Study tips?

Question

I find it hard remembering stuff. I'm a visual person. Does anyone have any ideas about how i can soak up information quickly?

Answer 1

Study Tips (in no particular order):-
Studying does not equal reading:
Studying involves understanding and analysis -- not merely getting words from the text into your head.
Studying takes more time and effort than reading.
Studying means reading material slowly, reading it more than once, and asking yourself questions about the material.
Do you understand the examples of the concepts that Myers gives in the text? Can you make up your own examples for those concepts?
Can you identify (highlight) the main point of each paragraph? Can you summarize the chapter in a few sentences?
Study regularly:
Remember: for a 3-credit class you should be working/studying about 6 hours a week outside of class time.
Read the assigned chapters before they are discussed in class.
Make a practice of going over your lecture notes very soon after the lecture -- this helps you remember material and it gives you a chance to ask the instructor or classmates about things you missed or didn't understand.
Use small bits of time in your day -- make note cards you can study while traveling or waiting in line.
Avoid being a human tape-recorder during lectures:
Concentrate on understanding what is being said -- if you don't understand it when you hear it, madly writing it down probably won't help.
Write down only the most important points and any associated examples. One way to do this is to divide your notepaper in half from top to bottom; write down the content of the lecture on the left side and any corresponding examples on the right.
Reading the assigned chapter before class will help you understand the lectures -- which means less frantic note-taking.
ASK QUESTIONS -- if you don't understand it, then other people in the class don't either. Raising your hand in class will not hurt you (really) -- and willingness to ask questions is considered positively in your final grade.
Some students find it helpful to compare their lectures notes with those of a classmate -- you may be surprised at what you've missed.
Study your notes -- don't just "go over" them:
Skim your notes from 1 lecture or topic, close your notebook, and reproduce as much of your notes as you can on a piece of scratch paper. Then compare your "scratch" notes to your lecture notes. This way you find out how much information has "stuck" and what parts you need to study some more.
Once you've got most of the material in your head, think about whether you understand how your notes, class demonstrations, and video clips all fit together and explain what's in your text. Are you actually thinking while you're studying? You should be.
Study with someone else:
Write sample test questions for each other, especially those where you must apply concepts in examples of situations
you'll learn both by writing the questions and by answering your friend's questions
Try to explain material that you find difficult to understand out loud to each other -- you'll find out what you do and don't know, and talking out loud forces you to slow down your thought processes and gives you time to put things together.
Work together on comparing and contrasting similar concepts (e.g., sensation and perception)
"Multiple-choice" does not mean "memorize-and-regurgitate" on exams:
The exams in this class focus on how well you can apply concepts to new situations. Memorizing definitions without really understanding the concepts will result in poor exam performance.
Therefore, the examples given during lectures and in your text are important because they illustrate how the concept can be applied in a concrete situation.
One way to reinforce your understanding is to make up multiple choice questions and answer choices for each chapter (try to use examples rather than definitions) -- you'll be surprised at how much you learn by trying to come up with believeable wrong answers for the questions.
Test-taking tips:
You need to correctly answer the most questions (or most points) you can before the time is up
it is a tradeoff between the number of points you can get and time
Look over the whole test first to see whether some questions are worth more points than others (e.g., essays)
answer questions worth more points early, so that you aren't spending most of your time on questions that aren't worth as much
Skim through the questions and answer the easiest ones first, skipping ones you don't immediately know
then, go through the test again and answer the questions that take a little more thinking-- skip the hardest ones
For questions where you have NO IDEA of the correct answer:
try to rule out one or two of the answer choices (for multiple choice), then just guess -- IT IS ALWAYS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TO GUESS RATHER THAN TO LEAVE IT BLANK
Think actively on your test: cross out answer choices that you know are wrong, draw pictures and diagrams, write notes in the margins or on the back, use your test booklet as a scratch pad to outline your ideas before writing the final essay
If you have time at the end, use it -- NO ONE GETS EXTRA POINTS FOR FINISHING EARLY
go over your test and make sure you didn't make silly errors while recording your answers (e.g., 2 circles filled in)
Special multiple-choice test strategies:
Read the question and try to guess what the best answer would be BEFORE you look at the choices.
Read through ALL of the answer choices before choosing -- there might be a "both A and C" option that you miss if you just choose A right off the bat
Be careful with questions that have "not" in them -- the logic of these is tricky
Other Sources of Help

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See the Strategies for Success section at www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/index.html (you'll need to scroll down the page)
Get ASK center hand-outs on test-taking and study tips
Set up an appointment with an ASK center tutor -- e-mail the ASK Center now
Use the study guide for your text -- online or buy one through the bookstore

Answer 2

I'm a visual person, too. When I was in college (i was a history major, so it was all memorization), I used to color code things. That way when I was taking the test, I could visualize how it looked on the page and remember what color it was in. Or I'd use picture to help me associate the answer with something. IT worked for me. If you're a really great visual learner, you can train yourself to remember where things were located on the page. Highlighting in different colors based on the type of information follows the same concept mentioned above.

Answer 3

Use flash cards if your a visual person. And remember to study where it's quiet and where your most comfortable at.

Answer 4

Meditation will increase your concentration & learning power!!