Study TIPS??

Tammy,

I am a sophomore in college. I have ADD, I assume that you do as well. There is a book in our libary called “Habits of Effective Study” or something like that. Basically, it tells you how to study effectively by utilizing tools—which help one remember and thoroughly understand the concepts of a subject—like SQ3R, chunking, and lots more. I haven’t finished the book, but the stuff in it helps me. Go to the University library and look up study habits.

The main concern regarding studying in college is to keep up with the syllabus and to know your limits—how long you can sit and study without losing concentration (take a break once an hour), where you study most effectively (hint: GO TO THE LIBRARY, IT’S QUIET), what time of day you are at your sharpest, how long it takes for you to read a chapter in a textbook, etc. My biggest issue is distraction but everyone is different and I know people who can effectively study while music is playing, though its a myth that listening to music (minus classical) helps someone to study better.

Taking 10 minutes to write out a schedule or a to-do list for yourself will work wonders if you’re ADD because instead of trying to do everything at once, or think about everything at once, you kind of eliminate each idea you think about by writing it down. For example, while I’m reading “Death in Venice”, I often lose focus and worry about finishing my math homework. When I create a check list, I put all the other stuff on it so I know that I’ll remember to do it. I didn’t believe that I would actually benefit from making a list, it seemed dumb to me, I thought: “Uh, why don’t I just remember it?” But often I’d think of a bunch of stuff, and remember most, but maybe miss one important one. I hope this is clear.

Mike

Tammy,

I am just finishing my jr. year of college and have found over the years that your study skills will change class to class.
There are times when I have found that just by listening to a lecture and taking notes while listening to the lecture helps me. While there are other times when I find that I have to sit and read the book, but I never read it word for word because I find that once I finish a paragraph I wont remember what it is that I just read.
I also that if I am doing more then one thing at a time seems to help me. I will take all of my homework for all of my classes and lay them out on the floor, then I will work on one class for a while and then switch to another. Even though most people find this way of studying rather weird I find that it works for me. I almost always have either the radio or tv on in the backround just to eliminate all the extra sounds around me.
Another helpful tool is talking to your professor’s most of the time they are more then willing to work with you. Whether it be by extra time to finish an assignment or extra time on a test or even just clarifying information said in class. By doing this they see your inititve and the time that you are putting forth in their class.
Hope these ideas help.

Amy

I’m not sure where you live but you should get in touch with the State Literacy Hotline in your state. They are often able to refer people study skills classes. I know in Massachusetts that abcd (Action for Boston Community Development) helps people in this area (free of charge). Also call the City/Town Hall or the State and ask which agency is the anti-poverty agency in your area. Good Luck.

Don’t bother reading my post, just go to these sites:

http://caps.unc.edu/TenTraps.html
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html

DO NOT play music or anything which makes noise while you’re studying. People who say they study better when they listen to music are fooling themselves (i’ve read that classical music is an exception)! Listening to music is noise. Noise is a distraction. Imagine how much better the people would do on their studies if they shut the music off and paid 100% attention to their studies, instead of 50% music 50% study. Say a student is reading an organic chemistry text while listening to a favorite pearl jam disc on headphones, now imagine that “daughter”—her/his favortite song—comes on, the student will focus then on the song rather than the chemistry, even recognizing that “daughter” is playing is distracting the student from their chemistry reading.

http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/adhd/adhdv.htm

(note: group study is an exception to noise, but not music/tv/etc)

Hi Tammy!
I work with students who have AD/HD and LD at the University at Buffalo. Here are a couple of suggestions I have: First, go to your Disability Services Office and ask if they have any video tapes on study skills. We have four that I regularly recommend to my students. They include, Strategic Learning, Time Management, Reading Improvementa and Notetaking. They were produced at Dartmouth College and are excellent. If they don’t have them, you can “suggest” (politely, of course) that they be ordered. The number is 800/257/5126 or 609/275/1400. I like them because they are short and to the point. The longest is around 14 minutes. I’ve discovered that many of our students come to college unprepared to study the way one must study to be effective. These are very helpful. Next, see if you can find a copy of a study skills assessment which will allow you to answer questions about how your currently study. This will give you enormous insight into what you are doing right, as well as those areas you need to improve upon. From there you can “hone” into those areas where you need assistance. Last, keep your eyes open for workshops that your college offers on study skills. These are often available at the beginning of each semester. Good luck!

Hello,

I suspect, that I have ADD- inattentive +impulsive. I have started reading everything, that I can find about ADD for Adults. I have been taking Zoloft to help me with depression, and Obsessive/ Compulsive Disorder for about a year. In the last two weeks, I have been on Concerta (slow release Ritalin). What a major difference it makes in my ability to concentrate, and read without distraction.

I graduated with a four year degree in (don’t laugh “General Studies”) after six years at three different universities. I loved the intellectual stimulation provided by college class lectures and discussions, but struggled with large reading assignments (common to Freshman and Sophmore survey classes) and writing analytical reports or doing labs. Over the years, I visited counselors, libraries, professors, study experts, etc. There were lots of tools out there to help you overcome your limitations even then.

I did find that a small cassette player on which I could listen to classical instrumental music helped me to focus. Vivaldi is a composer that worked very well for me. I have found that a small electronic organizer is also a wonderful organizational tool. I have never been very successful with paper based systems. The electronic devices allow me to do searches for information, regardless of where I have saved the info. If you already have a computer, its great to get an organizer, that can back up your data to the PC. The organizer can also be used to do planning on your desktop, so you do not have to do all of the data entry from the small interface generally available on these Personal Information Managers (PIMS). The latest and greatest PIMS can be quite expensive, but you can find products, that will do your basic, calendar— for assignments, project deadlines, report due dates, etc.), to do lists (for more detailed outlines of your projects), address book (for study group member phone #’s, professor’s phone #- office hours, & building + rm #,etc), and notepad (for capturing those bits of information, that you think would be useful, if you could only remember them.)

Finally, I would like to recommend, that you allow yourself to go slow. I think many ADD’s are fascinated by what we discover in the rich information environment found on the College Campus, and we may find, that we are not stupid as we may have formerly thought, but the ability to produce finished products to demonstate our newly acquired knowledge can be very challenging. I think it is much better to start with a light course load, so that you have time to adjust to college life, take advantage of dealing with any deficiencies, that you may have entered college with. I became, quite frustrated with my lack of timely progress, through college. I found in my latter years, that if I would take a twelve hour load during the two regular semesters (2x12=24), and then two three hour courses during the summer semester (2x3=6). That I would make the same progress, as the student, that took 18 hr semester loads for two semesters. I was able to do this by becoming a Resident Assistent (Dorm Monitor), with room and board taken care of I could focus on my studies.

Good Luck,

Joe

P.S. I kind of lost my train of thought (how unusual) I wanted to say, that a Handspring or Palm Pilot can be found on E-Bay for $50 to $100.

Good Luck

JT

P.S.S.

And I was feeling so proud of the progress, that I have made in writing clear prose!!!!

Fall Spring Summer1 Summer2 Total
18 hrs 18 hrs = 36hr

12 hrs 12 hrs 6hrs 6hrs = 36hr

G.L.

JT

About music…if you are like me, you are distracted by noise very easily. I tried to drown out the noise by playing music in the background, but would begin concentrating on the songs. I then stopped the music and the noises bothered me again. I started playing either choral or band music in the background, as long as they were songs I didn’t know. This helped to drown out noise, but didn’t require any attention from me.

Hope this helps.

adam

Tammy,

I agree with what Linda Amabile recommended…check out your college’s Study Skills Center or some similar name. 12 years ago I went back to college for the 4th time, to study something I felt really passionate about, but my grades didn’t match my enthusiasm for the subject matter.

My instructor directed me to the school’s Study Skills Center, where I could sign up for 1-3 FREE credits, depending on how much work I wanted to do. They tested me for my “Learning Style”, which is the way that I learn best. Do you know what your preferred learning style is? Here’s a website where you can take a quick test which will evaluate your preferred LS and give you suggestions for studying.

http://www.metamath.com//multiple/multiple_choice_questions.cgi

After determining that I was a visual/kinesthetic (hands on) learner, they taught me some skills that would help me study: note taking, how to read textbooks (SQ4R or PQ4R….did you know that you don’t actually have to read EVERY SINGLE WORD in a textbook when studying??). One of my classes was once a week for 3 hours. It required me to remember a long list of characteristics for 10 new plants a week (Plant I.D.).

I learned that it takes a week or so for information to shuttle from short term memory (when you get it in class) to long term memory (where it is retained to pull it out of your brain for quiz time). So I devised a method for studying when memorization was required. It required taking notes in class, re-writing them that night, picking up the plant samples and looking at their details, writing the latin name 10 times, etc.

Plan to keep your textbooks because they are the TOOLS of your trade (as a student) and you will learn how to write effective notes in the margins and highlighting techniques (no your pages won’t be solid yellow!).

Bottom line, I made the honor roll every term after that (yes I’m proud of my accomplishments!) and graduated with an AAS in Horticulture. I’m back in school again to complete my Bachelor’s degree, and I hope my MAT in Special Ed after that.

Please feel free to e-mail me off list if anything I wrote strikes a chord. I really believe that because we aren’t taught what our preferred learning style is in middle or high school, many students fail, don’t know why and give up because they think they are just stupid. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!

Liz

I disagree w/ not allowing music distractions. It makes sense that if someone doesn’t have control over whether they are distracted, they might fare better if they control what’s distracting them. It doesn’t have to make sense to someone else if it works for you.

“Underkick” wrote: “It doesn’t have to make sense to someone else if it works for you.”

I totally agree. I work with a teacher that has to have absolutely NO distractions when she studies, reads, etc. When we discovered one of our “underperforming” students writing out an answer to an essay question, while listening to music with headphones on, she was stunned! She’d never realized that what DIDN’T work for her, would for someone else.

Music, in this case, seemed to occupy that over-stimulated part of his brain so that he was able to keeps his thoughts together in order to write a cohesive answer. It does the same thing for me. Thank gawd for digital cable music….no commercials to distract me and a large choice of music styles to match my mood on any given day!

Liz

What might be some of the names of the study skills assessments? Also, would these videos benefit high school kids as well?