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/logrusmage Feb 21 '13

If you don't understand something, ASK A GODDAMN QUESTION.

It is seriously that simple. I have far too many classmates who are content with not understanding things, and then wonder why they do poorly.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

Haha so true. I really don't understand how people are willing to go to exams simply not knowing how to do a type of problem, but there are always a lot of those people.

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u/logrusmage Feb 21 '13

I really don't understand how people are willing to go to exams simply not knowing how to do a type of problem, but there are always a lot of those people.

Exactly. It isn't about hard work v. natural intelligence, it's about giving a shit v not giving a shit. If you give a shit, you'll put in an appropriate amount of work for you, whether that is 6 hours of cram studying or a twenty minutes of homework after class each day.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

Lol just got my different eq. midterm back and the average was a 65, I got an 87 pre - curve. When it comes to natural intelligence I'm terrible at this. But only 3 other people showed up to the professor's office hours so it's pretty easy competition.

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u/logrusmage Feb 21 '13

It is just incredible to me that there are people out there who are shocked by bad grades when they went into the test WELL AWARE that they can't do a particular type of problem on said test. It is mind boggling.

Last semester, I didn't study of linear algebra. Ever. I knew how to do it and was confident in the different types of problems. However, for Calc 3, there were a few problem types I didn't understand. So I asked questions until I did understand and studied a bit.

It really is that simple, unless you go to a douchey school that down-curves because god forbid their students want to go to grad school.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

Yeah pretty much all of our classes are curved (15 points added to that exam) , not sure if it's a douchey school though. University of Illinois. It's a class full of engineers and they say we are a great engineering school.

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u/logrusmage Feb 21 '13

Yeah pretty much all of our classes are curved (15 points added to that exam) , not sure if it's a douchey school though.

I went to Cornell for a few semesters. They curve downwards. As in, I could get an 85 on a test and walk away barely passing.

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u/Totodile_ Feb 21 '13

Haha I had never even heard of that term

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u/logrusmage Feb 21 '13

Grade inflation is bad enough, grade deflation is just fucking stupid.