Famous Last Words - The Art of Studying

One word: Midterms. I feel as though my schedule has gone all sorts of topsy turvy throwing all of my energy into studying. Add that to a weekend in which, lets be honest, not a lot of work got done, and that makes for a pretty hectic Monday. No regrets, though, because OU/Texas weekend was fantastic!

There's only one!

 Luckily, I'm almost done, so I'll be able to breathe at least for awhile. This past week of extensive studying has had me beginning to really analyze my study habits and methods. For me, unfortunately, studying for exams is a bit of a process of trial and error which typically involves me studying for a test with a specific approach and then altering my method depending on how well I do on the exam. I haven't really come across very many study methods that translate effectively across all classes. For some classes, I've found that making study guides is super helpful, for other classes that doesn't work as well. Some classes, I can study and annotate the book directly and do well, but for other classes, the professor seems to pull questions out of nowhere for a test. There are, however, a few methods that I've discovered (some fairly recently) that I think are pretty universally effective. To name a few:

Charts:
So last week, I had a Molecular Bio Midterm and a Organic Chem Lab Midterm. Studying for both of these exams consisted of constructing a number of charts and tables. My format for these charts is typically to have a column in which I name the term or concept, explain the process or system, identify the materials or machinery involved, and explain why this concept is significant. I feel that this is a good way to begin to organize and think critically about different concepts I am introduced to and am rather unfamiliar with.

Flashcards:
This may seem a little elementary, but I believe this to be, hands down, the best way to memorize any type of information. Enzymes and their functions? Flashcards. Greek gods and their Roman counterpart? Flashcards. Amino Acids? Flashcards. They haven't let me down yet! However, I use them as a tool strictly for memorization, usually to supplement full comprehension of a subject. Understanding how replication in a cell proceeds is a lot easier when I know the different enzymes and proteins involved and what each one does.

Drawing Pictures:
I am a huge visual learner, so drawing pictures of different processes and elements (even if I'm just copying a figure out of book) helps me to better understand what exactly is happening. In Biology, I used to draw out every cell cycle because actually writing it down in my own hand helped me retain the information better.

These are just a few of the methods I tend to use when studying. There are others, naturally, but these seem to be work across multiple subjects. Something I've noticed that I struggle with in terms of studying is studying for multiple exams in the same week. I've improved over the years, but it seems that there is always one subject to which I don't devote enough attention which may or may not cause my exam score to suffer. For that I hope to possibly gain some insight from my fellow classmates. Last week I had one midterm on Wednesday and one on Thursday. I didn't begin studying for the Thursday exam until after my Wednesday exam had passed. This worked out for me this time, but perhaps you have a better method.

Happy Monday, Everyone!
(Boomer Sooner)

Image information: Personal photo of me and my roommate at the OU/Texas game (source: Facebook)