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Study Tips - Part 1/?

This is a (non-comprehensive) list of study tips and attitudes that have helped me get through my first year of uni. 

Note-taking:

Think about using a personalized shorthand

This is entirely up to how your brain works and picks out patterns, but I find reading over notes to be much smoother if it flows in my own words, and if there isn’t too much written down to clutter the space.

I use things like “w” instead of the word “with”. I use “=“ when I want to say that something is defined as whatever follows, and I use “≠” to mean that the two terms being separated are exactly opposite in meaning. If two terms mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably, I use a “/”.

Some of the things I do are specific to subjects:

In math, “cont” means continuous and “diff” means differentiable. I only denote “if and only if” statements with iff, never with the double-headed arrow. I only ever write “aa” for amino acids in biology. I will never write “sodium” (or other elements) fully, and will use Na+/K+/H+/P/Ca2+, or H20, O2, CO2, H2SO4, H30+ (with reference to compounds). 

I also always use a delta symbol to represent the word “change” or “difference”.

Examples:

“xyz can be labelled w a fluorescent dye...”

“... separation/unzipping of the helix.”

“xyz causes Δ in pH.” 

Humour

I used to be pretty particular about the way my notes looked, and I know that marginalia is not always something people want to have. I’m also garbage at doodling. 

I would suggest trying this out even if the above apply to you (even if it is on a sticky note or somewhere else!). I found that this was incredibly helpful for me: if anything funny was said in lecture (the prof made a joke, there was some kind of funny interaction...), I wrote it down. 

In the margins of a lot of my notes, I now have memorable events alongside coursework. Though this doesn’t necessarily help me study or retain information, it makes the review process a bit more dynamic. I really value, now, my opportunity to slip into the amusement of a moment past, and it keeps me feeling refreshed enough to continue studying. 

Examples: 

In my biology class this semester, on the first day, in response to something the professor said, my neighbour turned to me and I wrote down what she said. “I love engulfing large particles.” Hilarious, and definitely comes to mind whenever I think about phagocytosis.

“Ladies and gentlemen... you’ll have to deal with his [a classmate’s] puns for the next four years!” Groans, mumbling, and then, “Not if you fail him, Professor!”

“Why would we [the professors] ever use l’Hôpital’s rule when we can just do it in our heads in two seconds with Taylor expansions? Ha!” (which is followed in my notes by: “him @ us fools/plebs.”)

Studying:

Task-based breaks, not time-based ones

I like to break up my time by task. I always read and hear tips that one should study for 1.5 hours and then take a fifteen minute break, then come back, rinse, repeat... My two cents: that doesn’t work for me. Not only am I notoriously bad at respecting the “fifteen minute break” limit, but approaching the 1.5 hour mark, I start to fidget and lose my focus. 

Though it certainly isn’t productive or healthy to close yourself up in a room/library/class for hours on end, I find that having a task as your goal is much more rewarding than a time based one. If I tell myself I will eat once I finish all the math problems I have assigned, there is no way for me to creatively manipulate that goal. 

That said, I think “productive” breaks are important. Regardless of how you set up your break time, it’s no good if all you do is flip open a new tab on your computer and watch youtube every hour and a half. Walks are good, the gym is good, a healthy snack is good, and the occasional episode of a short and funny show is good. 

Ultimately, finishing a task is a great mental reward, and as long as you make sure to chunk responsibilities in manageable bites, you won’t find yourself working longer than is healthy, but you also won’t feel like time is working against you.

Study during daylight hours (in exam time, especially)

Wake up early and study. Try not to stay up late. Ultimately, you won’t get more hours of studying done just because you stay up late (then you sleep in, etc). Unless your productivity goes way up (which doesn’t make much sense, because one gets tired out after a whole day of existing!) at night, sleep when it’s dark and work when it’s daytime. Prioritizing sleep is so important.

Daylight stimulates so many things in the body - so don’t shut yourself up somewhere dark. Get out at least once, open the window, think about sunlight. Give yourself a change of pace from all the pages of notes you’re going through.

Your exam won’t happen at 4 in the morning. Make sure you’re going to be functional whenever it is, which won’t happen if you pull five all-nighters before the exam.

Also, don’t live off of coffee. I love it as much as the next person, and up my intake as stressful periods come and go... but it affects the quality of sleep and can sometimes work against you by making you fidgety. Tea is good as a ~caffeinated drink! 

Other resources:

Read&Write

This is a chrome extension that reads your text out to you. There are probably a million other ways to have this happen, but I like this one. I find it hard to focus when I have to read my notes back, an essay I’ve written, or other dense readings. If someone is reading it out to me, it is easier to listen along and harder to get distracted.

Similarly, when doing long readings of well-known books (philosophy readings), I’ve found it very effective to search up the audiobook (maybe speed it up to 1.5 speed if on youtube!) and read my copy while someone is also reading to me. It helps me process the words on a few different levels - the reader’s intonation makes understanding easier for me, it makes it impossible to skim and miss important sections, and it gives me a chance to take some notes without stopping reading. 

Rely on others constructively

Working with other people is good, but nothing replaces devoting time to something yourself. Your own ideas, while often positively impacted by discussion with others, can get lost if you only think the way someone else is thinking. 

Shared notes are messy and don’t follow linearly. Everyone has different styles for note-taking. If you miss a class and get someone else’s note, rewrite it! After passing through your head, it will be more accessible to you. If you don’t, it’s as good as having it in a different language!

That said, if you have a final coming up with a million essay prompts or something, it can help to divide up tasks and make the preparation easier on you. My philosophy notes for the final are the result of collaboration. However, I intend to copy them to a private document, check them, verify quotes and concepts against my notes from the year, and finally modify all the notes I received. I cannot memorize what someone else wrote for me.

Also, don’t blindly send all your hard-earned notes to someone who does not deserve them, who won’t return the favour, or who is asking at the very last minute. Sharing a day’s worth of notes or helping with a specific question is always good. Writing notes with others in mind can motivate you to take more complete notes and follow everything in lecture! However, the choice someone makes to skip every class all year... is their own problem. Issues of academic dishonesty and plagiarism are not lightly dealt with at any level, so consider what’s at risk and at what possible personal cost before saying yes to every request.

Look for textbooks online (as late as possible)

If you want to avoid selling your soul for a $200 textbook and you don’t mind reading from a computer screen, always look for pdf versions of your textbooks. The catch: some professors suck and they make the most recent version of a textbook the required text. Some of them like to make money by releasing updates to their own books just days before the semester starts. Some have a million “recommended” resources that are... actually mandatory. Some will make you buy four solution manuals along with the textbook (none of which you want or will use). Some will make you buy a book you will never open. 

Don’t play yourself by forgetting to buy necessary software for online quizzes or animations, but really look online for whatever else remains. You might be surprised about what’s out there. 

All of this is old news. What I’m saying is: don’t get desperate if you can’t find your textbook online before classes start. If you know you can buy it from the school bookstore anytime, and you can afford to go a few lessons without a book (or maybe you can borrow a classmate’s!), wait. Someone will upload that pdf you need, but maybe it will take a few days. 

I found two HUGE textbooks of mine online (bio and organic chemistry), though neither was available as a pdf at the beginning of term. My reason to have them both in paper copy and electronic copy is that I avoid lugging them around on my long commute. I also plan to sell the hard copies after the year is done, but keep the digital ones for possible reference. 

So many resources are available - try them all out at least once

Inside the classroom setting, take advantage of review sessions and question periods to seek clarification. 

If you want, make some friends in class - at least so that you have someone to fall back on if you’re ill, can’t come to class, or if your computer crashes and you lose everything. If you have questions after a practical, a problem set, an essay, or a test, there is always someone there who can help you work through it. 

Outside the classroom... you have infinite resources. Free ones, too! Youtube channels like crash-course have helped me with getting a full understanding of historical periods and gaining a foundation for classwork. Professor Dave Explains’ channel has been invaluable for me in organic chemistry. I’ve listened through many a lecture by Dr. Sadler to gain new perspectives on some of my philosophy readings. I’ve also looked online for suggestions about approaches to different math problems and physics questions, because sometimes a comment in some random forum can inspire you to get to the answer!

Also, check out past exams and tests! Even if you can’t do them all or don’t have an answer key, they help you feel more prepared for the structure of an assessment. Along those lines, check out model answers or assignments if they are provided or offered. Before the assignment is due, this will help you make sure you are including everything you need. After the assignment is due, this will help you improve your answers and see where you went wrong.

Thanks for reading, I hope to be back soon with more tips!