What does meaningful study actually look like? (1 Viewer)

[nuvardex]

I tend to spend around 5 hours per day at the library (in term) doing "study." This basically consists of homework and finishing notes from class.

Other than doing those things, should I be doing anything else? I'm thinking of setting aside certain days where I do past paper questions for certain subjects on each day of the week. Legal Studies, for example, on Monday, and Maths Advanced on Tuesday.

 

[Ledepressedrightnow]

You should also be revising in your sleep. Aim to dream about past paper questions you got wrong and compare your working out with solutions.

 

[may22]

You should also be revising in your sleep. Aim to dream about past paper questions you got wrong and compare your working out with solutions.

It's actually not that fun to have a dream about math questions believe me

 

[Ledepressedrightnow]

It's actually not that fun to have a dream about math questions believe me

Amateurs. I breathe maths.

 

[may22]

I tend to spend around 5 hours per day at the library (in term) doing "study." This basically consists of homework and finishing notes from class.

Other than doing those things, should I be doing anything else? I'm thinking of setting aside certain days where I do past paper questions for certain subjects on each day of the week. Legal Studies, for example, on Monday, and Maths Advanced on Tuesday.

Definitely go for past questions, practice questions...anything you can get your hands on. Try to ask your teacher for any extra resources they might have as well

 

[may22]

Amateurs. I breathe maths.

Hence your username?

 

[Hiheyhello]

It'd also be a good idea to set aside some time where you can simply revise your notes. I found this particularly helpful with humanities subjects, because it seems as though everyone just harps on about practice questions - and whilst they are very important, high band 6s require lots of depth detail, and like you can do all the practices in the world but if you haven't committed details to memory, well then have fun writing them. The way I liked to reinforce this content during my revision sessions, was by explaining it out loud in my own words (multiple times), which really assisted my understanding.

also i forgot that everyone learns differently, so see what works for you ofc and find related strategies - if writing isn't your thing, then you might want to prioritise practice questions

 

[may22]

It'd also be a good idea to set aside some time where you can simply revise your notes. I found this particularly helpful with humanities subjects, because it seems as though everyone just harps on about practice questions - and whilst they are very important, high band 6s require lots of depth detail, and like you can do all the practices in the world but if you haven't committed details to memory, well then have fun writing them. The way I liked to reinforce this content during my revision sessions, was by explaining it out loud in my own words (multiple times), which really assisted my understanding.

Yeah I reckon finding a balance between revising content and actually practising questions is really helpful. Like @Hiheyhello said, you can't really write a good answer without knowing the content...but on the other hand, you can know all the content and not know how to structure a band 6 response. So it's really more or less about dedicating time to both, and perhaps prioritising one component more than the other if that is what you are struggling with

 

[011235]

^ Make sure you aren't just reading over your notes, that is not a good strategy by itself, you need to add something like explaining it out loud to yourself (@Hiheyhello s example), or drawing a mindmap/concept diagram of different things, etc, preferably trying to look at your notes as little as possible while doing it (this is called active recall)

 

[totally_screwed]

It's actually not that fun to have a dream about math questions believe me

one time I was stuck on a mx1 question the whole day and it was really stressful, that night I literally dreamt of the full correct solutions and I woke up mostly remembering the dream (or nightmare??) so I answered the q and I wondered, was that god speaking to me, or was it me who figured it out with my brain. it was a traumatic but enlightening experience

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

one time I was stuck on a mx1 question the whole day and it was really stressful, that night I literally dreamt of the full correct solutions and I woke up mostly remembering the dream (or nightmare??) so I answered the q and I wondered, was that god speaking to me, or was it me who figured it out with my brain. it was a traumatic but enlightening experience

always a great feeling when u solve something thats been killing u for a long time

 

[sil_rom]

While past paper questions are an excellent source of revision, it's important that your response can gain the maximum marks possible. Self-checking answers can often be cumbersome and vague - hence I would recommend bringing friends over to collaborate on responses/share working out.

 

[Hiheyhello]

With revising notes, do you revise last terms content along with the content in your upcoming exam in school, like how do you balance it... because you should naturally prioritise revising content in your upcoming exam right?

Bro YES that was one of my biggest struggles.
Now if you want to enjoy the HSC stress-free then I would not recommend my method ... but it did work out for me in the end so take from that what you will.

basically I did "naturally prioritise" whatever content I had coming up and it helped me get really high ranks in internals. However, by the time trials rolled around, the amount of content I had to revise became extremely overwhelming to the point that the constant delays became advantageous. If I was to give some advice to my past self, it would be to literally set aside a non-negotiable Sunday to revise content from previous terms. But other than that, I would continue prioritising what you're being tested on in your upcoming exams.

But yeah good luck because it is difficult to balance - unless you work well under pressure ahaha

 

[Hiheyhello]

While past paper questions are an excellent source of revision, it's important that your response can gain the maximum marks possible. Self-checking answers can often be cumbersome and vague - hence I would recommend bringing friends over to collaborate on responses/share working out.

definitely
and that's especially helpful with for essays

 

[sil_rom]

definitely
and that's especially helpful with for essays

Yep! Sometimes though, you may need to seek assistance from HSC markers/teachers/tutors - they're experts in marking and you will rarely go wrong seeking advice from them. Still, study groups are a great way to provide "purpose" to study - provided you don't goof off too much.

 

[Ledepressedrightnow]

Hence your username?

Argh

 

[chaevely_park]

It'd also be a good idea to set aside some time where you can simply revise your notes. I found this particularly helpful with humanities subjects, because it seems as though everyone just harps on about practice questions - and whilst they are very important, high band 6s require lots of depth detail, and like you can do all the practices in the world but if you haven't committed details to memory, well then have fun writing them. The way I liked to reinforce this content during my revision sessions, was by explaining it out loud in my own words (multiple times), which really assisted my understanding.

also i forgot that everyone learns differently, so see what works for you ofc and find related strategies - if writing isn't your thing, then you might want to prioritise practice questions

hey! by revision, do you mean just reading your notes - e.g. trying to just memorise the information? Or, do you suggest things like flashcards? I'm using flashcards right now to revise, but I'm open to any other suggestions for effective information retention

 

[nourished.]

hey! by revision, do you mean just reading your notes - e.g. trying to just memorise the information? Or, do you suggest things like flashcards? I'm using flashcards right now to revise, but I'm open to any other suggestions for effective information retention

Brute force rote learning would probably be the least effective. Flashcards are awesome, so stick to that. Writing cheat sheets is my personal favourite, though.

 

[nourished.]

I tend to spend around 5 hours per day at the library (in term) doing "study." This basically consists of homework and finishing notes from class.

Other than doing those things, should I be doing anything else? I'm thinking of setting aside certain days where I do past paper questions for certain subjects on each day of the week. Legal Studies, for example, on Monday, and Maths Advanced on Tuesday.

I think this would work particularly well for you - have set theory days and application days for each subject. You'd want to schedule them in a way so that your application days for a specific subject follows a recent theory day for that subject. For instance, you might do Legal theory and Maths application on Monday, then Legal application and X subject theory on Tuesday, then Maths theory and X subject application on Wednesday, etc.

 

[unhealthyharold]

I tend to spend around 5 hours per day at the library (in term) doing "study." This basically consists of homework and finishing notes from class.

Other than doing those things, should I be doing anything else? I'm thinking of setting aside certain days where I do past paper questions for certain subjects on each day of the week. Legal Studies, for example, on Monday, and Maths Advanced on Tuesday.

tbh try teaching someone else.. even if you're not actually teaching somebody, just pretending to really helps.