How to Study

Yup. Exactly as the title reads.

So I've been getting asked by quite a few people lately, about "how do you study for this or that.."
I know it's a little late to put this up, seeing as the exams are over already. But it's good to have as a reference, for future semesters.

Before I begin anything, I just want to clarify some things. I only decided to share this because I was frequently asked by friends. It is more like an RFC (request-for-comments), than a show-off-fy type of post. For the record, I'm a B student. On average, I get 'B's for almost everything, but that's largely due to procrastination and not following through with the plan/method. So, I highly encourage comments and constructive criticisms. I am, seeking to improve after all.


I'm sure many people are looking for a surefire way or cookie-cutter method to study. I guess most people want things the most straightforward and simple way, but that's usually not what we are presented with. Most people who teach or present ideas, like to show complexity and intricate details. Not me, I just want things to be presented simply and understandable.


Well, truth to be told, there isn't a fixed way to study everything. It highly depends on the subject you are studying, as well as you personal learning style. But this method works for me as the most systematic step-by-step guide I can give, to produce consistent results. I don't guarantee amazing results, but if you've followed every step, you'll be more than fine.

So without further ado, let's jump straight in.


Step 0: Advance Research
There is ALWAYS a holiday before term starts. While it is important to enjoy ourselves and have a good time, it is useful to spend the last few days of holidays to just look through and know what you'll be facing. Do a little google search on subjects you think you'll be learning. It's mainly just to grasp the basics and have sort of an endgame in mind. It also helps just to whet your interests in the topic, nothing too deep required. In fact, this step is totally optional and I don't often do it too. Hence it is called step 0.



Step 1: Jot Down Notes
Holidays are over, and lessons have started proper.
If the subject is taught like a lecture style approach, you should probably jot down stuff. Copy down things that were said, but are not in the lecture notes. It's as simple as doing a text and speech comparison. If lecturer said it, and not in notes, copy down. You may or may not need it in future, but it's just so you don't miss out on anything. Prevents you from falling asleep too, since you have a task assigned. It's totally brainless. You don't have to understand a single crap that's being explained (though it helps), it's just mindless compare and copy.


Step 2: Lecture Reviews
So you've ended your lessons and you're tired. One last thing to do for the day.
After you've reached home, eaten and taken a shower, you need to solidify you're understanding.
Make summary notes for yourself, for the chapter that was taught in the lectures you attended today. Remember in the previous step where you didn't really need to understand everything? Yeah, now in this step you do. If you have the time, read the textbook chapter first. If not, read and refer as you go along. The lecture notes serve as a summary of what the lecturer wants you to know from the chapter. So use that primarily, and refer to TB for explanation and examples to help you understand better.

The summary notes should be in point form and includes everything you need to know, in the most simplest way you can put it, with few words. Like the most concise version of the lecture notes. Because everyone understands things in different ways, so only you should make your own notes. Using the stock lecture notes as your default revision tool is foolish. Basically after you are done, the lecture notes should be useless to you. Oh ya if you can, add some colours or drawings to it to make it less boring to look at. I got a rough sample in a picture here. But you should try to do your own style.


Step 3: Do your Homework!

Most subjects will give out tutorial worksheets. Do them, and do them seriously. It helps a lot with your understanding and gives you an idea of what types of questions they can ask in the exam. Naturally, there will be questions you don't know, or can't answer. That's where your colourful notes and the textbook should help out. Just do your very best to answer the questions, and if you really can't, at least they will explain it to you in class. Basically, you should be prepared with what you don't know, so that you can learn them in the tutorial class. Jot down notes there as well, like in step 1.



Step 4: Attempt Pass Year Papers

As the exam period draws close, everyone gets a little stressed out, no matter how good you are.
The best way to make sure you are ready is to attempt past year papers. If you have the time, you should attempt at least the most recent 2-3 papers. A smart thing to do, would be to find out if the lecturer taught the course in that past year. Because some lecturers like to repeat questions, or at least the same style of questions. This is not always possible to do, but you should try it nonetheless. NUS students can try this link.

Before you attempt any of the papers, read through all your colourful notes that you made for each chapter. This ought to give you a full rundown on every single chapter you need to know. Once that's done, you should be able to do the questions in the paper. After that, consolidate questions you don't know. You can often find out by reading a specific part of the textbook again. But if you can't, just email the lecturer/tutor or ask for a consultation session. Trust me, most of the time you won't need consultation. I personally seldom do it.


Step 5: Exam Preparation

It is exam week.
Most students are really passionate about their studies. They think that staying up the whole night revising will help them out for the exam the next day. Happened to me before too. If you really need to do that, you are screwed either way. If you did your colourful summary, and did you homework consistently, you don't have to do that. A key thing to note is that your health plays a part in your performance too. You should try to get your 7hrs sleep the night before. Not sleeping enough and gulping coffee can only help so much. Exams usually are like a marathon, and you might have more than one a day and many in a week. So sleep right, because you'll need it.

But how do you finish your revisions and still have time for proper sleep? The answer is proper time management. You should have all you summary notes by now. But due to projects and other commitments, and mostly procrastination, I usually find that I don't have the full set. AND there are past year papers to try.

What you need to do first thing in the morning -do wake up early- is to allocate timeslots (in hrs), for each task you need to do. Give a rough estimated time you think you'll take, with breaks included. Then, when you are about to start, set a countdown timer for the time. I've found that really helpful for me to keep to the time. At least I have something to look at to keep track of time, and an alarm to alert me whether I made it. It helps!




So that's about it. My 5-step, method to study for just about any module.
It doesn't matter what topic it is, I use the same method anyway, and achieve similar results.


DISCLAIMER: I do not in anyway guarantee your results or any improvement. Everyone has different capabilities and working styles. This is just me sharing friendly advice.


But why would I give advice to people competing with me for grades?
As I said earlier, this is not perfect. This is just an RFC. I want you guys to make comments and suggestions on my study guide, because improvements can definitely be made. In fact, I would go so far to say that, if I don't receive any comments for this, I probably won't put up anymore things like this. 


So, let's help each other out ok?  =)