How to Study effectively, and not waste time?

[Ghost]

Failed my first test today. I couldn't do any of the questions.

Now, well, I'm freaking the hell out.

Clearly I'm not doing enough. Time to make a change.

I wake up, I get ready for school and do a quick workout.

3:30pm, get home.

Everything after that is just leaping around between computer and games, occasionally eating dinner.

For some reason there is no study, no learning. As soon as I get home it is just wasted time.

This time should be used for three things.

1) Study

2) Exercising

3) Entertainment

Unfortunately it is all the third.

It shouldn't be hard to just structure a day. Or even an afternoon.

But then I need to learn how to learn. Staring at a page just won't get me far.

Currently I have to learn Coordinate Geometry, I have my school textbook and questions for that.

And also I need to learn Python for a programming school challenge. I'm using the NCSS site for that, along with Codeacademy.

TL;DR How can I learn new concepts and retain knowledge. And how can I structure my day/time to achieve more.

[shortstuff]

How you thought of making a schedule? I know it's more time mangement, but it may help with the whole time wasting after school side of things.

[Ghost]

I've thought about it, but I just don't know how

[shortstuff]

Maybe set it up so that you have a hour block for each thing, starting from when you get home to when you go to bed. With the hour blocks, you pick what is in each block, so it may look something like this

3.30-4.30 homework

4.30-5.30 work out

5.30-6.30 tea

6.30-7.30 homework

7.30-8.30 video games

8.30 get ready for bed and go to bed

Expect you put in what you want to and make the blocks as long or as short as you want

[Mad Rocker]

Some good advice posted already, if you need more, AoM did a post about studying a while back that I bookmarked:

http://artofmanliness.com/2012/01/03/ace-your-exams-study-tactics-of-the-successful-gentleman-scholar/

[azsf]

i tend to go the other way to the ideas suggested above; setting out blocks of time to study never worked for me. i needed the ol' "study smarter, not longer" or whatever.

i seem to remember you saying you were 16, so im assuming you're in highschool. if that's the case, the best advice is to stop dicking around at school and learn there. you're at a desk for already for 6-7 hours 5 days a week, being taught by people who already know this stuff. learn from them, ask questions if you're unsure. fuck the school politics and use that time the way it should be used. the more time you waste in class, the more time you have to spend studying at home.

when you do get home, my focus would be on consolidating what you've learned that day. don't try to learn new things, just try to commit the things you've already learned to your long term memory. find a practical way to use what you've learnt. if you're learning python, try building 1 or 2 quick scripts, or use a particular function you went through that day. if the things you're learning are more conceptual or theoretical than practical, i always found steady state cardio to be a great way to process and organise new ideas.

and finally, make a list of questions for tomorrow after you're done. think "what did i learn, and what do i know?". anywhere that there is a gap, write it down and ask your teacher about it. talk to your friends / parents about the ideas.

i know this is often boring as shit in highschool where you don't really get to choose what you study, but if you want to stop failing, this is what i would suggest.

[realbrickwall]

This is what has helped me ensure studying.

I am trying to increase my Japanese level, so I have made it a personal promise (and a NF challenge goal) to study Japanese 30 minutes a day with no distractions or interruptions. Now, is 30 minutes a lot? No. So I have no excuse to not do it. Ever. No matter what kind of day I have.

Two weeks later, that's 7 hours of Japanese studying that I would not have gotten otherwise. And now that I actually get to set my own schedule for the day, I'm hoping for larger blocks. But giving myself a small but ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY amount every day has gotten me more studying done than anything.

Maybe it will work for you, and maybe it won't, but try giving yourself small goals that you can't even consider not meeting. Then try going past them when you feel up to it.

Studying effectively during your dedicated study time is obviously a whole other matter. Try out different things. Maybe it will help you to re-write important concepts. Maybe it will help you to talk to someone about them, even if the other person doesn't know much about them (perhaps invent an imaginary student for you to tutor). Maybe try to draw pictures that describe the information. People learn well in different ways! Try to engage different senses and activities.

[shortstuff]

i seem to remember you saying you were 16, so im assuming you're in highschool. if that's the case, the best advice is to stop dicking around at school and learn there. you're at a desk for already for 6-7 hours 5 days a week, being taught by people who already know this stuff. learn from them, ask questions if you're unsure. fuck the school politics and use that time the way it should be used. the more time you waste in class, the more time you have to spend studying

This was so me at school. I was one of those kids who actually did their work at school. Once someone told me that I'm all work and no play, but he never saw me at home where I did very little work

By doing most of my work at school, I guess you could say I had a pretty stress free year 12, by stress free I mean, not going home and doing home work each night. Why I am telling you this? Well it shows that by doing work at school, you free up more time at home to study

[Ghost]

I do work at school, all the time.

Even my lunch time I work. I'm just not very fast at doing things, and I find it hard to grasp concepts fully all the time.

So I spend way more time just trying to wrap my head around things, and then I take forever to do the thing.

[shortstuff]

Have you tried different ways of grasping concepts? Everyone is different, what works for one person might not work for another person.

[caithnard]

If you're having trouble grasping concepts, maybe try studying with friends? Just having it explained a different way than your teacher did can be all that you need, and working together and explaining problems to each other is a fantastic way to make sure you really understand what you're doing.

I like to set a consistent study schedule for myself, including a study hall from 7-9. This is no internet study time, since there's no way on earth I can be productive while also having the internet. Obviously you'll have some homework that you need the internet for and you should schedule time to do it outside of this period, but use this time to do homework on paper or review/preview classes. Other than that, I guess make sure you're taking effective notes and you're looking over them. I actually take two sets of notes--one in class then I copy everything over (to increase legibility, add in notes where I fell asleep, etc) to a clean set of notes which is the one I keep in my binder. Use highlighters or different colors to color code your notes. I'm engineering, so I have one color for formulas, another for definitions (always with units!), and another for examples. I tend to write the examples as things like 'EXAMPLE - NERNST EQUATION' so when I'm doing my homework, it's easy to find the example problem in class that corresponds to the homework problem. Other than a color code, take your notes in a readable, meaningful way. I find that having a clear indentation system works so I can tell subjects vs. sub-topics really easily. Write things different ways to indicate headers or other things you should pay attention to. I have freakishly nice handwriting, so I'll alternate between ALL CAPS, cursive/italics and change the way I space letters so I can scan my notes quickly and find what I need.

As far as exams go, figure out when your exams are and always be studying for them. Review what your learnt in class that night, not a month down the road. Set aside a time once or week or so to go over everything you've learnt. Think about how it all fits together (within the subject). That way, when exams come up, there's not a daunting level of material to learn because it's all fresh in your mind. After exams, review the material again. Figure out what you didn't know as well as you thought you did and fix that (this is especially important for cumulative classes, like math or science)

Finally, figure out what motivates you. I have a spreadsheet of all of my grades (including what my current letter grade would be) that I update constantly and print out every week to put on my wall, so I can see when I failed and forgot to do a homework assignment or didn't study for an exam as much as I should. Having my grades up like that (and not just recycling a bad test) forces me to be more accountable and to not get sloppy. On a more positive note, put up something that reminds you of a career you're working towards or a university you want to get in to. Maybe a picture of a smart guy you want to emulate or an academic award you previously achieved. When you do get a good test grade, pin it up on your wall to remind yourself that you can do this.

ETA: seconding that you make a schedule. I have absolutely everything on my gcal, including the aforementioned study hall and silly things like when I sleep and eat. I don't always follow everything, because undoubtedly comes up (a consistent full nights sleep in college is a laughable idea...) but having it on there then makes me feel guilty about playing games or browsing reddit after my bedtime and I'll go to bed quicker than if I didn't do that. I forget to do things like eat and sleep enough an embarrassing number of times during the school year.

[azsf]

I do work at school, all the time.

Fair enough, i was projecting a little bit in my post if you find yourself struggling to get concepts, can you try getting a tutor (or paying your smart friends to informally tutor you)?

[Ghost]

Okay, so after a very motivational conversation with my uncle (who by the way is incredibly successful), I've have decided the only way I can achieve what I need to is with structure.

I made no progress whatsoever since I originally posted this. I have found new ways to learn at home and the like (such as Khan Academy), and I now have an eReader which could help with learning if I get the right books.

But I'm still wasting all my time. My Uncle said to me that if I beat a certain educational ranking of his, he will give me $5000.

And $5000 is a lot of money, that could go a long way.

So naturally I want to step up my game a bit.

I have the resources, I have the ability, all I need is some help with designing a daily plan.

My logic behind this is that Specificity + Frequency = Success. Now that I think about it, it's almost like a life form of greasing the groove

But if anyone can help me just let me know please. Either just post on here or send me a message, thanks!

[flourless]

I do work at school, all the time.

Even my lunch time I work. I'm just not very fast at doing things, and I find it hard to grasp concepts fully all the time.

So I spend way more time just trying to wrap my head around things, and then I take forever to do the thing.

My mom is like this. In particular, she reads very slowly, and has to work through things in her head longer. But when she sat for the CPA exam, she had the highest score in the state (and got an award for it.) It can be done, but you have to have faith in yourself that you can do it.

You've identified two issues; effective studying and time management. I agree that time management is probably the logical primary focus. Right now it sounds like you're doing no post-school studying, so anything would be an improvement.

Greasing the groove would suggest that you do something like: you set an alarm, and every hour you spend 15 minutes studying.

Nerdfitness has an article about productivity that suggests other approaches http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/08/13/productivity/

IME, starting is the hardest part. So I'd look at your after school schedule and see when the earliest you can reasonably study is. Right after you get home? Right after you get home and have a snack? Right after you get home and do your chores? Do it then. Every day. Do it until it's done. Before you play games. Before you watch TV. Then reward yourself for a job well done with something you enjoy.

[Avistew]

Codecademy tracks your studying. I know that it really pushes me to study every single day because it adds to my streak. You could try something like that, saying you need to get a perfect streak, and aiming for a specific number of points per day (I usually get around 50, but I'm still starting and I expect to slow down as I go).

Give yourself coding projects. Look up ideas for projects at your level, for instance for me I saw a suggestion for a game that picks a random number between 1 and 100, asks you to guess it, tells you if your guess is too high or too low, then tells you how many tried it took you to guess. I also added some code that calls you a smartass if you try to input something that's not a number.

I found out that having to write something from scratch, without the guidelines they give you at codecademy, was really helpful to me. Maybe if you give you a specific project to do once a week, that will keep you pushing. Plus, it will practice your bug-fixing, and you might have to google some things you don't know how to do yet, and thereby learn them.

For the rest, I think a plan similar to a workout plan would be best. Know how long you want to study every day, which days are rest days, etc. To avoid burning out on a subject, give yourself the ability to switch to something different provided you have met your minimum requirement for each subject.

That is, I would plan a certain amount of time for studying, but not say that it has to be 100% python, because if you end up with something that is hard for you to get past, studying something for a bit and then going back to it will help.

Then plan breaks. You need your brain to rest between "sets" just like your body needs to. So instead of one big block of just studying, divide it into smaller blocks, and put activities you like that help you relax in between. And make sure to regularly review what you learned recently, I would set a quick time for that at the beginning of every lesson reviewing the previous one, and once a week a big review of the previous week.

[Azk4]

Well for your maths, I used to do my problems on a fun white board (the one with the markers that are wiped away). I used to pretend I was like this guy when doing my maths (like I pretended I knew everything and was teaching someone so I HAD to get it right all the time!!). It was really fun (for me! I love to pretend I'm hosting an interesting show about something. It used to be about clay making when I dug up some clay in my garden and tried to make a pot. "Okay, now try to smooth the sides with your hands and put it out to freeze in the night." (I thought clay froze to make it hard, lol! I was only 10!!!)).

That's what works for me in maths (Maths is the subject that I am the worst at (I only do 4 now) so I need to really focus on it). When I'm doing chemistry or physics I also like to write down important notes on the board, then wipe it out, and try to write it out again without making any errors.

I'm not sure what to do with your programming though, sorry!

What I'm saying is, WHITEBOARDS FTW!!!