How to Study?

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I realize this is probably a somewhat unusual problem, and I may sound like a conceited b/tard, but here goes. I have NEVER needed to study. Ever. And it's starting to scare me. Example: I set the curve for my entire grade on 3 out of 5 AP World History tests last year, tied for the top grade on one other, and on one test, I got the highest uncurved grade anyone ever earned at my school in that class- without doing the assigned reading, taking notes on lectures, or studying. The only test I didn't set the curve on was the one where I did the reading, took notes on lectures, and studied for.

The problem is, when I go to college, I am sure that will change. Everyone I talked to who could do this in high school has had a horrible time in college because they couldn't take notes or study. Does anyone have any suggestions, or ideas about what I'm doing wrong, with regards to studying?

What I did when I tried studying: I took summarized notes in class, detailed notes on the reading, and made flash cards for recommended key terms. To study before the test, I read my notes, and reviewed the flash cards.

Thanks in advance.

I'm in the same situation, so I would also appreciate any advice- I start college in a couple weeks.

I hardly ever developed a study routine or learned to cram in secondary school. I didn't get the best grades either, though they were pretty good and enough for the course I wanted. However, I did notice that I was deficient in cramming compared to a lot of the students in my course, who had been honing their exam preparation skills for years. My own grades in college so far have been mixed because my self-discipline is only just starting to manifest and it's mainly in the areas in my field which I've found myself most interested. I certainly couldn't tell you how to be a successful crammer.

...But cramming for exams isn't that advisable anyway. Even if you do it successfully it's not constructive to learning. The best way by far is to take subjects you're interested in and take an active interest in them throughout the year so your work is consistently good and everything will be deep set in your memory for the final exams. But that's an ideal. What you have to be prepared for is to set aside some time throughout the year to work on subjects that don't seem so interesting to you. If you notice yourself going into avoidance, you'll need the self-discipline to snap out of it and catch up until it's on an even footing with your favourite subjects before you get to the stage where you have to cram to get a half-decent mark. Otherwise you might not be aware of your own incompetence, and it can come back to bite you (especially if like me you're not good at cramming).

My daughter (14) has never studied for a test in her life. She also doesn't know how to study and repetition of skills she has already learned is seemingly redundant for her.

You can get books on how to study. I found "The Sciences Good Study Guide" by Andrew Northedge, Jeff Thomas, Andrew Lane and Alice Peasgood pretty useful when I went to University. It's published by the Open University.

When I was in school, I had a problem of not doing homework. It was simply too boring and repetitive. I wanted to be learning something new, not repeating the same fact over and over. I always did the reading, but had dificutly making myself prove to my teachers that I did it by actually doing the questions. I normally aced all the tests, but so many classes required the homework that I didn't get the greatest grades. I never really studied, even in college, where I received great grades, with the exception of Composition. (especially Comp 2) For that class, I don't think it helped that I ended up skipping class most of the semester because my professor scared me. Sept 11 happened that semester, and right after it, her mannerisms, and entire attitude just seemed maniacal to me.

I'm a writing lit major, so with the fact that all my classes are either Literature or Writing classes( this year especially) one has to find a way to make sure you study.

I love reading, so I have no issue sitting down for a couple of hours and reading. Most homework sesh's that's what I do. this semester (and next as well) I'm taking 12 credit hours, my big days are tuesdays and thursdays when I have four classes, the core of my week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the day that I have it easy, a 9:40 morning class that ends at ten thirty or something like that and then i have the rest of the day to study or something like that.

For me it's trying not to let distractions get to me. Living in an on campus house this past school year(Sophmore year) was perfect....more or less, we had cable, four fridges, and a stove and oven. Most nights I'd do homework and then be sociable with my housemates, at least when I wasn't at work or elsewhere. I set aside two hours daily to three daily to study, even if it's just reading, I'll still do the hours. Though I've got to remember not to stay out til 2 on a saturday morning and then decide to do homework til 4 in the morning.....I did that once this past spring semester. Yeah.........I could of just gone to bed, and did it in the morning. But I like my weekends.

That's another thing is make sure you have plenty of time for goofing off with your friends. my group when all together is about 16 people. We're a close-knit group, and we really don't allow many other people in, unless they're good friends. this year it's probably going to split slightly because we're going to be sequestered all over campus. Me and at least 6 others who work together, and the others split up elsewhere. Though we will spend time together, at least the Education Majors will always be together(7:30 classes....Yeeeeehsh)

anyhowz. just make sure you have enough time to study and play. that's I guess what I was tyring to say.

If you'd like some good revision advice and help, I'd highly recommend becoming a member of The Student Room (www.studentroom.co.uk). It's a great forum for academic help, although it's predominantly for users in the UK.

It honestly depends on your major. I'm not going to get into the argument of which major is the hardest, but you need to understand which classes will actually require you to study, even if it's just an hour or two a night for homework. I was exactly like you in high school (at least for languages, math, and science), and it was the same for most of my first two years of college (again, mostly science and math related). Then I started into the engineering coursework at Oregon State University, and those habits really had to change. The one big piece of advice I can give you is to give up your addictive, time-consuming habits. For me, this meant I had to stop playing all video games (I just got around to playing Devil May Cry and GTA: Vice City), and to stop reading book series. During my Sophomore year in the Chemical Engineering program here, I almost failed Statistics for Engineers, Statics, and Intro to Electrical Engineering, three ridiculously easy classes, all because I was absorbed into reading the Ender's Game/Shadow series.

Try creating a study timetable. That way you can fit in enough study and still have time for other things. I'm going to set one up so I know what to study and when in preperation for my external NCEA assessments.

Didn't learned how to study in high school but in college I learned it and it has up and down results . I'll usually listen music to help me maintain focus on studying and it has worked.

I have a good memory, I usually don't really need to study continuously. I do cram though just in case, it seems to have work so far. Got a gpa 6.75 out of 7. However I do think that will really change soon, this is my first year and the difficultly only goes up as you go along. Then again I did a second year course this year as well and got the highest grade you could possibly get. Anyway, when it comes to study, if the lecture seems really dull (and I mean really dull) go over the notes. Chances are, you would have probably forgotten it particularily when the lecture is like that. Try not to play games all the time. My friend does that and all he gets is passes and some high grades but never across the board. Don't panick in exams, I did that in my first and ended up getting a little less than highest grade. Try not to calm yourself when or rather if you get sensory overload from any sounds that annoy you. I don't tend to get like that but well I don't know if you get like that so just throwing that one out there. Also like I say to my friend that I mentioned above, DO THE HOMEWORK . Hope that helps.

I've always had trouble studying. But I don't think there is one study strategy, it all depends on WHAT you are studying. Whenever I did study, I did it by repetitively writing down facts over and over again until I burned it into my memory.

I have some problems with studying, too. Before a test (also when it's a really big one... already fearing A-Level-exams...:S) I just can't get myself to learn for it until one, sometimes two days before the test. I still get alright grades, but I think I'd score a lot better if I started studying beforehand...
Otherwise I have no problems at all with learning vocabulary (I learn those i.e. 30 vocabs required for a Latin test in about 30 min, sometimes in longer or shorter time) and I've got no problems at all with learning numbers (it's actually become a little hobby of mine to learn the digits of "e", I know about 150 by now), so if I transferred the things I need to learn into numbers, I probably wouldn't have any problems at all.^^

Yeah me too

My grades declined slightly over the course of my first few college semesters, and I was a little worried. It didn't take me out of honors level but the trend wasn't positive either

I realized the real reason I get an A in any class is because I have prior experience with the subject matter. Because I started hitting subject matter in school that I hadn't seen before, I got a few B's and one awful C

With that said, I started to read about subjects I will have to study in the future before I actually have to take them formally. It should follow that I will get A's consistently because the subject matter will have become 'old' by then

I'm not sure whether this strategy will succeed, but I'm going to start finding out two days from now. You might want to try it

I never studied in high school, except for state exams and AP tests.

In college I just read the text book summaries, if I needed to read the entire chapter I did so before exams. I usually would re write notes and create flash cards, that helped more than reading the chapter more than once.