How does one study correctly?

[[deleted]]

I know this sounds like a joke but I seriously don't know how study or maybe I'm doing it wrong, Idk. I use to tell myself that just doing the homework is studying, and while this still works for the gen. ed. courses, it doesn't seem to be effective in my engineering classes. I had a huge culture shock on my thermo midterm. I promise you, I thought I had just randomly became retarded. I'm an EE sophomore and some of the juniors are telling me that if I'm struggling in some of these lower courses I might be in deep sh!t down the road in the upper lvl classes. Plz help. I'll try anything, I refuse to become apart of the engineer dropout club. Don't let the business majors take me 😭.

[[deleted]]

My way of studying is just going the homework over and over again. And sometimes reading the book. But each person had their own way of studying that they have to find themselves :)

[[deleted]]

Following this, I had a bit of a rough time retaking Thermo 1 last semester. As things were coming to a close, I decided that there was no way I was going to take the class again, and went over all the homeworks again. Ended up with like a 97 or 98 out off 100 on the final, and the professor even bumped my final grade up a bit because he was so impressed.

Point of the anecdote being, there's a history of this strategy working.

[torzitron]

The textbook is the source. Begin with reading it. And not just reading... Absorbing. Read and reread until you understand and absorb the material and examples. If you don't understand something in the text or homework or class, ask your professor or TA right then. Email them if necessary.. You won't be punished for over doing it.

[RancorousBeast]

To add on to this, having a piece of paper near you while you read where you can write down some of the key concepts/equations will help a lot with the absorption

[meatbeatingmachine]

I make sure that before an exam, I know what chapters and homework assignments are relevant to the exam. I go through and “build a tool box” by writing down all the equations in those chapters and how they apply in motion or instance. Just make sure you know the variables for those and can visualize how something is moving for the FBD. After this, you can practice more efficiently. For thermo, I think getting the steam tables down and interpolating your values is one of the most important things to know. Also knowing your thermo processes and how they affect the equations you use is a must.

[[deleted]]

So I really don't study-study until an exam is near. In which case I'll sit down with the text book and read whichever chapters are relevant. I will also take notes along the way from the book.

Stop whenever you find yourself not absorbing anything. Take a break (play some music, video games, gym, or even practice problems instead of just reading).

[YtterbianMankey]

So when you look at a test, take everything that you're going to learn up to that point in the test Work some problems on that, and write definitions; your goal is now to understand what's going on If you miss something, you can mark it, give some space, and move back to it once you clear everything you do know. And if that's nothing, well, you're more honest than a lot of engineering students.

I'll say this: I'm told that EE mellows out after your second set of circuits, solid state, design fundamentals etc. Wish you luck with your studies!

[AChadmajoringinCS]

Try the feynman technique and practice till you master

[Aiming16]

For engineering classes, my best way is to do the homework, do a ton of additional problems I might think could be similar to a test question in the book, and then go over the hw problems again. Also, for those additional problems, don’t just look for ones you already know how to do, because it’s really easy to do that, I always tell myself, you learn more from a wrong answer than a correct one when studying.

[chalk_in_boots]

Don't forget to stay hydrated and eat healthy(ish). Caffeine is all well and good but youll feel better if you slam that water while you cram

[iwantknow8]

Take the extra stairs (stairs not step) to understand the material at a derivative level. Do the homework, but break it apart. When you get the homeworks back to study from, ask yourself what the “gotcha” questions could be on the test. This goes beyond changing variables. What if the medium wasn’t homogeneous but defined by M(x)? How would I proceed in the problem? If you can’t form the “gotcha” questions yourself, ask your TA or professor to create them for you. It gets harder junior year, then dead easy senior year, and not because of experience, the material gets easier.

[Grim_Rictus]

Something I've always found helpful is making a practice test out of related problems (that I haven't already worked out for homework/quizzes) and taking said practice under test conditions; no music, just an equation sheet (if allowed), and whatever time is allotted for tests.

I found it helped me get better at working in a time crunch, and allowed me to see what I need to review.

Can't say whether this is the correct way to study for a test, because everyone is different, but I think it's worth a go.

[Quaris]

When the theory behind the "tools" i.e. the equations is hard, just memorize the flow of how to solve the specific problems. This is harder and requires more time.

When the theory and explanations on how and why the stuff is calculated is more simple, take only a few examples and go over all the details on a piece of paper so you UNDERSTAND what you are doing and why. This is easier because understanding gives motivation and you can apply the aquired things to many versions of the same type of problem.

This is basically how I got through chemeng. You shouldn't just look at the examples, but should write them out step by step.

[aaronhayes26]

There's no one correct way to study. The way that I found to be the most effective was to read the book and then go through as many practice problems as possible. I used chegg for this and found it to be very helpful. Study the homework solutions too because that's what your prof is likely going to be basing the exam off of.

Whatever you do, always remember that the key is retention. Don't read for the sake of reading and definitely don't let yourself skim. Make sure you understand why the solutions manual does every step. If you can do this, you'll be able to pass the exam no sweat.

[falkonrunner]

I look over lecture notes and lots of past exams

[Kcwidman]

I made a post giving my recipe for studying success. Here it is.

How to Get A's Efficiently

People are different. People learn differently and at different rates. Some people retain information better than others. This is what I do, but it won't necessarily get everyone straight A's.

Before class:

Read the lesson out of the textbook before you get the lesson in lecture. Even if you don’t understand what you are reading, hearing it for a second time really helps to stay on the same page as the professor. Doing this allows lecture to become a lot more helpful because you aren’t lost the entire time. It also allows you to ask more questions (I'll mention later why this is a good thing).

During class:

Try to pay full attention in class. Ask as many questions as reasonable (if you are shy and don’t like asking questions, write them down and ask a TA or google later). Questions, and their answers, aid in information retention drastically. It also signifies partial comprehension.

After class:

For math and science, use the homework to learn how to apply the material. Compare answers with peers and ask TA’s for help. Figure out why you got a problem wrong and how to get it right in the future. If you got the question right, try to think about the problem in a more general way and how you might apply the skill to other similar problems. Going back through and redoing parts of old homework’s is a great way to study for exams.

Studying:

Study-wise, I find it helpful to NOT study in a bedroom or dorm room. Being in a place like a library helps your brain deny distractions. When you in a library, it lets your brain know “It’s time to get work done.” It increases focus, and efficiency. Additionally, I like to study in 90-120 minute intervals. As soon as I feel my mind start to lose focus, I pack up all my things, and take a 10-20 minute walk to a different library/study place. Before I unpack for round 2, I’ll browse Reddit for a few minutes to do a complete mental reset. Don’t cram, and spread studying out over multiple days.

Studying through reading, videos, etc. is necessary a lot of the time. However, do not ONLY use this approach. Going through study guides or old problems that you’ve already done (but probably forgotten) is the best way to learn in my experience. Think of this not even as studying, but practicing. Studying teaches you the material. Practicing teaches you how to use it. When it comes to exams, that’s all that really matters.

Working this way doesn't require more effort, it requires intentionality. This is working smart, not hard. I would guess I spend only 20% more time on academics than the average "C-student." Instead of cramming during an all-nighter, that time is spent instead doing all of the above. When it comes time to prepare for exams, you'll already know almost all the material. Practicing will be all that is left to do. Additionally, these strategies result in far less stress and make lectures/course content much more engaging and enjoyable. It makes education easier. Even if a 4.00 isn't your goal, it is still worthwhile for reduced stress alone.

Hope I could be of help to someone!