Best method of study for you

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What do you find is the best method of study for you?

Do you need complete silence,do you like the classroom environment or do you just pick up your books and go for it?

 

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This works for me.

I study in silence

1. Book an exam usually 8 to 10 weeks ahead. Gives me a target to work for.

2. Buy a bottle of my beloved Highland Park. Have several large drams

3. Open the study guide and read it from cover to cover.

4. Photocopy the excercies

5. Work through the excercises

6. Read Chapt 1 skim read Chapt 2 - Make notes on the main chapter

7. Read Chapt 2 skim read Chapt 3

8. Repeat until the book is finished

9. Spend a week with the machine and the excercies - breaking it every way you can.

Review the exam date move if you don't think you are ready for it.

10. Repeat 6 - 8

11. Start on any practice tests.

12. On the last week only work from notes

13. I always book my exams for 9am Monday morning and do not look at anything on the weekend before the exam. I do allow myself a large dram or two to help me sleep on the night before an exam.

14. Have several large drams to either celibrate or commiserate the exam.

 

Thanks Sandy, that seems like a good method you have worked out there.

Would anyone else like to add to this?

 

Being purposeful is paramount to effect study.

Before you sit down to study, you have to know what you want to egt out of it.There's no point sitting down and expecting things to jump into your head, because they won't, simple as that

In fact, I would say, that if you don't really know what your trying to achieve by studying, what you want to understand at the end of it, then don't bother.
You might as well be doing other things, like watching eastenders.Or maybe not, nobody watches that any more, say Corrie then

Studying with as many different sources as possible is very effective.Different styles of writing and presentation suit different types of people.
The internet of course is ideal, as there's many sources of information if you know where to find them.

Creating a sense of achievement once you finish your study is important.
How will you know what you've achieved.Well this is where the purpose comes in at the start you see.At the end of your study session ask yourself whether you have answered the question you posed to yourself before you began.

Example:

Purpose

I want to understand how I can troubleshoot system startup problems.What methods are used to do this :?:

Scan the chapter to find your answers.I never persoanlly sit down and read a chapter from start to finish because it's pointless.Once you have found the answer to your question, then read that part.While you are reading that section, formulate questions in your head, or write them down.
This in turn leads onto something else, you have another question.

Always find the answer to your question, at some point.If not in the current study session, then make sure you have written it down so you can find the answer next time.If you have had a question in your head which you have never found a solution to then this can cause frustration within yourself.The enxt questions you come to you will ahve the last one in the back of your mind still, and study will become ineffective.

Be insatiable and seek out the questions you have.

Seeing is believing for me personally.If I've worked something out, say a permission problem, I will be pleased.But I will always set the sceanrio up on my network to actually see it in action.
The act of actually carrying out what I believe to be correct, and confirming it, affirms that that aprticular problem has been solved.

I take regular breaks, but I don't always mean stop studying.

I will study two different chapters, or two different subjects altogether.I'll be studying windows 2000 performance optimization for half an hour, and then scripting for half an hour.Or maybe something not to do with IT altogether, but something I want to learn, or that requires thinking.

Uusually I like to study shortly before sleeping, so that I can sleep and process the information I have taken in.I'll pose some questions to myself near the end of my study, and then close the book.Even though I'll feel like seeking out the answers, I purposefully will leave it until the next study session.This creates an eagerness to get straight on with it when you enxt go to study, as you've had this question on your mind for some hours and you really want to egt an answer.

Focus, and setting targets

My main problem has been focus, but I'm far better now and am in a good flow where studying is concerned.My problem has been that I have no target dates, for when I want to take the exam.
You need an offical target date, not just something in your mind, but something real, like a booked exam.

Knowing that my study is counting towards a goal that I can see not far off, makes the studying pertinent and motivates me.This is probably the worst mistake I have made so far, not setting target dates, so I would advise people to do this, if they aren't at present.

Test yourself

Testing your knowledge reguarly is very important while studying a subject.It's easy to think that you know something yourself, as the easiest person to fool is yourself, so get people to test you if possible.

Be ahrd on yourself and always aim for more than is required of you.
Don't be easily satisfied.If you understand soemthing, ask yourself "what if this was different", or "if you replace this with this, what will happen then"

and so on............

Thanks

 

All of the above, Si. I was an only child until I was 10 1/2 so I was used to not being bugged when I studied. Now, if anyone is even whispering, it bothers me. Classroom study is different because it's interactive, but I still need to go to someplace quiet to read and review my notes. I find that I can block out the world with a pair of headphones and a jazz CD, so I don't have to be completely alone. This works at home and in libraries.

Yes, I can pick up a book and just "go for it" depending on the material and if my background supports what I'm learning. If it's totally new stuff, a classroom/lab experiences would be a better choice for me.

The last mile usually includes working with some sort of mock testing software to gauge my knowledge against an external standard.

Why do you ask?

 

I thought it might be useful to have a collection of methods in case anyone is struggling to find a study pattern to suit there needs.

 

As I'm sure you know, study patterns are pretty individualistic. I took a course back in my grad school days on how learning patterns were related to personality types. In other words, how we learn is dependent on who we are. Some people do well in instructor led classrooms, others need more one on one, some people do well listening to instruction, others need to see it and others need to put their hands on it. If someone where to ask me what study method they should use, I'd probably start asking them a lot of questions trying to find out what's already worked for them. Many educational facilities have convinced some people that they aren't very smart when in reality, those people just don't learn well in the mass-production, cookie cutter educational centers that are mostly available. There are some pretty smart folks out there who've been convinced they're not very bright.

 

I cant agree more there Trip, I had that same experience from leaving school till my early twenties. I had been told mosts of my teenage years that I didn't have the ability and that I wouldn't amount to much. It wasn't until I joined a training company that they helped my work on how I could learn and what methods suited me.

To be honest I hadn't thought that it may have been the way I was learning , I'd had it in my head it was due to my incapabilities.

 

My son David is a perfect example and then some. He's had all kinds of learning disabilities that made teaching him how to read just a nightmare. Dispite that, he scores well above average on standardized "IQ" tests. He's finally up to grade level on his reading but still doesn't really like it because of the effort involved. He really regrets it because there are books he knows he'd really enjoy if he could just get past the struggle.

One thing is that he's no quitter. As tough as it's been on him, he never gave up. A lot of other kids probably would have. He does learn a lot better when he can do things with his hands. That's probably what led him to playing percussion. He currently wants to pursue a career in horiculture which is a good match. If he can see it, touch it, manipulate it, it's more real to him than just words on a page or some lecture hall.

I'm glad you found your niche, Si. I've met some very dedicated and talented educators but as a class, I think they bought into the idea that students are cattle and must be taught in herds, feeding them the same grain day in and day out. I wonder if this is how Pink Floyd ended up writing "The Wall"?

 

Interesting thread developing there (please - let's not go down the "how the Floyd wrote The Wall" - route - that should have its own Forum )

To answer the original que - I have to study in th eorganised chaos of my desk/lab environment to achieve best results - and with NO-ONE else in the house. Rarely manage it though ...

 

Pretty tough with the missus and little one around. I went to grad school before my kids were born and went back to school when they were teens so it wasn't tough for me in the same way.

 

To be honest, Trip - they are marvellous at finding things to do, or making "Away Days" so's I can study - I am lucky in that respect, although it does mean seeing less of them.

That's the trade-off with self-Certs, I suppose