How to Study ? | Imp.Study techniques for CA,CWA,CS
Useful Study Techniques For CA, CWA, CS students
Study Groups ( Combined Studies )
The difference between a study group and a tutorial situation is that a tutor is someone who can be relied on to know what he/she is talking about. The students in a study group, on the other hand, are all learning the material at the same time.
Study groups and study partners can be very effective if certain guidelines are observed. You should only work with people who take the same serious attitude toward their studies as you do.
Decide how you are going to work together, make sure everyone shares equally in the responsibilities and the advantages, and stick to your agreement unless everyone agrees to make changes.
For best results, here are the ways to use a study group ( Combined Studies ) :
1.When: Join a study group after you have learned the facts and ideas you need to know to avoid learning incorrect information.
2. Why: The purpose of the group should be conversation--sit back, listen to the others, and tell what you know. This exercises your sight and sound senses and your mouth muscles, so you benefit three ways.
3. How : An effective technique is for each member to prepare five essay questions in advance and then for the group to take turns answering them all. If your group needs to work on memorization of facts, drill one another with clue words.
4. Where: Choose a place where there are no distractions so the group can give its entire attention to the subject.
5. How long: One hour spent with everyone's mind on the subject is worth four hours' work with time-outs every few minutes for fun and games.
6. Who: Anyone, as long as he or she understands the point of the study group is not to teach, but to discuss facts and ideas that are already learned; not to socialize, but to study.
Also Read :
A study group or partner cannot take the place of effective individual study. You must do the groundwork (attend lectures, read the textbook, etc.) and you must take the first steps to recall and review the material yourself. Study groups or partners can drill each other, help each other practice new skills, clarify difficult points, present new viewpoints on the material, or pose questions for each other.
Mnemonic Devices
Some students employ mnemonic devices to help them remember crucial information. Some mnemonics are words whose letters stand for things to be remembered (ROY G BIV is the mnemonic for the colors of the light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. HOMES lists the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior); some are sentences in which the first letter of each word is the key. ("Every good boy does fine" names the musical notes on the lines of the treble staff: E,G,B,D,F.) Mnemonics can be useful, but if you create too many of them, you have the problem of trying to memorize the mnemonics rather than the information they represent.
External Memory
External memory refers to all physical devices that help memory: lists, memos, diaries, alarm clocks, etc. Many people fail to make the best use of such help. One handy form of external memory is the deliberately misplaced object. Put a familiar object in an unfamiliar place where you cannot miss seeing it. When you see it, it will serve as a reminder to you and help you recall what you wanted to remember.
Reviewing
One of the oldest facts known about memory is that the more times you review your notes by testing yourself, the longer you will remember the information. Even a single review after you think you know it well can dramatically increase the length of time over which you can remember something. It is also important to space out review sessions rather than cramming them all together--30 minutes per day is better than three times in a row for 90 minutes. There is a point of diminishing return: if you space out your reviews too much, you begin to forget.
For most people, the ideal spacing is:
- 1st review-5-10 minutes after learning
- 2nd review--later the same day
- 3rd review--one week later
- 4th review--one month later
- 5th review-just before the exam.
To take further advantage of spaced-out reinforcement, break up your final test review time into two periods.
Study Breaks
You will do your most effective studying if you take a 10-minute break between subjects. It helps three ways:
- It is part of behavior modification and rewards you for putting in 50 minutes of study effort.
- It acts just like a brief nap and allows for some free subconscious reinforcement of your learning.
- It keeps brain-wave interference at a minimum by separating the two subjects very clearly in your mind.
DON'T BE RIGID ABOUT TAKING BREAKS or you will end up watching the clock more than the books. One good time to take a short break (5 minutes) is right after reading your textbook assignment.
Sleep
Individuals who slept after memorizing material recalled more than those who stayed awake. It makes little difference whether a person sleeps immediately after learning or waits a few hours; it is the sleep that is important. Sleep before learning does not help learning. In fact, a short period of sleep just before new learning can seriously increase forgetting. If students were awakened two or four hours before learning, however, their memory was no longer affected by sleep. If you do not plan to go over and relearn material you study, it is best to sleep four hours or longer between the time you study and the time you have to recall the information. Do not sleep before you study unless you allow yourself a period of time of being awake before you start studying seriously.
Rote Memorization
Straight memorizing is the least dependable way to remember. To keep straight memorizing to a minimum:
- Associate. Link it to something you do remember.
- Visualize. Make a picture in your mind's eye.
- Sound out. Say it aloud and listen to its sound.
- Count. It helps if you know the number of points you need to remember.
- Abbreviate. The mind's eye recalls short blocks of capital letters more quickly than several long words. Formulas are abbreviations too.
Some things have to be memorized primarily by rote (poems, a part in a play, etc.).
Find key words in the passage, then search for a relationship that leads you from one to the next. Unless a passage is very long, try to memorize it all at once instead breaking it up into pieces. If you must learn it piecemeal, keep the chunks as big as possible, and work hardest on learning the links between the chunks. For example, if you are memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution, emphasize the first word of each statement to get yourself started. Repeat the fact or idea or passage until you know it cold--then wait five minutes and repeat it a few times more. This is called over learning.
Tape lists of the material you are memorizing in various places: the bathroom mirror, a kitchen cabinet door, your car dashboard, your wallet, etc. This way you can practice your recall at every opportunity.
Cramming (last minute preparation)
Last-minute cramming is not a good thing to do. It is definitely not learning and it is a very ineffective way to prepare for a test. In order to effectively prepare for a test at the last minute, you must be very selective in what you study. You must eliminate from consideration most of what you should learn in order to study and remember what you must know in order to get a passing grade.
Select only a handful of the most general and significant main ideas from each chapter of the text and from your lecture notes. Write this information down, along with the absolute minimum of supporting facts and details. Put aside all your other materials and concentrate all your efforts on those few study sheets. Obviously, you have taken a chance by selecting only certain ideas and facts, but trying to remember too much dooms you to remembering nothing.
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