Distinction/HD wam study tips (1 Viewer)

[obviouslyme]

So B of Science is HARD, i say it's harder than the other non-science units I have done (including Economics/Commerce/Arts) because

1) I cannot go to lectures unprepared. If I don't understand the lecture slides beforehand, I will most likely come out of the lecture even more confused and clueless than ever. Don't know what the lecturer is going on about during the lecture.
2) Cannot cram. With science, it's extremely hard to understand new content the night before unless you are some superman.

Science has always been hard for me. I don't remember things easily in science as I do in some humanity units But I really want to be some sort of scientist.
Does anyone who have a Distinction/HD wam in Science share some study tips please? I will really appreciate it! What do you do before lectures, and after lectures and how do you take good notes and balance all your hard science units in one semester?

Thank you! any tips would be very much appreciated!

 

[RenegadeMx]

So B of Science is HARD, i say it's harder than the other non-science units I have done (including Economics/Commerce/Arts) because

1) I cannot go to lectures unprepared. If I don't understand the lecture slides beforehand, I will most likely come out of the lecture even more confused and clueless than ever. Don't know what the lecturer is going on about during the lecture.
2) Cannot cram. With science, it's extremely hard to understand new content the night before unless you are some superman.

Science has always been hard for me. I don't remember things easily in science as I do in some humanity units But I really want to be some sort of scientist.
Does anyone who have a Distinction/HD wam in Science share some study tips please? I will really appreciate it! What do you do before lectures, and after lectures and how do you take good notes and balance all your hard science units in one semester?

Thank you! any tips would be very much appreciated!

do past papers

 

[pHyRe]

i do mostly maths/stats but did a bit of psyc and bio too. i get solid grades, but not HD range, usually 75-80ish. during the sem this is what i do ideally

go to most/all lectures. for non maths subjects i create a google docs (or word) of very comprehensive notes. as detailed as I can with pictures and everything. for maths, i mostly just listen and try to understand assuming i go to the lectures maybe take notes but they usually go too fast for me to copy it down in an organised fashion and understand properly. try to keep on top of the material and have my notes reasonably up to date with lectures

go to some/most tutes. do all tute questions and try to stay somewhat on top of that. then revise them for midsems/assignments plus any past papers.

before major assessments i make a 'cheat sheet.' here, im as condense as possible. i go over all my notes and just condense it down to things that are not obvious and need to be memorised, in as little space as possible (but still legible)

then the night before (read: 30minutes before the exam) i read/cram all these things i need to memorise.

all of these is considerably easier for commerce/econ than science. totally get why comm kids often work 2-3 days a week, have a social life and get solid grades

 

[obviouslyme]

Thanks a lot for your input Really appreciate it! Yep, will start making notes as I go along this semester

I just have a bit of trouble trying to take notes from science textbooks. Particularly hate it when JUST ONE line from lecture slide equals half a page in the textbook.

Too true, and they don't have lab and pracs as well which saves a lot of time!

 

[BlueGas]

Thanks a lot for your input Really appreciate it! Yep, will start making notes as I go along this semester

I just have a bit of trouble trying to take notes from science textbooks. Particularly hate it when JUST ONE line from lecture slide equals half a page in the textbook.

Too true, and they don't have lab and pracs as well which saves a lot of time!

The lecture slides are a summarized version of the textbook, you can choose to rely on the lecture notes but be careful if they toss at you a question that requires more knowledge than just the lecture slides. I write my notes with the textbook (or online textbook) beside me, I just use the lecture notes as a 'guide' to give me an idea of what to look through the textbook. But it's up to you on how you wish to tackle science subjects.

 

[obviouslyme]

The lecture slides are a summarized version of the textbook, you can choose to rely on the lecture notes but be careful if they toss at you a question that requires more knowledge than just the lecture slides. I write my notes with the textbook (or online textbook) beside me, I just use the lecture notes as a 'guide' to give me an idea of what to look through the textbook. But it's up to you on how you wish to tackle science subjects.

Thanks so much mate Yes I agree, want distinction/HD, then make notes using the textbook rather than relying on the lecture notes
Good luck with ur studies

 

[BlueGas]

Thanks so much mate Yes I agree, want distinction/HD, then make notes using the textbook rather than relying on the lecture notes
Good luck with ur studies

With semester 2 I'm finding myself to mainly rely on lecture notes, yes textbooks are always better as they have pictures and more information, but when you have at least 2-3 subjects where you have to write notes for, then you have to try conserve your time to not waste too much of it writing notes. Ultimately, it depends on how much time you take writing notes and whether or not you want them to be concise or have extra information.

 

[strawberrye]

To save you time, I will condense my tips
1. Don't forget lab component of science courses can be a significant portion of marks-so got to be prepared for labs, know what you are doing, write good records, and spend TIME to write up good lab reports in accordance to whatever marking criteria or standards/format they expect you to write in.
2. Revise regularly (most often I don't really read through chemistry textbook because it is too time consuming and outside course scope without realising-depends on course, but for all the courses I have done-reading and understanding lecture slides and doing associated questions either online or provided by lecturers has been really helpful)
3. If possible, get your hands on a past paper ASAP so you can see format of question and depth of knowledge/understanding required.

4. Want to clarify something rather important, to be a good scientist or even a good science student, you don't necessarily need to remember a lot at the uni level, you will benefit a lot more to spend time to understand how content relates together and ask your teacher questions if you have anything you are confused about. (In this way, you can rely on lecture notes and not necessarily need to write your own notes-So far, for the three years i have studied the chemistry component of my science major, I haven't needed to really write my own notes-mostly it is decoding lecture notes in meaningful way-i.e. different formatting, adding what teacher says in lecture in to slide for revision).

DISCLAIMER-I go to UNSW, so USYD science courses may have a different structure-i.e. textbook more useful than lecture notes, in which case, disregard any part of my advice that doesn't apply to your study.

Good luck

 

[obviouslyme]

To save you time, I will condense my tips
1. Don't forget lab component of science courses can be a significant portion of marks-so got to be prepared for labs, know what you are doing, write good records, and spend TIME to write up good lab reports in accordance to whatever marking criteria or standards/format they expect you to write in.
2. Revise regularly (most often I don't really read through chemistry textbook because it is too time consuming and outside course scope without realising-depends on course, but for all the courses I have done-reading and understanding lecture slides and doing associated questions either online or provided by lecturers has been really helpful)
3. If possible, get your hands on a past paper ASAP so you can see format of question and depth of knowledge/understanding required.

4. Want to clarify something rather important, to be a good scientist or even a good science student, you don't necessarily need to remember a lot at the uni level, you will benefit a lot more to spend time to understand how content relates together and ask your teacher questions if you have anything you are confused about. (In this way, you can rely on lecture notes and not necessarily need to write your own notes-So far, for the three years i have studied the chemistry component of my science major, I haven't needed to really write my own notes-mostly it is decoding lecture notes in meaningful way-i.e. different formatting, adding what teacher says in lecture in to slide for revision).

DISCLAIMER-I go to UNSW, so USYD science courses may have a different structure-i.e. textbook more useful than lecture notes, in which case, disregard any part of my advice that doesn't apply to your study.

Good luck

Hi Strawberrye, thank you for your time to write these awesome tips!!! Definitely, preparing for labs is so important cos not only for the good reports, but you don't want to waste 3hr of your life having no idea what's going on.
I really like your second tip. Before I was all about studying from the textbook, cos that's the traditional way to do it in high school aye. But now i realise lectures, and its notes are wayyy more important and of course, practice.

Thank you so much, i was worried about going out of uni not having enough skills because i literally forget what i learn at uni once the unit is over. I will try to understand and how to apply it.

Thanks heaps strawberrye

 

[obviouslyme]

With semester 2 I'm finding myself to mainly rely on lecture notes, yes textbooks are always better as they have pictures and more information, but when you have at least 2-3 subjects where you have to write notes for, then you have to try conserve your time to not waste too much of it writing notes. Ultimately, it depends on how much time you take writing notes and whether or not you want them to be concise or have extra information.

Yeah i am getting that feel as we are heading towards the end of semester. The mid semester exam we took literally used many of the lecture slides + your understanding. So lecture notes first, then textbook for more indepth info.