The Stealth Studying method(calnewport.com)
calnewport.com
The Stealth Studying method
http://calnewport.com/blog/?p=130
5 comments
This technique is about rote memorization. While your engineering and science classes require less of this, subjects such as history require significant memorization not only for tests, but also for holding connections in the mind. Short, focused study for recall sessions can help in these cases, as memorization is difficult in longer sessions.
Vocabulary for just about anything is going to work best in his method. And I can't help but think that something without its own vocabulary must be mighty superficial.
It's good advice, but I don't like the way this article rests on the assumption that studying before an exam is this dreaded beast in the academic experience. Cramming's one thing... no one likes to sweat through those final precious hours leading up to a test.
But spending a few hours/day in the library the week leading up to an exam never killed anyone. I kind of enjoyed my time alone to pore over my semester's notes. It was meditative.
The advice in this article (take notes like study guides, study them over 2 10-minute intervals each day) is harmless enough. I just don't like the presentation.
But spending a few hours/day in the library the week leading up to an exam never killed anyone. I kind of enjoyed my time alone to pore over my semester's notes. It was meditative.
The advice in this article (take notes like study guides, study them over 2 10-minute intervals each day) is harmless enough. I just don't like the presentation.
Good stuff!
I always kicked ass in courses where I immediately scoped stuff out and divided it into the smallest possible chunks.
The trouble with a lot of todo programs is that they make doing this with your tasks kind of a pain -- so you just end up with a single task "Do $massive_project" with a due date. I'm hoping to solve this with a side project.
I always kicked ass in courses where I immediately scoped stuff out and divided it into the smallest possible chunks.
The trouble with a lot of todo programs is that they make doing this with your tasks kind of a pain -- so you just end up with a single task "Do $massive_project" with a due date. I'm hoping to solve this with a side project.
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i'm so in-like with this approach, i remember when i was studying post-graduate heterogeneous catalysis and all i needed to do was focus for several hours at a time, for days on end on concepts that were just really really hard with an experimental data set that seemed infinite and then integrate that knowledge base with my own experimental results and design the next set. oh wait, i think i got the article wrong.
If you can, take something else, if you can't, consider taking a bad grade and focusing on something else anyway.
The suggestion in the article is awful. It is far more important to work hard at concentrating for long periods of time. All this method is doing is conditioning you to be scatterbrained. We get enough of that already.