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Hi
Recently due to changing schools(and lack of concentration ability), I've fallen behind in my studies, especially in maths and physics. I'm doing very bad in those 2 subjects, so bad in fact, that I'm close to failing those subjects. Now, that doesn't mean that I'll get kicked out of the school now, but if I fail those subjects the next time as well, I'll probably get kicked out.
But not all is lost. I can still save my grades for these courses. I have to do 2 tests (maths,physics), and if I get a passable grade, all is fine. But there is a small problem. Those tests are in 7 days, and I'm completely(almost) clueless when it comes to those 2 subjects. That means I would have to start studying those subjects from 0.
My question to you TL is, how could I study so, that I would be able to cover the needed materials, understand and then memorise them, in 7 days?
Hope I make any sense. Sorry for my English.
+ Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8RFbuXEuc
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On December 12 2011 23:52 Bunn wrote:Hi Recently due to changing schools(and lack of concentration ability), I've fallen behind in my studies, especially in maths and physics. I'm doing very bad in those 2 subjects, so bad in fact, that I'm close to failing those subjects. Now, that doesn't mean that I'll get kicked out of the school now, but if I fail those subjects the next time as well, I'll probably get kicked out. But not all is lost. I can still save my grades for these courses. I have to do 2 tests (maths,physics), and if I get a passable grade, all is fine. But there is a small problem. Those tests are in 7 days, and I'm completely(almost) clueless when it comes to those 2 subjects. That means I would have to start studying those subjects from 0. My question to you TL is, how could I study so, that I would be able to cover the needed materials, understand and then memorise them, in 7 days?Hope I make any sense. Sorry for my English. + Show Spoiler +
What grade level btw?
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On December 12 2011 23:56 Roe wrote:
What grade level btw?
Uhm, I don't think I understand your question correctly(my English skillsT_T). I go to high school 2nd year out of 3.
On December 12 2011 23:56 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Get a tutor, get your nose in those books... + Show Spoiler +
No money for a tutor 
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A good tutor will probably help a lot, both in making study time more efficient and actually forcing you to set rigid study times and keep to them.
#edit
Ah, if money is an issue and your parents aren't willing/able to pay for a tutor then you will just have to buckle down and study yourself. Perhaps getting together with some other people to work on it together may help, though at this point with so little time left before the exam I would just focus on getting through the material yourself.
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On December 13 2011 00:01 Bunn wrote:Uhm, I don't think I understand your question correctly(my English skillsT_T). I go to high school 2nd year out of 3. No money for a tutor
Alright, should be easy. Assuming you have a textbook you just need to read over the major ideas, write them down, organize them concisely and study. Your studying should be without any aides like your text or notes, and should be you writing down everything you know. If the text has test questions, copy those down and use them.
There's no real trick to learning anything in 7 days except discipline and enthusiasm. Remind yourself of your goal, remind yourself that you need to have this done every day.
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Check out Khan Academy. If you know what you need to study for, try finding it there, watching the video, doing the exercises. One thing you have to remember is that you actually have to do it, which is where I usually have trouble. Having a good idea is great and all, but you have to follow through on it.
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And next semester, don't put yourself in this position in the first place!
edit: second the khan academy, good resource.
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On December 12 2011 23:52 Bunn wrote:
My question to you TL is, how could I study so, that I would be able to cover the needed materials, understand and then memorise them, in 7 days?
Cover the needed materials
If you have a complete set of notes and all of the previous tests and assignments and the correct answers to them, then you have all the material covered. If you don't, get them from somebody.
Understand
Impossible. You are not going to understand 4 months worth of material in one week. You should try to understand the material that has not been tested yet in the course (last 3-5 weeks). You can possibly memorize a large amount of it, but memorization does not help you much in physics.
Memorise
I would recommend going over all of the previous tests since > 50% of the final exam is usually from previous exams. Spend the remaining time you have trying to understand the material you have not been tested on. This will give you a shot at getting a passing grade on the last test.
Also this is not really a blog and more of a desperate plea for last second help with school. I hope you pass your exam, but you shouldn't be proud of yourself if you do.
edit: I just saw your other post that you are in high school so I should be less critical of you (this sort of thing doesn't fly in college). If you can find someone to help you with your studies, like other people have mentioned you can understand the material in a high school course. If you are friends with someone in an upper level course (3rd or 4th year), they should be able to explain the material to you.
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http://www.khanacademy.org/
If your English is decent you won't have any problems understanding.
The video selection covers everything from basic arithmetic to college math(which you won't need).
Every time I got sick in high school and didn't attend class for a longer period of time I just watched the videos and learned everything from there and only opened my math book to practice some problems.
And the best part about it its fun
GL!
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You will mostly need to work hard. Sorry about the basic answer, but that's it. There is no magical way, find a good learning website like the post above me offer, know exactly what you missed so you can know precisely what you have to learn, and work hard.
Make a plan, how much did you miss and how many time left you have ? With those 2 datas, you'll know exactly how much more work you'll have to do and you'll be able to schedule.
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On December 13 2011 00:22 MrCon wrote:
You will mostly need to work hard. Sorry about the basic answer, but that's it.
I understand that I have to work hard, but I just don't know how to actually study. I mean, I can take a physics book, read it, possibly understand consepts, but I don't know how I would actually memorize it. Should I start reading it until I memorize it, like a poem or something?
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just read your lecture notes or textbook or whatever material they gave you instead of reading teamliquid
edit- yes read until you memorize it, thats literally all you need to do (especially for physics, physics is all memorization). Usually for me I just go over everything twice and by the third time I have it all memorized.
If you have to draw something then that drawing it out doesn't hurt either
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On December 13 2011 00:31 Bunn wrote:Show nested quote +On December 13 2011 00:22 MrCon wrote:
You will mostly need to work hard. Sorry about the basic answer, but that's it. I understand that I have to work hard, but I just don't know how to actually study. I mean, I can take a physics book, read it, possibly understand consepts, but I don't know how I would actually memorize it. Should I start reading it until I memorize it, like a poem or something?
read it over and over again.
test yourself by going into your memory and writing down everything you can.
the best way is to attach the concepts to something important. make it relevant to your life. that's probably the hardest thing with phys/math, but it's better than memorization. for those subjects you really just have to practice in order to get comfortable with it.
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Learn the formulas and do the same exercices over and over. That's how math works.
But it is probably too late now. You are too stressed and it seems that you hate math/phy ( otherwise you would not be completly lost ) so basicly you will never be able to memorize all this stuff.
You should give it a try anyway, maybe you will get a passable grade if you are lucky.
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7 days is more than enough, you don't have to understand math or physics all you have to do is memorise formulas at that level. Just study for 12 hours a day or so if you find it hard to understand.
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Well, just study(practice calculating), duh~
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What's always worked for me is to read everything over the first 24-48 hours. then do a LOT of questions the next day, grade these before you go to sleep. The next day review the questions you got wrong in the morning, in the afternoon read those sections. Then do a LOT of practice questions the next day, again grade them before you go to sleep. The last day review your weaknesses, then skim everything one last time. Get good rest before your exam.
Think about this like practicing for a sports (or even e-sports) tournament. Your practice should be harder than the actual test, but at the still time as similar to the test at possible (i.e laddering/reading won't prepare you as well as custom games on tournament maps vs someone trying to mimic your opponent). Therefore the most important part of this technique is the practice questions. try to schedule them a little faster and longer than the test. So if your test is 60 questions x 3 blocks, each over 80 minutes, then practice 80 questions x 4 blocks, each over 90 minutes. If your exam is 40 questions and 10 proofs x 90 minutes, then practice 60 questions and 15 proofs over 100 minutes x 3 or 4 practice tests.
Prepare for practice like it was real. So take that first cramming session seriously, and try to pretend that the first practice session is for real. By the time the real test rolls around in one week it will seem like cake.
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On December 13 2011 00:39 Boblion wrote:
Learn the formulas and do the same exercices over and over. That's how math works.
But it is probably too late now. You are too stressed and it seems that you hate math/phy ( otherwise you would not be completly lost ) so basicly you will never be able to memorize all this stuff.
You should give it a try anyway, maybe you will get a passable grade if you are lucky.
Well I don't hate physics, as I can actually find it interesting and useful. But maths not so much. I just don't understand logarithms, all those functions and what-not.
I guess I'll start by cramming maths first as that seems harder.
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You should try to ask your teachers. I don't know how it is for you, but at my school most of them will try to find a hole in their schedule to get you some extra lessons. People like to help and that's probably even more true for teachers.
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Less TL, more study.
Talk to your teachers and explain your circumstances without begging for special favours. If passing is your goal, it should be fairly attainable since teachers usually bump up your mark for good performance in final exam (even if the calculated average is below the passing grade). Assuming you've been on the good side of teachers (I dearly hope so), they will make room for you to pass as long as you put in the effort in the next few days.
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If you're that far behind, you need to give up having any fun at all and work yourself to sleep every day. If you ever sense the slightest hint of procrastination in your thoughts, crush it like the fist of an angry god. You'll be miserable for a while, but so very happy and relieved when you finally have leisure time again
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you're screwed basically.
pick one class and focus on that. Its better to do well in 1 class and retake the class you did poorly in, than to attempt in 7days to cram 2 classes of material and fail both.
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On December 13 2011 00:51 Bunn wrote:Show nested quote +On December 13 2011 00:39 Boblion wrote:
Learn the formulas and do the same exercices over and over. That's how math works.
But it is probably too late now. You are too stressed and it seems that you hate math/phy ( otherwise you would not be completly lost ) so basicly you will never be able to memorize all this stuff.
You should give it a try anyway, maybe you will get a passable grade if you are lucky. Well I don't hate physics, as I can actually find it interesting and useful. But maths not so much. I just don't understand logarithms, all those functions and what-not. I guess I'll start by cramming maths first as that seems harder.
Don't worry, there is not much you need to "understand" about logarithms.
Lets say there is some function f=a^x and you wanna know what x is? well mathematicians at some point in history just found some simple rules how to calculate it. They decided to name it "logarithm".
Just make yourself comfortable with the definition and the calculation rules. And practice them on various examples. No need for any deeper understanding there, at least at lower levels.
It is like starcraft, memorizing some solid build orders will get you to a certain level. Before you're able to execute them with ease, it is not helpful to worry about deeper strategies.
Just make sure you practice and dont waste time on youtube or internet forums.
I believe math isnt hard to do at that level, it is just that people oftentimes try too hard to look for some intuitive "understanding" that is not to be had at that level, and then they stop exercising and start to worry and procrastinate.
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PRACTICE PROBLEMS
The best way to learn theoretical courses is by doing the assigned problem sets; you can't study problem solving ability. 7 days is a ton of time in the academic world. You can learn what you need to learn to at least pass in that time.
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Ask for help from your teachers or a friend or family who's good at this. Just be honest with your situation and show that you are willing to do the work. Reading the material a few times before you talk to them is a good start. Try to indentify what is it you understand and what is it that you don't.
I'm sorry, but math and physics are some of the hardest subjects to cram for because they depend so heavily on good fundamentals (i.e, knowing stuff you learned before, not just the stuff that's on this test). But if you ask for help AND do the work it's not impossible.
Good luck.
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On December 13 2011 02:15 Masq wrote:
you're screwed basically.
pick one class and focus on that. Its better to do well in 1 class and retake the class you did poorly in, than to attempt in 7days to cram 2 classes of material and fail both.
Sadly this is correct.
It's happened to me before, and I failed both.
Especially since it is math, it is so hard to learn on your own, and know the materials without going to class every day, taking the quizzes, and doing the homework.
Just do the best you can I guess, but you are probably gonna have to re take the classes.
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On December 13 2011 01:17 TheAntZ wrote:
If you're that far behind, you need to give up having any fun at all and work yourself to sleep every day. If you ever sense the slightest hint of procrastination in your thoughts, crush it like the fist of an angry god. You'll be miserable for a while, but so very happy and relieved when you finally have leisure time again
QFT
being miserable for 9 months in college, and having only the 3 remaining months of leisure time is such an awesome trade.
Sadly, for subjects such as math and physics there are no shortcuts, no sum-ups and no reading-lightly to produce any kind of good results. On college level it's not possible to catch up to 4 months of material in 7 days, but on high school level it should be VERY possible if you are serious about putting your time in it (and you have the fundamentals), but there will be sacrifices you will have to do.
1) abandon everything other than studying
2) limit your sleep to 5-6 hours (you will catch up after you get shit done)
3) work all day every day
theory is always very good to know in math and physics, but if you don't understand it, try working through the easier practice problems first and return to trying to understand the theory once you have a basic understanding of what shit means and what is going on. Then practice some more until your eyes bleed.
Number one trap you should be looking not to fall into is skimming through and reading solved practice problems. Your brain tricks you into a state of mind where you *think* you understand and *feel* like you understand, but you actually don't and you will fail solving easiest problems on your exam because you don't know the specific errors you do(you learn these through practice, and they're generally very easy to identify and eliminate if you practice).
work work work.
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On December 13 2011 03:35 sh4w wrote:Show nested quote +On December 13 2011 02:15 Masq wrote:
you're screwed basically.
pick one class and focus on that. Its better to do well in 1 class and retake the class you did poorly in, than to attempt in 7days to cram 2 classes of material and fail both. Sadly this is correct. It's happened to me before, and I failed both. Especially since it is math, it is so hard to learn on your own, and know the materials without going to class every day, taking the quizzes, and doing the homework. Just do the best you can I guess, but you are probably gonna have to re take the classes.
It's dependant on a lot of factors; such as matter covered in the tests, and assuming he's in a comparable grade as i was last year (second-to-last year of highschool, over here that's at 17 y/o)
But i haven't studied for more than two days for most test for pretty much all of my highschool career. With my tendency to procratination that's approx 2-5 hours of effective studying total. This hasn't lead to great grades, but i was able to pass nonetheless.
Two tests in a week is totally doable
Not saying this will be easy, i figure you haven't been to many classes on the subjects, but that just means you need to practice a lot, and if you sacrifice enough free time 7 days should be enough.
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Ask your teacher about tutoring resources. Many schools have volunteer tutor hours from a teacher or some students who are very advanced in the subject. Otherwise find a friend who knows the information well to go over it with you. (but don't get distracted)
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On December 13 2011 00:11 TheKefka wrote:http://www.khanacademy.org/If your English is decent you won't have any problems understanding. The video selection covers everything from basic arithmetic to college math(which you won't need). Every time I got sick in high school and didn't attend class for a longer period of time I just watched the videos and learned everything from there and only opened my math book to practice some problems. And the best part about it its fun GL!
why do i even need university... i just watched like 3 months worth of accounting material in 20 minutes..
ok nvm some of his finance concepts aren't exactly accurate, i see why i need a phd teaching me
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On December 13 2011 05:05 RedJustice wrote:
Ask your teacher about tutoring resources. Many schools have volunteer tutor hours from a teacher or some students who are very advanced in the subject. Otherwise find a friend who knows the information well to go over it with you. (but don't get distracted)
No schools have this outside of First Year. Friends are the only way to get through school. Friends are boss.
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do problems and don't stop doing problems.
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EPT
