"study smart. not hard" (1 Viewer)

[trevhk]

Wrong. Studying hard is definitely not a waste of time. I'm pretty sure to a certain extent studying smart does coincide with hard work.

Also, techniques for memorising notes such as those stated by bubbrub do not cater for everyone. You need to know what works best for you. I know that, writing down notes for me was a waste of time cause I never really focused in doing so and zoned out all the time. Instead, I did what bubbrub said was a waste of time, I looked at my notes and memorised them that way. I've seen a lot of people with notes that are done in paragraphs, I don't know how effective that is but if it works for you then that's good. However, having them in dot point form and straight to the point means you will only need to memorise what is important, necessary and crucial to that specific concept.

On top of rote learning notes I also, which my sound weird to some people, discussed the theory and concepts to myself to ensure I understood what I was learning. Memorising only gets you half way, you actually need to understand the concepts and this way it acts as a back up just in case you forget your main points.

I do agree with bubbrub about modern history being a bit vague, but if you have done the study then it is this "vagueness" that will allow you to shine. It leaves room for creativity and individuality which will stand you out above the rest of the cohort. This means that you will have to read outside what is required of the syllabus but still relevant to the coursework. JSTOR is the best search engine for this and contains the most scholar articles, good for all the humanity subjects. Just reading your textbooks isn't really enough. However, it may be sufficient for Science.

Update and polish your notes REGULARLY. At least after every weekend your notes should be up to date. This allows your notes to be more comprehensive and dense. Also, you'll have a huge headstart over those who leave their notes to the last 2 weeks before exams.

 

[annabackwards]

Wrong. Studying hard is definitely not a waste of time. I'm pretty sure to a certain extent studying smart does coincide with hard work.

To word "hard" is to work with "with effort or force or vigor". That implies that you're doing more than neccessary - working "smart" implies that you are being efficient doing only what is required (for the marks/ranks you want).

 

[trevhk]

To word "hard" is to work with "with effort or force or vigor". That implies that you're doing more than neccessary - working "smart" implies that you are being efficient doing only what is required (for the marks/ranks you want).

Yes you are in fact right with the definitions. But if you are going to be smart about how you study you would certainly study hard so as to ensure that you do get the marks and ranks you want. You can't actually quantitatively find out how many hours you need to study in order to get those marks or ranks, some people need to study for 8 hours some only need 4 hours, and so if you are basing it on an assumption that you only need to study 3 hours as to be "smart", well that's actually kind of risky. If you in fact study rigorously you can ALMOST guarantee yourself those marks/ranks you want, and what is smart about studying hard is that you won't just get those marks/ranks you may also get even higher than you could ever expect. Of course, you can never be absolutely guaranteed you'll get those marks/ranks but certainly with hard work you have a higher chance of hitting them.

Doing more than necessary isn't in fact a "stupid" thing to do, it is in some circumstances actually quite "smart". By studying hard you leave little room for regret and telling yourself that I could have done more, or I could have done better. If you are going to be "smart" about it, then you'll know that you won't be happy with the mark you get, we always want better, so why not study hard put n all the effort study more than what people assert as "necessary" to get specific ranks/marks, get the score that is magnificent and so much better than you could have expected and then wind down with parties =D!

Of course, that doesn't mean that I'm saying get 5 hours of sleep every night. That's pushing it. You know your limits and what is "studying hard" will be relative to yourself, so as long as you study "hard" to what you feel as your limits may be, then at least you know you've done your best. Studying smart doesn't also necessarily mean that you get the marks/ranks you want, it can also mean that you study hard to the point where at least you can look back on your HSC year and know that you did eveyrthing you could, because in the end some of us can't get the UAI we always dreamed of and that's a reality, and while we acknowledge that we may as well mitigate any catastrophe's that may occur which may be more detrimental on our mental stability than we could have ever thought of.