purple Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I'm having a bit of trouble studying and doing homework. I'm just too slow - whereas other people might take one hour to do an essay, it might take me two. Or three. When I'm doing reading assignments I tried making outlines, but it takes me three hours to do two pages, and I just gave up recently. How do you guys get all of your homework and studying done in the time you have and still get any sleep? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Prioritize. Don't do stuff the teacher isn't marking unless it's for your own understanding... and work on your own method of "understanding". Personally, I make summary notes before exams.I only work on what's necessary i.e. what's due. If I can get away with not doing it, then I don't do it. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biochem Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 well in order to answer your question, i do have to inform you that I dont sleep - and I have similar problems.Prioritize is a good key concept. For example, tomorrow I have a 200+ vocab quiz on history vocabulary, spanish oral + thermodynamics quiz in chemistry. I know that studying these words wont be helpful, and plus its only a 10 question quiz afterall, so I wont be studying for that. the spanish oral, I will complete literally the minute I get up to do it (make it up as I go) since its only a short amount of time and my topic is conversational. the chemistry quiz I cannot escape, and since it will be hard and its weight as a grade is heavy, I will take about 5 hours of studying to really get the concepts + math down. So making these kinds of choices is what you would need. Reading for me takes froever, I once took 4 hours to read 20 pages of a play, because I annotated everything. I know this is inescapable, so I always do the reading hw ahead of time.I think a lot of time allocation is knowing your strength and weaknesses. I know my good subjects, and the types of tests I perform well on. Those I have trouble with, I attack head on. Use your weekends to get ahead. Please do not waste your time by allowing yourself for free-time to be eaten up Everytime by watching a movie or something. You should be spending some quantity of time, outside the clasroom, in order to cover the concepts. the biggest mistake people make, especially on this site, is thinking that 'ooohh..we covered this in class, so I must know it". no, this is completely false. my class covered Oxidation but it doesnt mean anyone understood it to Ib standards. I had to take several days to learn the topic myself. So study outside and make your goals.I have yet to miss a single assignment in almost 3 years it is now, since I started pre-IB (IB1 now). my goals and priority are, do everything and nothing gets left behind or not done. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternalx Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 IB is horrible. I tried to study my mandarine characters but I'm like clueless because they're extremely hard to remember. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biochem Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) IB is horrible. I tried to study my mandarine characters but I'm like clueless because they're extremely hard to remember.I cant do them either. I am really upset that I learned, little of what I know, of madarin without learning how to write Language is much more manipulative with writing. All I know is when this phrase is encountered --> follow it up with this one. Going to slowly let it dissipate out of my system, and then absorb it back up with a strong hand. Later. during college or something.but u dont know how jelous I am. Its my dream to study Mandarin in IB. arrrrr. I would get a 7 with my enthusiasm!! Edited February 19, 2009 by biochem Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperbole Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I find that setting small goals within an assignment helps me. So for example, for an essay I might write an outline and then go do something else (only something short; no more than fifteen minutes!) before writing the actual essay, which I might divide into two or three parts as well. (Unless I'm writing a practice Paper 1 or Paper 2 in English/Swedish/French in which case I just set the timer and go.)As for reading, I find that if I just read the material carefully before class, I can make detailed notes much better while we're going over the topic in class than I can by writing my own summary outside of class. The risk with writing your own summary of a text you've just read is that you go way too much into detail, which takes time to write and which will never be quite useful for study purposes later anyway. I find that what I get written down as I listen to discussions in class is much, much more useful! (Of course, it makes it a bit more difficult to participate orally myself, but I don't like speaking anyway.) Learning to take your own notes quickly while listening to something is supposed to be very useful for university studies as well, as far as I've heard.For vocab learning: post-it notes! Everywhere! It's been a while since I needed to do this, but I always used to have my mirrors and doorways and places like that filled with notes with words on them. That way I would see them every day, several times, and after a while they would be stuck there. (This is especially helpful with learning genders in French. )As a rule, I never miss any sleep doing homework. I've pulled two allnighters in the last half year, but that was because I needed to get ahead and right then and there I had the concentration and inspiration. Work when you feel like it, and PLAN. If you know that you will get short assignments to do during the week, make sure to do longer things and reading during the weekend. Find an hour in the morning to work on one thing, and then an afternoon a few days later.And as everybody else is saying, prioritise. Don't skip work, but try to do it in the right order. Perhaps there's one subject you don't need, or don't like? Then do that work last.I hope you find some good strategies. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashika Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Use your weekends to get ahead. Please do not waste your time by allowing yourself for free-time to be eaten up Everytime by watching a movie or something. You should be spending some quantity of time, outside the clasroom, in order to cover the concepts. Seriously, I could not agree more.I didn't do this in IB, but in my first semester of University I learned this the hard way.Whenever I realized I had no work on a weekend, I wouldn't touch a book and I'd go out all night and day, and trust me, my grades suffered for it. And once I got so far into the semester it was like I couldn't get out of the rut I put myself into. Trust me, it was bad and I felt like crap every night because I would go days without sleeping playing catch up when finals came around. I did manage to get a really good GPA, but was it worth all the torture I had to put myself to get it? No, not at all.I changed that this semester and I know a lot of people here either ridicule me for being so intense this semester or are just... for lack of a better word, in awe of how school-psycho I've become. Just wait until you get into that situation.In short: do your work even if you think you have nothing to do... there is never NOTHING to do.Learning to take your own notes quickly while listening to something is supposed to be very useful for university studies as well, as far as I've heard.Yes, it's very true. It isn't high school anymore. None of my profs write anything out aside from my calculus prof. Otherwise they use powerpoint presentations which are just the bare bones of the lecture and they expect you to take notes on what they say based on what you think is important. Some people think this is hard, but you adjust to it very quickly. Edited February 19, 2009 by Ashika Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternalx Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I cant do them either. I am really upset that I learned, little of what I know, of madarin without learning how to write Language is much more manipulative with writing. All I know is when this phrase is encountered --> follow it up with this one. Going to slowly let it dissipate out of my system, and then absorb it back up with a strong hand. Later. during college or something.but u dont know how jelous I am. Its my dream to study Mandarin in IB. arrrrr. I would get a 7 with my enthusiasm!!You're kidding me, I cannot remember the words because the lines are very confusing. Now I'm stuck with 60 unlearnt words which i have to somehow remember in 2 days (weekends) and besides the class is also going ahead. I think I'll fail mandarine. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenSara Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 The B&M people: How do you study? I really have a hard time finding a suitable way of studying B&M thoroughly...It's hard to remember all the stuff when you are to apply it during the tests. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 The B&M people: How do you study? I really have a hard time finding a suitable way of studying B&M thoroughly...It's hard to remember all the stuff when you are to apply it during the tests.Not to sound like a pompous git, but when I did the B&M exam, I just knew it all! B&M is an application and real life subject, so all you need to do when in the exam, is answer the question and apply the correct terminology. The best way to do this is to go through the syllabus and learn the key terms. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashika Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Picture your teacher or boyfriend/girlfriend naked. That always gets me motivated.Man, that would distract me. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternalx Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Man, that would distract me. Same. But that's a little bit overboard. Well to be honest the best way to not get distracted is to not use the internet. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luk3tm Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I generally focus on my Internal Assessments and only do stuff that helps my understanding if I have way to much work. In this case, there will always be sometimes where you might have to go the late night. Otherwise, I try to minimize the time i spend procrastinating by giving myself a goal to work towards then rewarding myself for achieving it. Try to think about everything that you do in your average day and think where you waste time and try to minimize this as much as possible. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilia Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 The B&M people: How do you study? I really have a hard time finding a suitable way of studying B&M thoroughly...It's hard to remember all the stuff when you are to apply it during the tests.I'll ask the same question, but a different subject, PHYSICS!How does one study physics with a useless book, handouts with question from a better book, but no theory part, which means that if you get stuck, you can't do anything about it? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternalx Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I'll ask the same question, but a different subject, PHYSICS!How does one study physics with a useless book, handouts with question from a better book, but no theory part, which means that if you get stuck, you can't do anything about it?You get on google or a good website and read about how the stuff works, when to apply formulas and then practice with some questions. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
purple Posted February 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 (edited) I'll ask the same question, but a different subject, PHYSICS!How does one study physics with a useless book, handouts with question from a better book, but no theory part, which means that if you get stuck, you can't do anything about it?Our teacher always sticks odd theory questions that he never taught us on the test =\ it's horrible. Also! Do you guys highlight your textbooks? Does it help? How much do you highlight? What do you highlight? Edited February 22, 2009 by purple Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fridaywarning Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 1) Yes - never ever waste time! 2) Energy drinks. Just kidding! (sort of..i've had my share of Rockstar/AMP)3) I find that a planner is really helpful, it helps you know what you have to get done and when.4) This has been already stated, but just do the bare minimum. At this point, it's sort of easy to see what is busy work and what really counts. For example, I hardy do anything but essays and quizzes in my IB Lit and manage to keep an A. Of course, if you need the extra to pad your grades, DO IT. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toffu-san Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 I'll ask the same question, but a different subject, PHYSICS!How does one study physics with a useless book, handouts with question from a better book, but no theory part, which means that if you get stuck, you can't do anything about it?Look at this answer of Purple, it may help you:http://www.ibsurvival.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5199 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Our teacher always sticks odd theory questions that he never taught us on the test =\ it's horrible. Also! Do you guys highlight your textbooks? Does it help? How much do you highlight? What do you highlight?I've never highlighted or wrote on any of my textbooks (except for Eng... writing in novels/plays = yes please) but my notes are concise yet inclusive. I do read material outside of class and add these points to my notes, but that's because I hate carrying heavy textbooks, etc around. If I can summarize a page in a phrase, why not! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermine0817 Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Also! Do you guys highlight your textbooks? Does it help? How much do you highlight? What do you highlight?My teacher (esp. the english one) recommends us to do this, but I don't do it.Feels like raping the book Anyways, the pages are often so thin that you can see the highlight on the next page as well.If you want to use highlight, I would take those in colored pencil format - they won't dirty the next page.I use sticky notes / PostIts instead.What you highlight or note would be according to our taste:What you find important, hard to remember etc. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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