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Isaacgallegos
August 11th, 2011, 12:30 AM
Q: I would like to know, when you're assigned a textbook for school on a non-math related subject, mostly about facts and concepts, how do you tackle it, allowing you to have enough time to work on other classes? Are you an 'A' student?

Thanks!

BeRoot ReBoot
August 11th, 2011, 12:45 AM
I know how you feel, I absolutely hate with a passion these kind of "study" subject that make you memorise useless facts you'll never need again. I have poor memory for irrelevant nonsense, but I'm very good at subjects that require rational insights to solve problems, so my way of studying for ridiculous nonsense like art history and sociology was to codify the content to be memorised as a math problem. Make up some equations, prove they're correct through mathematical induction, string facts and concepts you're trying to memorise in there so you associate them with the rational process of the mathematical proof. It's still boring and tedious, but makes it easier to hold irrelevant data (I refuse to call it information or knowledge) in memory long enough to pass an exam.

On a brighter note, I haven't had to take a non-math related subject since high school, and my sanity has slowly been recovering well since then. Don't worry, if you get to a decent uni they probably won't force the humanities onto you.

IWantFroyo
August 11th, 2011, 12:53 AM
I just get everything else out of the way, then sit down and force myself to read (hopefully at least a few hours).

And yes, I am a straight A student.

XubuRoxMySox
August 11th, 2011, 12:53 AM
I turn reading into a two-way conversation. I "ask the book questions" and read for the answers. Like, "Why that title for this chapter?" or "What examples can you give?" Sometimes I even "argue" with the author just to make sure I understand his or her position. Reading in search of the author's "reply" to anticipated objections or assersions I think are unsupported.

I take paragraphs or sections of material and do two clever little things to help cement it in my brain:

Think of a title for that passage. It forces me to think of some summary statement of what it said, and then

Pick one sentence or phrase from the text of that section that best supports the title I gave it. If I can't find one, then I change the title to a better supported one.

By making reading a two-way thing, I retain alot more of what I read, and it's much easier to reproduce it on a test or a paper.

-Robin

Bachstelze
August 11th, 2011, 01:31 AM
Don't worry, if you get to a decent uni they probably won't force the humanities onto you.

Maybe a decent one will not. A good one, however, will.

BeRoot ReBoot
August 11th, 2011, 02:08 AM
Maybe a decent one will not. A good one, however, will.

I fail to see how forcing scientists who enroll to specialise in their field to "study" unrelated and irrelevant (to them) subjects benefits them in any way. The university isn't there to provide a well-balanced tour of human knowledge. That's what a high school is for.

Bachstelze
August 11th, 2011, 02:16 AM
I fail to see how forcing scientists who enroll to specialise in their field to "study" unrelated and irrelevant (to them) subjects benefits them in any way. The university isn't there to provide a well-balanced tour of human knowledge. That's what a high school is for.

It's funny because now you say "human knowledge", when earlier you said you "refused to call it knowledge". Had you studied a little more philosophy, maybe you would have learned not to contradict yourself in such obvious ways. As an aside, if you are so prone to self-contradiction, you math skills must not be terrific either.

Isaacgallegos
August 11th, 2011, 02:40 AM
It's funny because now you say "human knowledge", when earlier you said you "refused to call it knowledge". Had you studied a little more philosophy, maybe you would have learned not to contradict yourself in such obvious ways. As an aside, if you are so prone to self-contradiction, you math skills must not be terrific either.

No, you're in the wrong. He ONLY disagreed with you. It's ok to disagree with you, believe it or not. Your response was poor.



To everyone else. Thanks.
I'm going to try the methods posted and see what works best. I'll also continue checking back for other peoples ideas. I wish I could post an idea, but none of mine seem any good, except for reading out loud and re-reading... Kinda slow though..

Legendary_Bibo
August 11th, 2011, 02:42 AM
Play Minecraft and skim the text 5 minutes before class.

I have a photographic memory, and an extremely good ability to comprehend what I read quickly.

I'm a math major, but I enjoy studying Anthropology as well.

drawkcab
August 11th, 2011, 03:25 AM
This conversation between the philosopher and the self-interested specialist is as old as Plato's dialogues. Of course the humble lesson that we were all supposed to learn 2400 years ago is a civilization of self-interested specialists, oblivious to common moral and political goods, will eventually become decadent and fall into ruin. So it was with Athens and many subsequent civilizations.

Luckily our global industrial civilization teems with mathematicians, engineers, financiers, marketers and other technocrats that keep everything running on an even keel. In America, we don't have to worry about our economy being run like a ponzi scheme which allows 1% of the population to corner 90% of economic growth and the political influence that goes along with it. We don't have to worry about going $4 trillion in the hole while fighting a completely unnecessary war predicated on the most ridiculous of lies. We don't have to worry about the fact that, on average, a white man holds 20X more wealth than a black man who is, in turn 6X as likely to be unjustly convicted of a violent crime as aforementioned white man. We don't have to worry about spikes in cancer rates as we watonly fill our personal environments and bodies with all sorts of chemicals. We don't have to worry about the fact that global recession and drought may now be permanent rather than temporary realities with which we must come to terms. We don't have to worry about the consequences of trying to make a life for ourselves on a biosphere that no longer resembles the one that we evolved upon. We don't have to worry that global food production has dropped 5% in the last decade and will continue to drop as the earth gets warmer. We don't have to worry about the fact that the material conditions sustaining our population, both finite and non-renewable, are being depleted while global population inches its way to 9.5 billion.

You see, Socrates and Plato had it all wrong. If we just keep our heads down in the math/engineering/cs books, the world as run by the technocrats will inevitably sort itself out, "as if by an invisible hand." We'll invent more products for folks to market, consume and produce and everything will be just fine.

uRock
August 11th, 2011, 03:47 AM
I fail to see how forcing scientists who enroll to specialize in their field to "study" unrelated and irrelevant (to them) subjects benefits them in any way. The university isn't there to provide a well-balanced tour of human knowledge. That's what a high school is for.

Really?

krapp
August 11th, 2011, 03:50 AM
I know how you feel, I absolutely hate with a passion these kind of "study" subject that make you memorise useless facts you'll never need again. I have poor memory for irrelevant nonsense, but I'm very good at subjects that require rational insights to solve problems, so my way of studying for ridiculous nonsense like art history and sociology was to codify the content to be memorised as a math problem. Make up some equations, prove they're correct through mathematical induction, string facts and concepts you're trying to memorise in there so you associate them with the rational process of the mathematical proof. It's still boring and tedious, but makes it easier to hold irrelevant data (I refuse to call it information or knowledge) in memory long enough to pass an exam.

On a brighter note, I haven't had to take a non-math related subject since high school, and my sanity has slowly been recovering well since then. Don't worry, if you get to a decent uni they probably won't force the humanities onto you.

This whole post is a big ?!??!! just like a similar rant you posted elsewhere recently. Mind telling us how you managed "nonsense like art history and sociology... to be memorized as a math problem?" We all regret taking certain classes in college outside of our major after seeing what they do to our GPA, but you seem to be in denial of who's failing whom: its you the tests and papers not the other way around.

Drawkcab's post is a big :KS

XubuRoxMySox
August 11th, 2011, 04:05 AM
Um, weren't we suposed to just offer study tips for a new college student? Dang, even the most innocuous threads get hijacked.

Study tips, okay? Yeesh!

-Robin

drawkcab
August 11th, 2011, 04:33 AM
Um, weren't we suposed to just offer study tips for a new college student? Dang, even the most innocuous threads get hijacked.

Study tips, okay? Yeesh!

-Robin

Pedagogical theory cannot be reduced to a computable algorithm, hence it must be irrational drivel unworthy of any of our attention.

Now that we've settled that, I have to get back to specializing in some activity that will contribute to incorporated wealth which will in turn further my ability to consume which in turn will contribute, amorally of course, to overall economic efficiency. Everything is as it should be.

Thank you!

mrspacklecrisp
August 11th, 2011, 05:31 AM
Cornell Notes and Cornell Reading, plus a minimum six hours of sleep, plus no lunch ever because it makes me too sleepy to be useful. Also, snickers. I always eat snickers when I'm studying for finals. When I didn't eat a snickers studying for a certain final I failed that class.

JDShu
August 11th, 2011, 05:41 AM
If you really need to study without distraction, go to the library or find an empty classroom. Leave your laptop at home unless there is something on it that you definitely need for studying. If you do bring your laptop, do not go on any IM/Facebook/email/other unproductive apps. Bring something thirst quenching.

Another way to study is to find a buddy from class and help each other study. Teaching is the best way to learn, so any time you need to explain something, that's good practice.

Consistent studying is key, you want to go over stuff every day. Cramming before a midterm works, for passing the midterm, but by the finals, you won't remember much of it. This is especially true for memory intensive subjects. You want to move the knowledge from your short term memory to your medium and long term memory, and the only way we know to do that is repetition over a significant stretch of time.

TheNosh
August 11th, 2011, 06:50 AM
For most things, I don't study. I'm that student people hate for remembering things without trying. There are a few subjects where I'm not like that, like Russian, where I'm upset that other people absorb the information without trying, so I get how obnoxious it is.

Anyway, for subjects you can ace without studying, awesome! For those you can't, flash cards are a wonderful thing.

Also, it's good to have a study group. If you study with other students, you can discuss things with one another if you have trouble understanding individually.

Legendary_Bibo
August 11th, 2011, 08:11 AM
Um, weren't we suposed to just offer study tips for a new college student? Dang, even the most innocuous threads get hijacked.

Study tips, okay? Yeesh!

-Robin

Yeah

I think the "best" advice for a" new college student" would be to not stress yourself out and pace yourself your first semester to see how much of a workload you can balance and to stick to a degree you're actually "interested" in.

-Bibo

Grenage
August 11th, 2011, 08:33 AM
Eat a balanced diet and get 8 hours sleep a night; seriously, the simple stuff can make the world of difference.

TeoBigusGeekus
August 11th, 2011, 11:17 AM
The way I did it (and still do whenever appropriate):
I read the text once (all of it) and make a quick summary of it in my notebook. The summary consists of keywords, shapes, arrows, lists, etc.; the meaning is there without the bloat. Then I proceed to study only the summary.
Might not be the best way, but it's worked for me until now.

el_koraco
August 11th, 2011, 11:31 AM
I know how you feel, I absolutely hate with a passion these kind of "study" subject that make you memorise useless facts you'll never need again. I have poor memory for irrelevant nonsense, but I'm very good at subjects that require rational insights to solve problems, so my way of studying for ridiculous nonsense like art history and sociology was to codify the content to be memorised as a math problem. Make up some equations, prove they're correct through mathematical induction, string facts and concepts you're trying to memorise in there so you associate them with the rational process of the mathematical proof. It's still boring and tedious, but makes it easier to hold irrelevant data (I refuse to call it information or knowledge) in memory long enough to pass an exam.

On a brighter note, I haven't had to take a non-math related subject since high school, and my sanity has slowly been recovering well since then. Don't worry, if you get to a decent uni they probably won't force the humanities onto you.

This is like posting a giant neon sign saying "drag me through the gutter". Also, you need pay more attention to your linguistic prowess when you're ranting, and since language is an afterimage of logical thinking, which conversely has its ground in math, you quite obviously need to beef up on those as well.

ninjaaron
August 11th, 2011, 12:31 PM
The best way is to have a good memory. The other important part is to be sure you understand what you are reading. If you read something and don't understand it, read it again until you do. I've pulled A averages in college and grad-school, but I've gotten B's in a couple of courses. I was a C student in High School, however.


Eat a balanced diet and get 8 hours sleep a night; seriously, the simple stuff can make the world of difference.
Yeah, that too. Some caffeine can also help you focus, but be moderate with it. It's a as much of a drug as anything else, and it isn't a replacement for sleep. The best is for me to be well-rested and fed, and then add a little caffeine on top for the focus. That might be personal for me, however, since I have major focus problems, generally speaking.

Also, a lot of people use speed to help them study. I've never done it and I don't recommend it, but it seems to work until it destroys your life.


[...] and since language is an afterimage of logical thinking, which conversely has its ground in math [...]

As something of a student of linguistics (only had one class in linguistics itself, but I've formally studied 9 languages), I think you might have it backwards. I'd tend to thing it's more language > logic > mathematics.

imortalninja161
August 11th, 2011, 12:38 PM
well i am studying networking at the moment and as you can image there is alot of commands lines to learn and concepts. Alos i have not got a score on my tests so far any lower then 85% :).

1. when learning a concept read all the text on that concept throw out all the extended gibberish away and rewrite ya self down all that was important out of the text so ya can revise that part.

2. also to remember cerntent key points like DCE devices have to set clock rates and DTE dont remember the C in DCE means clock. this is a really good way of remembering things.

3. revise revise revise when ever you can like on the bus to school on the toilet masturbating lol jj'ks its dirty on the toilet :KS.
4. for the things you struggle with the most make queue cards and keep flip en them mix up the stack after a while to so ya dont get in to a routine.