Home Menu

Menu


Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 02:47 PM
ScientiaOmnisEst's Avatar
ScientiaOmnisEst ScientiaOmnisEst is offline
Poohbah
 
Member Since: Sep 2015
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 1,130
I'm writing this on the heels of another trip down the self-hating, intelligence-worshipping rabbit hole I'm so used to. So forgive the intro.

Studying will never make you intelligent. At best, it can be a cover-up for average-person deficiencies and worthlessness compared to the intellectually gifted. But I can't deny that studying is useful for the average person, if only to be able to do useful things.

Except, how do you do it?

As I've failed in my life, I used to have parents and counselors begging me to study, like everyone else. But I don't know how. As I see it, studying is just reading the book over and over until you memorize it. And I have a hard enough time with focus I've never been able to do that. In school (pure college), all I had to do was read and I would more or less memorize something, maybe with a few notes. Math was different, I'm stupid, so it was just a matter of doing problems and remembering how to approach each type of problem. Theory, what's that? I wouldn't understand it anyway.

Is that really what people are doing when they "study"? Reading the same books and notes over and over again until it sticks? How the hell can people do that for hours on end, and have it be effective? I suppose I can't see it working for me - I'd never be able to focus long enough or memorize with that kind of precision. I'd get everything confused.

advertisement
  #2  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 10:44 PM
DesigningWoman's Avatar
DesigningWoman DesigningWoman is offline
Member
 
Member Since: Dec 2015
Location: USA
Posts: 280
Is your question how to get help for your studies or to deride all us average people who are worthless and deficient and use our time to study to cover these up?
I would be glad to discuss study habits with you and the forum. But if it is the latter, I can't see the purpose of engaging in a support forum to mock the efforts of other mentally ill people who are working very hard to improve their lives via education.
  #3  
Old Jan 22, 2016, 11:11 PM
2B/-2B's Avatar
2B/-2B 2B/-2B is offline
Member
 
Member Since: Jan 2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 189
There are good ways to study and not so good.
You need to experiment to see what works best for you.
The internet is full of helpful ways to study.

Personally, studying on my own, I would have to interested to know what I am to study. If I am not interested, then it becomes a real drag.
Often, I search for a reason why I should be interested in something. Once I find it, my motivation changes.
What I study is no longer censored with "this is boring", "what's this all about". etc.
Because I am interested I seek reasons to 'understand' it.

Yes, some things do take repetitive rereading to get it into memory bank.
For instance, I had to remember all the parts of the cardio-vascular system. I would imagine the different areas, such as the heart, and then try and remember all of its parts. If I got it wrong, I would re-read it, close my eyes and repeat the parts, and check. I do this until I got it right, then I would do it another 3 times in a row. Then next day, I would do the same (3 correct times in a row), then again a few days later, and once again one week later. Then I got it in my head.

Studying with friends. I found a great way is to get the person to read what they need to know, then without looking in the book (you can if only really necessary) to teach the rest of the group what was just read in their own words. This forces the person to think about it and to explain (which takes understanding of the subject to do so). We all take turns in doing this. Each person gets to hear how others explain it too. Once everybody can explain it, we all know exactly what we just learnt.
  #4  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 03:49 AM
Walking Man's Avatar
Walking Man Walking Man is offline
Member
 
Member Since: Mar 2015
Location: USA
Posts: 224
I'm not a world champion student, but I DO have a masters. I have some cognitive deficits, but I did fairly well.

You need to figure out what works for you and how you learn. I think a lot of study strategies are simply ways to get you to play games with the subject. By going over it actively and creatively it gets lodged in your mind. It's sort of like getting to know someone. You can know all about a person and still not know them. When you meet then, talk with them. and interact with them you start to know them. Subjects in school are kind of the same, you have to work with them to know them.

Learning has almost nothing to do with being "smart". By definition learning is acquiring new understanding, knowledge, or skills. It requires a lot of work. I say that because we are taught the opposite in school. We are taught that we should always know the answer, always get it right, and never make mistakes. That isn't learning, that's knowing.

Someone who is really learning is often ignorant, often wrong, and makes mistakes. You have to be ignorant and incompetent first. Being ignorant isn't bad, it's necessary. It's only by struggling that you learn. You have to have a sense of wonder, ask questions, make guesses, fail, and try again. That's what learning is.

School is often so shallow that it requires little more than memory. You read the book, listen to the professor, and tell it back. Remembering things is awesome, but it's hardly education. I can memorize all sorts of stuff and still have no clue what any of it means. You are learning and becoming educated when you look at reality, the things themselves, and begin to understand them.

Studying will make you intelligent! When you learn something for real, and not just what to put on the test, it changes you. You gain insight, begin to understand how things work, know why they are, and why it matters. You begin to see things more quickly, ask better questions, and learn faster! It won't make you a genius, but it will make a difference. That's what a real education is all about. Even when you have real limitations, you can learn what they are and how to better deal with them. Some things you may never be able to do, but there are all sorts of other things that you will learn.
  #5  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 08:03 AM
ScientiaOmnisEst's Avatar
ScientiaOmnisEst ScientiaOmnisEst is offline
Poohbah
 
Member Since: Sep 2015
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 1,130
Quote:
Originally Posted by DesigningWoman View Post
Is your question how to get help for your studies or to deride all us average people who are worthless and deficient and use our time to study to cover these up?
I would be glad to discuss study habits with you and the forum. But if it is the latter, I can't see the purpose of engaging in a support forum to mock the efforts of other mentally ill people who are working very hard to improve their lives via education.
I knew I should have waited to calm down before writing this...

I am dumb and average. My own ignorance astounds me sometimes. I can never make myself care about information. I never learned how to study. Being stupid is getting tiring - I can't change it, but I can at least look less dumb.

Plus, I've wondered about going back to school lately, and my poor study skills were one of the main reasons I dropped out.
  #6  
Old Jan 23, 2016, 09:51 AM
Shoe Shoe is offline
Member
 
Member Since: Aug 2009
Posts: 456
I came across this interesting short TED talk that relates to this thread's subject.

  #7  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 12:15 AM
Rose76's Avatar
Rose76 Rose76 is offline
Legendary
 
Member Since: Mar 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 12,851
You must have been a fairly effective student, at some point in your life, to be able to write as well as you do. An average student with good study habits is very likely to go further in life than a gifted, but lazy, student who relies on what can be effortlessly retained. Also, there is no such thing as being so smart that one never has to study.

When you read, use a highlighter. Also, use a pen to write in the margins, when you think of a quick way of summing up a long or complicated idea. Also, have a notebook that you put down your interpretation of what you read that seems important.

Don't be a slave to the teacher or the authors of your books. Feel free to say, "I don't really care about this and I'm only going to expend so much effort on it." or: "This idea is meaningful to me, and I'm going to think about this for awhile."

I don't know that joining study groups is all that helpful. Basically, studying is a solitary activity. I would say: don't spend too much time on stuff that totally bores the crap out of you. Notice what arouses your interest and spend more time on that. If nothing in books interests you, then accept that you might do better to learn something more concrete, like a trade.

The only way to learn math is to do problems. Nobody understands it just by reading it, except for pure geniuses.

For other subjects, one thorough reading should be enough. After you read a section. ask yourself: "What was that basically about, and why would anyone care?"

Students waste a lot of effort trying to anticipate what the teacher might want them to know. Start forming your own opinions about what you think is worth knowing and why. While I am not a fan of "study groups," I am a big fan of discussing ideas with other people. A lot of that goes on right here at PC.
Thanks for this!
Takeshi
  #8  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 04:15 AM
2B/-2B's Avatar
2B/-2B 2B/-2B is offline
Member
 
Member Since: Jan 2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 189
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst View Post
I knew I should have waited to calm down before writing this...

I am dumb and average. My own ignorance astounds me sometimes. I can never make myself care about information. I never learned how to study. Being stupid is getting tiring - I can't change it, but I can at least look less dumb.

Plus, I've wondered about going back to school lately, and my poor study skills were one of the main reasons I dropped out.
Let go of your past in regards to study and leaving school. It's past, and if you keep thinking about it, you will talk yourself out of doing any further study.

Make a decision, YES or NO, about going back to school. No maybe's or trying, because both are being stuck in indecision. Again, spending too much time here will talk yourself out of doing any further study. It's YES or NO.

If yes, then don't waste any time in enrolling/registering into a school/college/ or whatever. Start getting your books early and start reading them.

Sorry to be so blunt, but sometimes that is exactly what we need - tough love.
Thanks for this!
Takeshi
  #9  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 07:57 AM
ManOfConstantSorrow ManOfConstantSorrow is offline
Grand Poohbah
 
Member Since: Jul 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1,954
I make no claims for intelligence but I like studying. I am busy writing a book at the moment and have reference books strewn about, numerous web pages up, my tablet ditto, which gives you a clue how I do it.

You have questions you need to answer for your exams, teachers and readers. To answer these questions you summon up your experiences, and/or read around the subject until you have it clear in your mind. You write down the answer to these questions. Then you question your answers. This called critical thought and is where intelligence really comes in.

This all very well for things you are interested in, but when you really have to address stuff you don't particularity care for you have to slightly adapt your strategy. What is the question? What is the minimum you have to do to answer this question? What is the easiest way of doing this minimum (intelligence helps mightily here)?

Your first question is how do you study - therefore read around (books, web) and then come up with an answer that works for you, question it, carry on.

Hope this helps. Practice is everything here as elsewhere in life.
  #10  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 11:34 AM
(JD)'s Avatar
(JD) (JD) is offline
Legendary Wise Elder
 
Member Since: Dec 2003
Location: Coram Deo
Posts: 35,474
Let's take one area of "study" that you have done... and see what the process was.

You studied how to post on Psychcentral. WHAT?? You say... yep. Even if it wasn't conscious, you studied.

When you came to this site, what did you do? You read. Maybe it was a few posts that interested you, maybe it was a need to put your thoughts some place where people would understand. That created a motive and a need: a desire to do this.

You read the instructions for signing up, you read the agreement, the TOS and did it---and you had never done that before HERE at PC had you? But you learned how and you did it by reading, studying, and following the instructions.

But then you had to figure out how to post. Maybe you did that on your own, or maybe you had learned that at another site, or maybe you were able to ask for help somehow and another gave it to you. You learned how. With time, you have "studied" and learned better how to use the site for your own interest, yes? You might have seen others put smilies into their posts and learned how to do that yourself. Things like that are a result of study.

Bigger issues require more study though. Some issues are really complex and you need to learn the "basics" before moving on to the more complex.

I would suggest that you find something you are interested in, maybe a hobby, and begin to increase your knowledge about it, your understanding behind it. That will require reading and "studying". It won't seem so much like studying if it's something you are interested in though.

It also doesn't have to be "book knowledge". Perhaps you learn better by the "hands-on" method? You don't want to read a book about a certain topic, but you would like to talk with someone who knows it and can show you "how to".... that's a form of studying as well.

Getting a driver's license is a good goal; it requires you learn the rules of the road and safety and legal requirements for the vehicle you drive. Some of this you may have learned from watching a parent or relative or an older friend. You might not "know" this, but when you read the manual for the written test, you realize it--there's stuff you already know! You have to do a driving test... and while watching someone else, and helping them drive (there's a stop sign up here---wait there's a car coming!) you still have to sit in the seat and learn how it's done by you! That's studying too.

So I think that you need to just find out how it is that YOU learn best...and how YOU enjoy learning things... and then studying won't be a chore so much (hey, calculus is still a bear to me!) and you won't feel so dumb.
__________________
How the heck does studying even work?!
Believe in Him or not --- GOD LOVES YOU!

Want to share your Christian faith? Click HERE
Thanks for this!
Miswimmy1
  #11  
Old Jan 24, 2016, 08:20 PM
Miswimmy1's Avatar
Miswimmy1 Miswimmy1 is offline
~ wingin' it ~
 
Member Since: Aug 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 3,791
I think that a lot of students feel a desperation when they don't seem to *get it* right away when it comes to learning something new. As a college student myself, the pressure on young adults is SO high to do well in school. It's frustrating to look at a classmate or a peer and they seem to master material so easily. Studying is truly a skill. I'm still learning how to do it myself. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of effort. I think a lot of people consider it a chore - but remember - you study to learn. It's the learning that counts.

It might not be fair that some people have to work harder in some areas, but I can guarantee you that you are naturally gifted in either another subject or another area (like art or music or you name it) in which other people might struggle.
__________________
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
Hugs from:
Rose76
  #12  
Old Feb 04, 2016, 03:33 PM
yoyomaster's Avatar
yoyomaster yoyomaster is offline
New Member
 
Member Since: Jan 2016
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 9
List of do-able tasks is really helpful
  #13  
Old Apr 19, 2016, 03:40 AM
alicetailor alicetailor is offline
Member
 
Member Since: May 2014
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 180
Studying is about gaining knowledge instead of just memorizing any information. You need to be a little dedicated to develop interest in studying.
__________________
Child Care Texas
Reply
Views: 1998

attentionThis is an old thread. You probably should not post your reply to it, as the original poster is unlikely to see it.




All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:44 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® — Copyright © 2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.




 

My Support Forums

My Support Forums is the online community that was originally begun as the Psych Central Forums in 2001. It now runs as an independent self-help support group community for mental health, personality, and psychological issues and is overseen by a group of dedicated, caring volunteers from around the world.

 

Helplines and Lifelines

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.