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December 15, 2004
Why I study so much better when under pressure...
So I started questioning why my efforts at studying are so much more fruitful two days before the exam...and I think I've narrowed it down to a few things.
1 - I don't care about all the fluff. An ENORMOUS amount of class time is spent on crap! Useless...rambling on about theory and "wouldn't it be nice" fantasies. When I sat down and asked myself what do I REALLY need to know... BAM... 60% of my notes gets chopped off.
2 - I take the remaining 40% of my notes...and ask myself.. What do I REALLY REALLY need to know? Cause I got one day to learn it! So I drop all the relevant but unlikely to be discussed topics. That usually pares down the material to around 20%.
3 - Next... I realized, about 70 - 80% of the exam is going to be on certain core ideas... basically the ones the professor likes. So lets focus on those.
4. Finally... and the most important step... I AIM FOR THE "B". That just gets rid of all my anxiety about being "perfect". I don't try to memorize...I don't get crazy trying to figure out the intricate details.... I just want to "GET IT"... so what do I have to do to make it all fit together in some way so I can talk about in a way that makes sense. I just try very hard to talk about it so that all the internal logic is consistent...and all the pieces have their place.
NOW... How do I get myself to do whats listed above... when I DON'T have exams hanging over my head.... HMMMMMMMM....
Deserves more thought.
Posted by intetsu at December 15, 2004 12:05 AM
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