Is there such a thing as Overstudying?

Question

I'm a college student taking Calculus 2.
I got an A on my first test, and today I just took my second test.
Yesterday, I studied math for 7 hours - just doing integrals non stop, and went to bed at around 12:30 midnight. My math class is 8:15 in the morning.
I was really hoping i'd do well on the test today, but there were 2 questions I just couldn't figure out, one of them was: the integral S X^3 / X^8 + 1 dx . And the other one was something really complicated I can't type in here. After the test, I thought back and realized WOW it was so obvious... F(x)= Arctan (X^5) + C. I cannot believe I was so damn stupid and did not figure it out. So my question is....is there such a thing as overstudying? Did I overstudy? Does that actually have a negative effect on you?Because during the test - I felt so stupid - I just stared at those problems and couldn't come up with anything in my head..and I'm a perfectionist when it comes to grades so you can imagine how hard this is for me

Answer 1

You absolutely can study too much.

Ever heard the phrase "cannot see the forest for the trees"? I think that's what happens. You stress out over knowing everything, that you stare at simple questions going, "Huh?" and thinking that there must be a complicated answer.

I learned a big lesson in grad school, one I wish I'd learned long before. I met a new friend, and did some big projects with her for courses. She taught me that you can shoot yourself in the foot if you overwork your brain and stress out over a test or presentation the night before. Her policy about presentations was you burn to CD two nights before -ie, no changes allowed! Same applies for tests. Study like mad and finish your studying two nights before, then simply do a light review the night before. My grades, not that they're important at grad level, shot sky-high after learning that lesson.

Psychologists have known for years and years that your brain needs down-time to assimilate information and to problem-solve.

Hopefully you, too, will learn a big lesson here. Not to sound too preachy, but ... relax about grades. You'll see that the world doesn't fall down because you missed two questions on a calculus class. I was a B student. I'm right where I want to be in life, having gotten straight As wouldn't have changed that one bit - grad school, research, all of that. Nobody will ever look askance at you for those two questions.

Another thing to learn - next time you hit questions like those, take a deep breath. Read them, then leave them. Move on. Go back to them once you've finished the rest of the exam. That way your brain has a chance to work through the problems, without your concious mind interfering.

Answer 2

yes. you'll do much better if you study early the day before, then do something you enjoy the night before the exam, then get a good night sleep. That's not to say that you shouldn't prepare hard... I'd study hard and I don't think 7 hours seems unreasonable even if you did already have an A... but you should do the 7 hours earlier in the day, eat dinner and relax later that day, go to bed and get 8-9 hours of sleep, then take the exam. you'll be prepared and your sleep will enable you to think well. However, it's also good if you're in the same condition you were in when you learned the info... i learned that in psychology... so maybe if you were always tired when you learned the info, you'd do well by being tired... but i still think it would be better to get some sleep.

Answer 3

Yes, I just graduated college, and I almost overstudied for some of my tests. Sometimes you study so much that you start to get the concepts confused w/each other. You would think you would know it better but when you keep going back and forth over and over, it just gets it mixed up. Best thing to do is concentrate hard on each thing while you are studying it and don't go back over it again during that study period.

Answer 4

I guess you can call it overstudying, but the real problem is if you know the material and you keep on studying until you make yourself really nervous, you can do worse than you might have done if you had stopped and relaxed once you knew it.

Answer 5

there is one in each of those element as overstudying. I tell my scholars to do each little thing in 40 5 minute increments. learn for 40 5, relax for 40 5. this provides your ideas and nerves the prospect to quiet down. in case you spend hours interpreting you will get to point once you're no longer to any extent further retaining any advice. that quantity of time is diverse for each guy or woman. My important suggestion might to funds some time so as which you in no way finally end up at a ingredient the place you should cram!

Answer 6

Over Studying

Answer 7

yeah you can over study.