Source
r/college•
itzknockout

Need help with studying methods

Hey all,

I'm a CS student who quite frankly up to this point has never had to put much effort in to do well in school, this whole semester I haven't been doing well on exams, even though I feel like I've been trying more so than I ever have in my life.

It's super frustrating, but I feel like I'm just not studying correctly. If I could get some advice as to how you guys study for exams I would really appreciate it.

For my calc class, I write down notes, look at them, and try to look at each concept individually; starting 2-3 days before my exam.

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I still do well on my quiz's, HW, paper's, etc.. it's literally just my exams. I think the best score I've gotten on one is around an 80. Every other exam i've gotten at best a D. Really demotivating but I do like coding so I don't want to give up.

Posted Nov 22, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

1912
alcohall183•

i find math isn't something i can just memorize. I have to practice with it. try it out. get a feel for why the formula works the way it does. i do a LOT of practice problems. if i don't understand the problem, i go back to my notes. At what point did i get lost? did i skip a step? did i write down the wrong formula? perhaps a tutor would be helpful. They may get you to see where you're misstepping.

11
itzknockoutOP•

So you memorize the formula then practice with it to understand how to use it? Do you ever look up types of problems online to get a general feel for how it should be solved or nah?

1
alcohall183•

Memorize is hard. I try though. But if i understand why i use a formula it's easier to remember it.

1
KookieKutter•

You just gotta take a second to assess where in these tests you are getting killed by. You more than likely are not doing enough examples and if going through your homework and quizzes aren’t enough you should find examples in the book.

You do the homework in an environment where you have your notes by you so you never really get an idea if you full understand the concept or not.

3
itzknockoutOP•

So would you practice with the notes, then after a couple of tries practice without?

1
KookieKutter•

Most definitely. I know whenever I was done with any sort of Calc homework I knew I wasn’t able to be assessed on it unless I go through examples with nothing on me.

Do you find that the test and the homework is similar? Also try comparing the test to some of the questions in the book. You might find these extra examples much more helpful than you think.

1
itzknockoutOP•

Noo the test questions are a lot harder than the homework, the hw is just for bare essentials. Same thing in my data structures class. Thats actually a good point, i should in the future see where in the book (if he does take it from the book) the problems come from.

Do you make yourself a study guide of sorts?

1
KookieKutter•

Yeah my study guide usually consists of an overview of each topic that will be on the test and the equations that I have to memorize. I make a page usually dedicated to each topic and write different kinds of examples on those pages.

Definitely use any resource that your university offers involving tutoring. A lot of the times the people who are helping you have taken the same professor and might even have their old exams.

2
julianacastillo•

My biggest tip is doing a lot of practice for every calc concept. If you’re given practice exams try them without notes and the problems that you have trouble with you practice until you’re fluent in the concept. Math is based off of practice, not reading

1
todds-•

Anything with problems to work out I just do practice problems over and over. I copy every homework and lecture slide and seminar example into a notebook and before tests I then gave a huge bank to look through and re-do and make sure I know how to solve each type.

1
harlequinnx•

I also find that when I get flustered I make stupid mistakes- the kind where you look over the test when it gets handed back and wonder why in the hell you put that down. I would suspect that the pressure you are putting on yourself might be contributing to your difficulty learning this subject. I know reducing that stress is easier said than done, but try and do your best.

1
crimson1206•

I‘m from the EU so the overall system regarding exams etc is different but the same methods should still work. For ally my math/natural science/cs classes I start by going everything relevant and writing a short summary. After that you have to do exercises. For me the split is about 10% of my time investment is spent on the first part while 90% is spent on solving exercises. Depending on the person what your optimal split is will vary but I firmly believe that for anybody the best way to study for stem classes is doing exercises.

1