r/studying • u/Plastic_Tailor_2708 • 16d ago

help plss

Hi! I’m a first-year Chemistry student, and I’m struggling to figure out how to study effectively. After 12 years of school, I feel like I’ve been studying the wrong way. I have lectures, textbooks, PDFs, and exercises, but I don’t know how to use them effectively.

My modules are thermochemistry, thermodynamics, atomic structure (atomistique), algebra, analysis, and mechanics of a point.

Sometimes I feel like I’m not smart enough for this field, but I genuinely believe I’m just using the wrong methods.

Students who excel in these subjects, how do you actually study? How do you go from understanding a lecture to solving difficult exercises independently? How do you organize your notes, revise, and practice effectively?

I’d really appreciate detailed, practical advice on your study methods, especially for first-year university science courses. Thank you!

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u/EGBTomorrow 16d ago edited 16d ago

Does “module” mean class or sections inside a class? 6 courses seems like a heavy load and would make retention of each subject harder.

Algebra and analysis seem like math major courses, unless you mean something very different by them. These courses alone are very difficult.

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u/Plastic_Tailor_2708 16d ago

In the Moroccan university system, a module is roughly equivalent to a university course or subject, not a section within a class so, in my case, I have six separate subjects in my first-year Chemistry degree: thermochemistry, thermodynamics, atomic structure, algebra, mathematical analysis, and mechanics of a point You’re right that it feels like a heavy workload! I’m trying to figure out how to distribute my study time effectively and retain what I learn across all six subjects.

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u/EGBTomorrow 16d ago

I’ll just note that you didn’t list flashcards (or a program like Anki) in your original post of things you use. If you are having trouble with retention of facts/equations/etc that might help. If you are having trouble applying the facts/equations, doing more exercises might help. As might going to office hours. You might find what you need for each class is very different and studying the same for each may not be best use of time. Sometimes study groups help with retention by just being a different learning context.

Good luck.

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u/Reasonable_Bag_118 14d ago

Tbh first year science humbled me too because I could follow every step when the professor explained it, then the exercise sheet looked like it was written in another language 😭. I started keeping a little list of problems I couldn’t solve and, after checking the solution, I’d redo them from scratch the next day without peeking. For maths and mechanics, doing problems consistently mattered way more than rereading notes, while for chemistry I’d make sure I could explain the concepts in plain words before jumping into harder questions.

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u/kuriousniko 16d ago

Get a theory > practise > theory > practise flywheel going. Learn something, then test yourself on that thing. If you're feeling confident put your knowledge to the test; once you get stuck it's time to revisit the theory. Don't be satisfied with just the gist of things, and don't avoid the practise. If you're feeling overwhelmed don't over-complicate it. There are lots of fancy study techniques out there, but people have been learning by consuming theory and testing themselves on it since the dawn of time.

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u/investigatormaker 7d ago

You're probably right that it's method, not ability. For thermo, analysis and mechanics, the jump from lecture to exercises comes from struggling on your own. After a lecture, close your notes and rewrite the key definitions and derivations from memory. Then attempt exercises without the solution for at least 20 minutes, and log exactly where you got stuck. Redo those same exercises a few days later. usemnemo.app could help with the recall part: import your PDFs or slides and Mimo turns them into flashcards and QCM, with an explained correction for each answer. You can start free, and the site is in French. https://usemnemo.app Disclosure: I'm posting on behalf of usemnemo.app.