Studying Habits
After 14 years in school, I do believe that I have perfected my studying habits. When I was in grade school, I remember using flash cards, having other people quiz me, and also reading my notes over and over again. I remember countless study guides as well. Once I got into high school, I continued to use flash cards for my Spanish class and I continued to read over and over again the notes that I had for other classes. I normally only studied the night before, though, because I felt that I had learned it well enough in class that all I needed to do was to review all of the concepts that I had learned. In my junior year, I had one of my toughest classes to date-- U.S. History Honors. It was essentially an AP class, and no matter how hard I tried I could not get an A on the test. The teacher for my U.S. History Honors class would hand out a study guide sheet full of terms, people, and events to know. Every time I received one of these study guides, I would try to start a few days early, go through all of my notes, and find every little bit of information I could about every term, person and event. My study guides would end up being 12-20 pages long, taking me forever to type them. After I finished typing them, I would read it over and over and over again. I would test myself and if I was correct, I would cross that term, person, or event off and continue studying everything else I did not know. This class actually helped me realize how helpful this strategy is for me. I did the same thing for most of my classes the next year and throughout my college career so far.
My college studying habits are a little different from where I was in high school. I almost always read the chapter before the lecture and I will jot down anything I find really important. If I know the teacher will give hand outs to us, I will usually not take really in-depth notes unless I do not find his or hers helpful. If I know we have a test coming up, I will try to start reading over the notes four to five days in advance just so I can re-familiarize myself with the topic. If the teacher gives us a study guide, I do exactly what I did in high school; I will start a week before the test and make a typed study guide of everything that was on the list. I will then read over it again and again until I know the material and can cross it off. For language classes, I will make note cards of all the vocabulary and try to test myself with those at every free moment I have. By the time the test comes around, I have already memorized all of them. I usually do not differentiate between hard and easy concepts; I go through the book and study the concepts in order. If it is a particular hard concept, I will just repeat studying and practicing that concept until I know that I understand it.
Some of the learning and studying strategies presented in module 12 are implemented in my life. I try to take notes as much as I can in class because I know that it helps me to remember it when I write it down. It also gives me a little more confidence that I can always go back and look at what the teacher had said in class. I definitely try to start studying earlier because it is less stress on myself and usually easier to learn that way. I do not feel as stressed to know every little bit of information that I am reading at that moment because I know that I have several more days that I can use to learn that information. Module 12 talks about how with region of proximal learning, the learner will focus on more difficult tasks and concepts. This is true of me when I am using my study guide method. When I cross of the things I already know, it results in me going over the harder concepts multiple times more than I did with the easier concepts. Learning more about study strategies definitely helped me feel more confident in my study habits.
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My college studying habits are a little different from where I was in high school. I almost always read the chapter before the lecture and I will jot down anything I find really important. If I know the teacher will give hand outs to us, I will usually not take really in-depth notes unless I do not find his or hers helpful. If I know we have a test coming up, I will try to start reading over the notes four to five days in advance just so I can re-familiarize myself with the topic. If the teacher gives us a study guide, I do exactly what I did in high school; I will start a week before the test and make a typed study guide of everything that was on the list. I will then read over it again and again until I know the material and can cross it off. For language classes, I will make note cards of all the vocabulary and try to test myself with those at every free moment I have. By the time the test comes around, I have already memorized all of them. I usually do not differentiate between hard and easy concepts; I go through the book and study the concepts in order. If it is a particular hard concept, I will just repeat studying and practicing that concept until I know that I understand it.
Some of the learning and studying strategies presented in module 12 are implemented in my life. I try to take notes as much as I can in class because I know that it helps me to remember it when I write it down. It also gives me a little more confidence that I can always go back and look at what the teacher had said in class. I definitely try to start studying earlier because it is less stress on myself and usually easier to learn that way. I do not feel as stressed to know every little bit of information that I am reading at that moment because I know that I have several more days that I can use to learn that information. Module 12 talks about how with region of proximal learning, the learner will focus on more difficult tasks and concepts. This is true of me when I am using my study guide method. When I cross of the things I already know, it results in me going over the harder concepts multiple times more than I did with the easier concepts. Learning more about study strategies definitely helped me feel more confident in my study habits.
Image URL:http://www.outlooktechnicalsupport.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Girl-at-Computer.jpg