Hi folks,
I just wanted to draw on your wisdom to see what study methods have worked for you in the past to ace the 1st year biology courses (well aside from knowing the exam questions in advance
)
This is my current method:1. Read a section from a chapter in the textbook (say Campbell’s biology) and understand it
2. In my notebook turn the important stuff into questions or fill-in-the-blanks
3. Review prof’s lecture notes for that section (which doesn’t necessarily facilitate learning the stuff in the textbook, but rather builds up on them by adding more jargon)
4. Same as step 2
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 for the next section of the book
6. Review my notes (which is a collection of questions and fill-in-the-blanks) every now and then but not the textbook or lecture notes anymore (it’d take way too much time!)
7. Do test bank questions, practice exams, etc before my exam
Pros:- It makes the important stuff stand out from the “useless” stuff
- It reduces all the material into a manageable chunk that saves me precious time
Cons:- The prof and I may have different opinions as to what is considered “useless”
- After a while, when I review my notes enough times, I can answer the questions I have made automatically (without much thinking) using various cues such as their location on the page, what section they belong to and what not. Which could mean that on the actual exam if you change the question a little bit or ask it in a way which involves comparing/contrasting things from different sections of the book (e.g. photosynthesis vs. aerobic respiration) I may not know the answer or confuse stuff.
Help?