Am I spendin too much time on dot points? (2 Viewers)

[ram14]

Hey,
Ive decided to do summaries based on each dot point for chem, phys and bio and im takin aaages doin each one, like findin the right sources and putting it all together and everything, it takes me like a couple hours to do about 4 dot points, is that normal?
And I mean is it worthwhile doin that and spendin so muhc time on it or should i just study ahead and do the work were gonna be doin....
Thanks.

 

[tezza6189]

Everybody does their dot points differently so u've got to find a way that is the most effective for you. I did huge dot points for chemistry and I did them in great detail, using various sources, so to me, spending hours on only 3-4 dot points don't seem abnormal. However, do you feel as if you know your content much better after spending this much time doing dot points? Do you actually take all the info in as you write your dot points?

If you find that you still don't understand much more of the content after you've done your dot points, then doing long and detailed dot points are a waste of time, simpler and more concise dot points would probably save you time (esp. when you have three rather difficult science subjects to deal with at once) and help you remember things faster. I regretted putting so much time into my dot points because I didn't actually take a lot in while writing my dotpoints because there was so much information and so much research involved and the problem when I had to read over them, I had a HUGE amount to read through because my dot points were so big.

You're probably better off using the time to practise writing common HSC 5-7 mark questions and doing drills on skills (especially in physics).

 

[yoakim]

Funny how I was about to make a thread exactly the same as this. I had the same question. I've been making pretty detailed summary notes for bio and chem based on the syllabus, and I've put in a fair amount of time and research into the information. I don't believe it's not abnormal, I believe it's good use of study time, because the actual good thing is that most of the info gets into my head.

But I still have the question: Am I going to actually read over them and SUMMARISE those lengthy notes? I probably will but then again that'll be a hell of a lot and it'll give me so much stress.

"doing drills on skills" - what type of skills are there?

 

[SoulSearcher]

I assume the ones dealing with experiments, and so forth. I wouldn't have a clue what skills though

 

[tezza6189]

Funny how I was about to make a thread exactly the same as this. I had the same question. I've been making pretty detailed summary notes for bio and chem based on the syllabus, and I've put in a fair amount of time and research into the information. I don't believe it's not abnormal, I believe it's good use of study time, because the actual good thing is that most of the info gets into my head.

But I still have the question: Am I going to actually read over them and SUMMARISE those lengthy notes? I probably will but then again that'll be a hell of a lot and it'll give me so much stress.

"doing drills on skills" - what type of skills are there?

I had heaps of notes to read over before the exams and that makes me all stressed when I can't remember everything because the notes were so long.

As for skills, I'm not an expert in physics and bio, but for chemistry there are stuff like calculating heats of combustion, balancing equations etc that you need to practise

 

[iambored]

I did that for year 12, I thought it was very important but I only did 1 science, not 3. It took me a long time and in the end I think I had to speed it up a lot. I think you should still do it but spend a lot less time because you won't have enough time. It's also useful because you get an understanding of the work most of the time, but you also have to leave enough time to learn the dot points because otherwise they are useless.

 

[yoakim]

Yeah that's true, I sometimes feels as if i'm trying to keep the setout of the whole notes and stuff too neat, thus wasting time. I might have to speed up...gotta write just the main/key dot points that will cover the syllabus point...

Also: what type of verbs would most likely be used in a hsc exam question that's worth 6-8 marks? I know the word "assess" is a major one...but what about evaluate, describe, explain, and analyse? <-- are they also 6-8 mark type verbs?
Because in my study notes i'm varying their lengths in relation to how many marks the possible question would be worth using that verb.

 

[ichiraku]

Like you, I spent a lot of time during the summer holidays last year making really detailed and lengthy notes for Bio, Chem and Eco. I'd say at times it would take me probably a whole week just to go through a whole module. For me, my Biology and Chemistry notes usually numbered about 10-12 pages per module with Size 10 Tahoma font.

I never really got around to summarising my summaries, especially when seeing as I had really lengthy notes, so I can't tell you too much about that. I would say though, that it's a good idea to review your notes on a regular basis and become familiar with them. It definetly makes it a lot less stressful come exam time.

I opted to make textbook style notes in chunks of info for Chemistry and Biology. This is because these subjects are pretty straightforward in terms of what is taught and there aren't that many links...it also improves the quality of your answers in some of the bigger mark questions. For Economics, I found it was more effective to just do summaries in dot point form and make mind maps as nearly everything is somehow interrelated (especially useful for the essays) and it made it easier to absorb the info. Just find out what works best for you coming up to half yearlies and go on from there. If you have a good memory, then detailed notes will turn out to be more valuable than past papers. At least, that's what I found through my experience.

Oh and just a pointer though. If your notes start getting to the size of your study guide/textbook, then you should probably cut it down a bit =]

 

[yoakim]

Like you, I spent a lot of time during the summer holidays last year making really detailed and lengthy notes for Bio, Chem and Eco. I'd say at times it would take me probably a whole week just to go through a whole module. For me, my Biology and Chemistry notes usually numbered about 10-12 pages per module with Size 10 Tahoma font.

I never really got around to summarising my summaries, especially when seeing as I had really lengthy notes, so I can't tell you too much about that. I would say though, that it's a good idea to review your notes on a regular basis and become familiar with them. It definetly makes it a lot less stressful come exam time.

I opted to make textbook style notes in chunks of info for Chemistry and Biology. This is because these subjects are pretty straightforward in terms of what is taught and there aren't that many links...it also improves the quality of your answers in some of the bigger mark questions. For Economics, I found it was more effective to just do summaries in dot point form and make mind maps as nearly everything is somehow interrelated (especially useful for the essays) and it made it easier to absorb the info. Just find out what works best for you coming up to half yearlies and go on from there. If you have a good memory, then detailed notes will turn out to be more valuable than past papers. At least, that's what I found through my experience.

Oh and just a pointer though. If your notes start getting to the size of your study guide/textbook, then you should probably cut it down a bit =]

Wow, a week to revise a whole module...is that including studying your other subjects? If so then that's not too bad I guess...

 

[ichiraku]

Well, I did throw in some Maths exercises here and there just to keep it a bit interesting. The thing was that I was going one module ahead of the class so pretty much was learning everything from scratch. In the end it turned out pretty well. I managed to get module 2 for bio, chem and eco done before school started as well as doing some maths here and there. English was completely forgotten lol...didn't even read my set texts.

As for revising the stuff...by the time you get to HSC you'll have everything drilled into your head and know how to bs just about every 8 marker there is.

 

[501n2u]

I've been spending quite a lot of time on doing each dot point for both Physics and Chemistry. har har har and I thought I was doing it wrong since I spent so much time on a few of the dot points ^^.

 

[airie]

Bleh, I need heaps of time on making dot point notes too. Then again could be just that I write too slowly

The thing was that I was going one module ahead of the class

Is that good for study? It's just that I prefer to get stuff done in class and get everything together before I make the notes

 

[ichiraku]

I found it really good, as you get a lot of time these holidays to spend on them. As you get closer and closer to trials, it gets harder and harder to make notes, so you should probably have an eye out on working on them early on. Your half yearlies wil also come up a lot quicker than you expect (and it'll probably be the first time you start to really freak out), so it never hurts to know that you've already gone through the content once. Some teachers also never get to finish the whole course or might not go through a section thoroughly , so eventually you'll have to do some independant study anyway.

Choose whatever works for you though. I just found this way made revising the content a lot easier.

 

[pLuvia]

In the holidays I pretty much did the same thing is ichiraku, but only for chemistry. It was certainly easier and I could add extra things into my dot points whenever I had found new information from teachers, other textbooks etc. Chemistry was the only dot point subject I had so I got it easy for me

I read one of my English set texts, BNW in the holidays that's it, and never touched english until the start of term.

Did maths consistently throughout the holidays on top chemistry dot points

Anyway if your dot points are long but detailed and they cover everything and it's effective for you then continue with what you are doing. However if you see things that are unnecessary then by all means scrap that info or you'll just be wasting your time with learning it

 

[pritnep]

It seems that dot point have become pretty popular and an excellent learning tool (which has almost come a must) especially in the science based subjects.

I know when I did them as part of my study it took a bit of time however it also is dependant on exactly what you are going to be using them for. For myself my dot point summaries (which reassembled mini mind maps) I created after reading over\studying and completing sections\syllabus dot points and so they were simply a tool to remember keywords that would jog my memory and trigger other words and phrases that I could associate with those words to remember key points.

However if you are writing almost paragraph like dot points then it can take a considerable amount of time.

My advice if you feel it is taking to long then it probably is and maybe you should re-look at how you are doing your dot points and if they will be useful to you in the future.

 

[airie]

Ahh shoot. I haven't done any work yet and doesn't look like I'm gonna have much time for it >.<'''

 

[xclusv2bhung]

thats really good =]
you're not wasting your time at all, in fact your using it really well.
better to spend an hour doing 4 solid, detailed points rather than do 8 rushed ones.

.. in reference to the original message lol

 

[Calla]

I think the way your going should be fine...i mean you have another month of holiday til school starts and still a fair bit of time til your exams - so take your time. (That is of course if a detailed set of notes does not detract from understanding the content)

 

[aussiechica7]

Hey,
I think dot points are the way to go. They will base your exams on those dot points. Do enough of them so that you can learn them and remember them. Just try not to be behind in class because you're labouring on one point you did 2 weeks ago (good tip for university as well). Just before exams you can add a lot more detail if you need to. For now, I'd just get a working knowledge of the subjects.

 

[yoakim]

Well, I did throw in some Maths exercises here and there just to keep it a bit interesting. The thing was that I was going one module ahead of the class so pretty much was learning everything from scratch. In the end it turned out pretty well. I managed to get module 2 for bio, chem and eco done before school started as well as doing some maths here and there. English was completely forgotten lol...didn't even read my set texts.

As for revising the stuff...by the time you get to HSC you'll have everything drilled into your head and know how to bs just about every 8 marker there is.

Wow...that's heaps.