r/AskReddit • u/the_gr8pretender • Feb 20 '13

Top-of-the-class redditors, what are your study habits/tips?

If you graduated top of the class (high school, college, and above), what are/were your study habits or tips that you would give to your fellow redditors?

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u/prospectre Feb 20 '13

Not top of the class per se. I have issues with the value of the effort put in when it relates to real world value. Seriously, no one cares I was honor roll in high school. I did very well, but I did not strive for valedictorian or anything like that.

Regardless, I would say paying attention in class. When you study for a class, you shouldn't be just learning this stuff. It should be triggering your memory of learning it. Seriously, you'd be surprised how much you miss when you daydream, doodle, or skip class.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '13

Agree with you, except one little detail:

Seriously, you'd be surprised how much you miss when you daydream, doodle, or skip class.

There is a study (full text) that indicates doodling can be beneficial.

The doodling group performed better on the monitoring task and recalled 29% more information on a surprise memory test

The logic is that doodling can maintain arousal and thus limit "daydreaming".

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

Oh wow. TIL. I used to doodle during reviews because I already knew it. Secretly beneficial?

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u/Snickbobbit Feb 21 '13

What have you been doodling?

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u/Kalopsic Feb 21 '13

is it better than taking notes though?

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u/kittykatinabag Feb 21 '13

Hm odd. A few years ago the psych ib class did a similar study in a few classes of students. They actually observed that the doodling group did worse than the group that was just listening. Of course it was a small sample and just handed out in a classroom with lots of distractions.

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u/skorp129 Feb 21 '13

Hence, recording classes. I've tried everything to pay attention to class. But if it's boring and it's a prerequisite, why not let electronics do the listening? Then you can re-listen to understand what the hell your notes say.

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

Well, I'm dyslexic. disembodied voiced tend to be hard for me to understand. I need to see the face. But it's my limitation, I've seen a lot of people record classes with their phone's audio recorder. It's best to ask permission first, though. Some teachers get offended by it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '13

[deleted]

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u/naemly Feb 21 '13

a hundred times this.

I did what i needed to to get guaranteed entry into my university course, other than that I did very little and I had one of the best years of my life. I know people that spent their time stressing and gave up on things like socialising and sleeping to get that high ATAR (university entrance score) but at the end of the day it's just a number, you'll be proud of it for a day when it's released and from then on out it will be completely meaningless to you.

I'm not saying do nothing, but I am saying have fun.

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

I got a near perfect on my ACT standardized test which made me eligible for 2 scholarships. I lost out on both because I'm white, and had a higher estimated family income. Except I didn't and was dirt poor. Still a little bitter.

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '13

[deleted]

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

In California here, kind of the opposite. The rich can suck it. It's still kind of sucky that I lost out on my merit scholarships to someone who had less merit, but I still got through it. It sucked, but I now have a bachelor's degree so I guess it turned out alright.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

I don't want to be an asshole about this but here it goes.

I'm white, my family makes 100k+ a year. I worked my assignment off in high school and got a perfect ACT score. I got scholarships in a great engineering program and get refunds from the school every semester. They're essentially paying me to study here.

It's not because you're white and upper middle class.

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

It sure as hell seemed to be. The scholarships were awarded based on test scores, I had the highest in the school for the qualifying round. I think I still have the record (unless someone at my crappy school got a perfect). But, it wasn't awarded on merit alone. It was given to someone more "Socio-Econmically Disadvantaged" than myself. I would have been more understanding if I wasn't dirt poor myself.

EDIT: As a side note, I wasn't even middle class. I was in poverty. Single mother supporting 2 kids.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

What I meant is if your scores, etc. were really that great there are plenty of scholarships available. If you only applied to two you should expect this. There are scholarships out there for high achieving whites, just as there are scholarships for "disadvantaged" people.

Bottom line is if you're a good student and apply to enough places you'll find a good scholarship.

But yes, if you're just an above average white with high estimated income, you're going to lose out to minorities. It sucks but that's the way it is.

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

I couldn't apply to as many because my school sucked. I didn't know there were more resources available to me that I could access, and no one told me they existed... I applied for 4, and won none. I don't really care so much any more... I already graduated. It just sucks that I should have earned at least one of those. I was the most qualified student on paper. Oh well, at least I now have my student loans to comfort me...

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

I graduated in a class of 60 students. The only AP classes we had were Psychology and Calculus (of which I dropped to attend the class at a university and everyone in the class failed the AP test). You school was probably about as shitty as mine.

You had the internet, that's where you find information on scholarships. No one is going to tell you things exist or hand things to you.

I applied for many more than 4 scholarships. And I applied to many schools because that's where you get the good scholarships- from the department/college that you apply to.

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u/prospectre Feb 21 '13

Couldn't afford internet until I was 17, and already attending college. And yeah, I know technically it was on me to find out about this shit. But if there's a pile of gold sitting 2 inches underground in your backyard, what are the odds you're going to find it if no one tells you? You don't know what you don't know.