#tips: study

for the person with questions on how to study for history: a really good tip is to make a timeline with the basic points. you study, make some mind maps, a study guide or some flashcards and then quiz yourself by looking at the timeline out of order, so you know you really understand. also, try to understand what motivated that into happening. like bill aberdeen act was created because slavery wasn't interesting for the capitalism in the UK :)))

Hi! You can take this test to find out or read about the different types of learners here and here. Also dedicated wikipedia pages: visual, kinesthetic, auditory.

Sure! Those days I’m studying Scandinavian Linguistics for my exam next week, I’ll show you my notes on that and how I learn them.

*** Please keep in mind that this is my own method and what works for me, could not work for you. Also, I’ve always studied Humanities towards oral examinations, so this method fits subjects that are more conversational and that require a speech preparation. ***

Step 1: Gather the material.

I have the notes I took during lectures but also our lecturer was so kind to upload the whole course notes. I compared the two and my notes correspond quite well but I didn’t attend some lectures, so I’ve decided to use only the “official” notes, of which I’m sure they’re complete.

Step 2: Read and highlight.

I read through all the material and while reading, I highlight the important things. Here I do a first selection of what is worth studying and what’s only chit-chat to fill the pages. In this case the notes provided were a pdf, so I upload it on my iPad and read/highlight in the GoodNotes 4 app - which’s great!

Step 3: First writing.

I write down in my own words what I think it’s important, i.e. the concepts I have highlighted in my text. Often I copy part of the original sentences and, of course, when there’s some definition I write it as it is. Whenever I find something listed, I make bullet points. For ex: I’m learning about the official languages of Sweden, the text says that there are 5 official languages, so I make a list of those. Each bullet point has the name of the language + some information (number of speakers, origin of the language, etc.)Whenever there’s a cause-consequence situation, I put an arrow between the two. For ex.: the presence of a trill sound before a consonant cause the consonant to become retroflex in Swedish and Norwegian. I can easily write that as “swe, norw: trill + consonant → retroflex consonant”. Nothing more, really. I avoid too many colors, titles or images - they’re just distracting.

Step 4: Read the first writing.

I read everything I wrote, highlighting the main concepts and integrating with some extra informations, connections and in-depth analysis. Usually I write those extras on the margins of my notes without really looking at any other source. I try to make connections on my own based on what I understood of the subject. Also, to write on the margin a small summary of the paragraph can be really helpful to fix what is being said at that point.

Step 5: Second writing.

Now I have my notes, highlighted and annotated but it’s not over! I try to understand what are those concepts I can’t not know for my exam. They’re usually just two or three and they’re what hold up the whole subject. I write them and once again, I highlight the key words. At this point, I have pretty clear in my mind what’s all about and I should be able to explain those two-three concepts without looking at my notes again. On these “short” notes I wrote just the fundamental phonetics phenomenons I’ll be asked for sure during my exam. If I don’t know them perfectly, I’m sure I’ll never pass my exam. Everything else is also important but, being just facts about the Nordic countries and their languages (history and general talking), I don’t need to learn them by heart.

Step 6: Read, read, read.

On my desk I have now three packs of notes. The ones that my lecturer made available (circa 50 pages), my “long” notes (20 pages) and my “short” notes (3 pages). I study only on my last condensed notes, that include the most important things I have to know. As long as I know perfectly those two-three key concepts, I’ll be fine. Of course, I’ll be reading again my other notes too but in a different way, more superficially.

1) Try to get to the day before an exam well prepared. The very last day should be entirely dedicated to read notes again or to repeat out loud what you’ve studied. That also means, DO NOT CRAM a year worthy of notes in few hours.

2) Sleep. Go to bed early and make everything possible to get a quiet, long sleep. (Some studies show that revising notions right before going to bed it’s beneficial to the memory. You can give it a try!)

3) Prepare your bag the night before. Everything you could need during the exam should be already packed: pens, pencils, notes for last minute revising, id card, calculator ecc.

4) Also, prepare your clothes the night before. In my academic career I have had almost only oral examinations and for those, apparence is very important. Many times, the professor doesn’t even know you and all his judgment is based only on the 10-15 minutes of the exam. Dress comfortable but nice. I try always to wear something blue because it calms me down and something I like very much, like a nice pair of earrings or my fave bracelet.

5) Set an alarm. You definitely don’t want to arrive late at school for you final exam. You can also meet with classmates before the test to revise together, it’s helpful for sharing last minute tips or have better knowledge trough comparison. But I also know that for some, revising with other people is very stressful and can cause anxiety, so, it's perfectly okay yo just sit and wait for your exam to start.