not being counted. 3 of those are core subjects (English Irish maths) that u gotta do, and each of those has 2 exams, unless u go down to foundation level, in which case each only has one. irish has an oral exam, as most languages do, which basically just has u chatting w an examiner in your chosen language.

then you get to the 'chosen' subjects where u pick ur electives, and usually these are one exam to one subject. some like biology are just the exam, but languages have orals, and more practical subjects have a project or practical. for example, in art u put together a portfolio of sorts about a project, and then you do a 5 hour drawing exam, and THEN you do a written exam on art history.

and then when u get your results back, it'll all be added up into 'points', which are what u use to get into college. i'm aiming for 300 points, which is very low, but the max is 625. college is the main thing the leaving is used for, bcos theyre the ones that use the points, but a lot of alternative courses that dont strictly require traditional college stuff (post-leaving-cert courses) will still need u to pass the leaving lol

[moripartylove]

So tomorrow I have that Italian exam that I foolishly signed up for a couple of months ago, and right now all I can think is WHY. WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

The finals countdown hath begun again. Ugh.

[mishkakagehishka]

Wwwell. Gonna study with a friend for the next 3h 👍

[trees-can-draw]

[ynwa4eva]

Genuinely cannot fathom that i have 2/5 finals next fucking week im lowkey doing fine but like what is going on.

[ayakashibackstreet]

Sleeping with my notes under the pillow because I am not at all superstitious

[junewild]

The Name of the Wind, you say 👀?... I hope you're having a good time with it so far! It's become one of my favorite series.

psa: getting asks makes my entire week & every time someone sends me one i absolutely light up. so keep it going. i adore each & every one of you.

and now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

sooooo

i left this in my askbox bc i kept going "i will get back to it. i will read at least halfway through it & then i will respond. this is a good motivator for me to read it. i want to read it so bad."

but to be honest, i got halfway through the introduction, said "i think i might need a physical copy, a pen, and a notebook to read this," & put it down. i will pick it up again SO, SO hard as soon as i am no longer reading 5 books a week with a pen & a notebook for school. but all of my intellectual reading space is spoken for until i finish comps at the beginning of march.

[adore-gregor]

my perception of grades totally changed since i started uni

[wurmturm]

feeling all types of ways today but a year ago today i was in the hospital getting a lumbar puncture so what's going on now is still a clear improvement

[malachitezmeyka]

I got a 3- on my maths mock exam and can no longer think of anything else