High achievers: HOW DO YOU DO IT? Looking for study tips (1 Viewer)

[mieliciosa]

I'm a year 12 student who will be doing pathways next year, so therefore I will graduate in 2013.

I stopped going to school in grade six due to excessive bullying and while I was enrolled in a high school I rarely attended. To paint a picture for you, I may have AT MOST been there about 5 days a month. Sometimes I wouldn't come in at all. This was my first year in high school (2011) so I guess you could call me uneducated, but I'm not a stupid girl. I have trouble thinking clearly some times (if anyone can recommend anything for this I'd be thankful).

My question is how do the smart girls who always do well get the marks they do? Natural ability, study, yeah, but how exactly do you effectively study? There's all these new concepts to me like summaries and notes. Please can someone give me good studying ideas like what works for you? How do you study for exams, memorise, learn techniques etc. ANYTHING will help. Please thanks and byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[alexwareham2]

For me it varies by subject. But for Maths I learn all the formulas and processes and write out Stuyd Notes with examples to just go over. And then I do tons of Past Papers and questions from anywhere I can find them.
English you just have to learn the quotes, and then learn to apply the analysis that you know best to any situation. Such as by writing a few essays and getting them marked and just sticking with the best one and learning to apply this to all situations.
For History I just learnt the facts and dates, but also relied on my ability to argue and to write essays. So just learning and then applyong that in essays or questions dependant on the topic/section of the exam.
For Economics/Business/Legal one shoud just try to learn as much detail as possible and do questions so as to find effective ways to use this knowledge in an exam/test/assessment.

I can't really comment on Science but hope this helps.

 

[enoilgam]

In my opinion, there are four elements needed to succeed in school (and anything in life for that matter):

Motivation: Hands down the most important factor, if you arent motivated, you most likely arent going to put in the work.

Work Ethic: You need a solid work ethic to get you through the HSC. Although some people will claim, "I didnt nothing during the HSC and I got [insert great ATAR here]." Chances are, these people are either outright lying or they put in the hard yards during school hours and not at home. The fact is, you cannot get a great mark in a subject unless you know what your doing. In order to know what your doing, you need to invest some degree of work.

Natural ability: You need to have some degree of natural ability to do well in school. Going to a school ranked in the middle of the state, I knew many people who tried really hard and got nowhere because they didnt have the natural intelligence to do so (I know that sounds cruel, but life can be unfair that way).

The ability to pull the above three elements together: You need to know how to convert the above three elements to success on the day of the exam. Some people test poorly due to anxiety issues whilst others cannot get good study strategies together.

In my opinion, you need all four of these elements to succeed in HS. Whilst some are more important than others, a person will struggle to succeed if they are deficient in any of these areas.

In terms of specific study strategies, you need to find what works for you. Not everyone learns in the same way, so my methods which worked for me may not work for you.

 

[mieliciosa]

Thanks both of you, I really needed some advice and I thank you so much for taking the time! I will think about what you wrote. I've been told that for a girl who has not been properly educated (I schooled myself) I'm a naturally bright girl and if I put in the effort I could go far with my schooling and end up with a result someone like me can be proud of and the feeling that people are supporting me helps me very much. Thanksss!
Just so you guys know I plan on doing: English S, Spanish Beginners, Ancient, Modern, Business and Biology. !

enoilgam: I also just read that you sell band 6 study notes plus essays. When I do my exam, I'll be really interested in purchasing those, believe me!

 

[zombies]

Well for history (I see you're doing two!) what I do is check out the dotpoints for what I need to know. When you're doing assessments at school, talk to your teacher and ask what topics you'll be assessed on. Handwrite out some notes, type em up on the computer if you want them to be neat, and then read them as much as you can! Be concise, and don't have tons of pages of notes because then you might as well just read a textbook.

Also, start your study early. Cramming the night before is not the best idea, and as long as you do a lil bit each day all will be good~