- I recently came across the website Study Hacks. It has some interesting insights into how to study. Specifically, it aims to show people how to study smarter, not harder.
- I realized today that one of my study habits is that I focus on a problem in short spurts without being distracted. When I have math homework, my mode of attack has been in the past to take an assignment and work on it until I have completed it. In my single days, this involved me secluding myself from the outside world and studying as intensely as I could. Now that I am married, I notice that when I am doing a homework assignment, I don't take being bothered well. I get irrationally irritable when even my wife asks me a question while I am doing homework. I have taken to calling this state "being in the zone". I simply lack the extra brain power in these moments to respond to anything not related to my task at hand. I have been trying my best, therefore, to limit my intense study times to hours when my wife is not around.
- For some reason, when I think of being a "good student", in the past I always equate it to one variable: how many hours one studies. Lately, however, I see that effective study is perhaps a two-variable equation. That is:
Study Power = Quantity of study X Quality of study.
I have always compared my quantity of study to others, and when I see someone who has a higher quantity of study than me, I always consider them better students. However, lately I have come to realize that there is no shame in studying smarter, not harder. For example, if instead of having an intense focus on my study I had a 75% focus on my study, it would take me 33% longer to finish my homework. - I am trying to figure out all the ways in which I can study more efficiently, not only to do my math homework faster, but to learn a bunch of things I am interested in in a more efficient way.
20101109
Study Smarter, not Harder
This has been a topic which has been on my mind a lot lately.
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This is a very fascinating insight into studying. I tend to encounter the same dilemma of becoming uncontrollably irritable when I am "in the zone." I tend to run into the issue however that when I'm in the zone I become more efficient but as soon as I begin to feel that I need a break or take a break my efficiency plummets immediately thereafter. Anyways, I think your onto something here hope your well and as always Quack quack quack quack!
ReplyDeleteO Merrill do Boston
Quack quack quack quack hope you're doing well too. My efficiency also plummets when I slip out of the zone, so when I get in the zone I just try to ride it out as long as I can (or at least until I'm done with what I'm working on). Still, if I have something distracting me, I can go for long stretches without getting anything done because I'm not in the zone.
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