The purpose for writing this entry is that hopefully you find something in here useful and maybe I can save you some time as you can learn from my mistakes.
I have dyslexia and have struggled with it for most of my life. As an adult it's lasting impact was to make it very hard for me to read and comprehend information. This in itself isn't a terrible thing, all it means is that for every hour a normal person reads it will take me about 2-3 times as long to get the same information from material. So I have had to learn to be very efficient at what I spend my time on or just not bother. My weakness was always reading, studying and test writing, my natural strength has been hands on knowledge. I have a very acute three dimensional perception and understanding of objects if I can take something apart and get my hands on it. For me studying was very hard. At one point I had someone tell me that all I knew how to do was write exams and was only book smart ... it wasn't meant as a compliment but I took it as one and figured I must be doing something right :)
I feel very happy with my progress studying lately. Two of the biggest hurtles for me has been to:
- keep from cramming before writing papers and
- retain the information after I have written an paper.
Like allot of people who are writing power engineering papers, I would setup an exam date then plan for the studying, usually cramming the last couple of weeks before exam. After the exam would loose most of the knowledge gained from cramming until the next time I wrote an exam similar and had to re-learn the information once again.
I wasn't happy with this way of studying for exams but didn't have any real way to change my approach up until now. Knowing about reviewing periodically and all the other studying bits of knowledge didn't really help me get focused enough at the start to make me take advantage of spacing out my studying.
By starting early and spacing out studying for my next exam I will avoid cramming and retain the information. Ideally I want to be able to not study extra at all for the exam but rather just go in for the exam on exam date.
How am I doing this? By making up study flash cards from the material right away, then using a modified Leitner approach, spacing out repetitions based on how confident I am with my answer. Following some simple steps that work very well done on a daily basis:
My body is my temple
I have found that studying is a very intense thing to do, which tends to increase stress greatly so have found that if I make sure I am well rested, have eaten and exercised I don't get bogged down as easily.
One key is to study right after exercising, John Ratey has stated that the brain is more capable of learning right after exercise up to 2-3 hours depending on the intensity. Weight training tends to increase growth of new cells and intense cardio solidifies the new cells and information that was associated with learning. Ideally a cardio exercise that involves using deterity and not just a droning treadmill, elliptical etc.
REVIEWING Previous Cards according to date due (for warm up)
Essentially these are long term cards that I know but come up for review on a regular basis. The schedule depends on the confidence I have in the card. Essentially for every right answer (e^(4 * % correct * % of 5) )* 1.7 . If a card is incorrect I review it the next day, if not it is delayed by so many days. The more right and more times asked the longer the delay. The idea is to use a leitner type study system.
These cards have been asked before and are usually correct the last time.
REVIEW previous DAYS new flashcards to solidify new material
Memorized the card by looking at the card and writing down everything I can without looking at the back.... a formula sheet can be used as this will be memorized as well. Look at back of card to see if correct, make note of any errors quickly then repeat. Make sure not to have any answers visible and write down answer again quickly after looking. Do this until the card can be written out without error. If I am having problems remembering then draw on the back/highlight words etc, anything to make more sense of the information.
If done right the basic knowledge will have been digested overnight so remembering it will be allot easier.
Learn NEW cards - usually no more than 10-15 cards
This is done only while my mind is fresh. Walk through the information step by step making sure to understand each piece of information and why it is on the card. Make notes on the back, highlight etc to make more sense of the information.
Don't even try to memorize the information, just make sure it all makes sense. I only do a max of 10-15 new cards. Depending on how detailed they are it could be only 5-6. It really depends on how fresh I am and if I am getting frustrated.
STOP when things stop making sense
Reducing stress greatly improves learning and retention, so if I am getting frustrated I know I will be undoing any learning I do, so I quit for the day.
SPACE out repetitions to prevent overload and retain information
This is done using the review step, but to me this was the hardest step to do as it involves prior planning and daily review in small amounts to prevent cramming before an exam and forgetting after the exam.
I accidentally found out that If I took new cards one day, went over them till I understood them but didn't try to memorize them, then the next day set to memorizing them that I could digest much more new information than I had before and not be stressed about learning. This opened my eyes to spreading this system out over time and eventually, feeling confident that I would know all the information before exam.
The last exam I wrote, I crammed ... but had started this process and saw how well it worked I wanted to start right away for the next exam and test my theory.
So instead of procrastinating about studying then at the last minute cramming I have started a daily routine that is very manageable and with luck will allow me to not have to cram (I really don't want to do any cram type review before the exam) and hopefully be able to keep the info after.
As for the mechanics of the cards I use google docs to enter correct or not correct answers using a form to spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is set up to dynamically compile all the information on all the answers as I go so when I enter an new question it is part of the system without having to pre-program question numbers. This leaves it very flexible. The forms are pre-populated with current time and question number for review. As well all notes, questions, and forms have links for easy data entry. Essentially leaving me with only worrying about making flash cards and answering them. If I am away from the internet, I print off a list of questions and enter them when i get back.
As for the cards I use FastStone Capture to directly clip images of the question/answer into word using a full page per question split in the middle and exported to PDF for printing / reference online. I print off a copy and leave one on google docs linked to spreadsheet.
The cards are kept in sequential order since I review them based on when they are due on the spreadsheet.
I use a presentation folder to keep notes/formula sheets in as these have no rings, have a hard plastic cover and clear plastic pages to insert full page sheets of paper inside. Very compact and clean.
As for notes I use the cornel system for taking notes from books/lectures etc then summarize on one page each chapter / topic using mind mapping. The key is to keep only key points on mindmap and similar to the formula sheets only basic information. The idea is to draw associations with other items not to fully explain, that is done on the cornel sheets. Placing the cornel sheets behind the mindmap in the presentation folder so that only mindmaps are showing on one side keeps it simple and clean when reviewing.
When I study a card I write out the full answer, if it is a problem type question I do every step as if it were my answer on the exam. This way I am in the habit of writing out full questions.
I hope that this has been helpful
