Some studying advice??

I'm not a lawyer, but I do have a degree in Econ. My recommendation is to start reading early, and read often. Read all of the required stuff multiple times if you can. For me, it was easy to just look at the book and read the stuff in my head, but then I'd try to put the book down and tell myself what I just read. It's a lot harder without the book in front of you, and if you can go through it in your head, then you know the material.

Take advantage of office hours. Unless you understand 100% of what you're learning or doing homework on, go ask the professor for help. On top of the additional learning, they usually notice who cares enough to show up to their office hours (make sure they know your name) and will give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grades.

Just like anything else, it's all really just a matter of time and dedication. If you want it that bad, study 10 hours a day. Make flash cards. Have other people quiz you. Do all of the additional questions you can find answers to.

At the end of the day though, just know that Econ has absolutely nothing to do with the way the world really works, except for the whole supply and demand thing you learned in high school.

 

office hours are one of the best ways to get ahead. also, don't do what i did at the beginning of my college career, and actually go to class. schedule afternoon classes if you're not an early riser, buy a coffee pot, etc. it's also a good idea to sit up close, especially in a lecture hall, the professor will notice it.

 

I'm in law school now.

I didn't have to read much as an undergrad to get As, but I did have to work hard. Attending class and taking notes was key for me. If you're not going to every single class and taking good notes, that's the number one way to do well, I think. A week before the exam, I would go through my notebook and highlight everything I felt I needed to learn or memorize for the exam. I might consolidate that information in an outline or on flash cards, depending on the nature of the course.

Knowing I was going to law school and surrounding myself with other people who really valued high grades were sufficient motivators for me.

I do have to read a lot now that I'm in law school. Practice makes perfect, and knowing your profs helps you decide what to breeze over and what to concentrate on. I never read particularly fast though, because I still like to brief the cases as I read, and it slows me down.

 

I was once told something in Cost Accounting that I have never forgotten -

"Cost Accounting is in itself a Cost. If you become the least bit obsessive about it, you would then factor in the Cost of your Cost Accounting into your Cost Accounting, then refactor it again and again on into infinity..."

This made my mind hurt. I dropped out of Economics and went into Computer Science.

Then, my Computer Science professor told me about "Recursion Loops", and introduced me to Douglas Hofstadter.

And, in that moment I became enlightened...

 

This is imho one of the most important factors of them all. Hang around with the top guys, it is almost ridiculous how much effect that has.

 

Yeah, it really makes you value doing well when your friends do. I don't study in groups though. For me, it always seems to get off track, plus I really have to prepare my own notes and study materials, and work through them myself, to internalize them.

 

While in grad school I had to teach a few sections of classes, and the students were almost all freshmen. One of the things we talked about in the first few classes were tips to get better grades. Some of these have been posted already and are fairly obvious, but here it goes:

1. Go to every class. Even being sick or hungover IN CLASS is better than blowing it off.
2. Be on time to every class, some of the most important information regarding tests or homework is given in the first five minutes.
3. Take copious notes in class, even if you already know the material. If nothing else, it helps the hour go by faster. Different people learn by different mechanisms. In addition to listening, some benefit by reading, some by writing, but most people require a combination of the three. Writing notes generally will help you remember the material better than reading or hearing alone.
4. Try to do your homework as soon as possible after class while it is fresh in your mind, or at least give yourself time to seek help.
5. Read the material BEFORE class, you will get so much more out of the class period if it basically is a review session for your previous night's efforts.
6. Remember that the only one responsible for your grade is you. Not your friends, parents, or instructor.

I didn't stress this, but while in my later years of undergrad and during grad school I didn't have the "luxury" of having study buddies. I say luxury somewhat half-heartedly because in my experience they can hurt you as much as help. If I slogged through the material myself I found I learned better, albeit with more effort. Another benefit was that I had more confidence in myself when it came to tests.

The last thing I found out about myself was a cycle I went through for the first two or three years of undergrad. I earned lots of B's but few A's. I discovered my personal cycle and worked to break it. When I did, the A's were obtained much more easily. Assume the semester is 16 weeks:
Weeks 1-4: Enthusiasm, some success in the first round of tests.
Weeks 5-8: Tiring of keeping the pace set in the first month, maybe a few outside interests/procrastination aids appear. Decline of enthusiasm.
Weeks 9-12: Do the minimum to get by, bored yet stressed about not doing well. No enthusiasm.
Weeks 12-16: Fear sets in that all the work of the first half will be wasted, or a bad grade will be earned. Renewed motivation and a generally strong finish.

 

+1

I think the hardest part of college is being able to keep yourself motivated thorugh out the entire quarter. Usually at the end i am rejuvinated and can't wait till the next quarter.

Sorry i don't have advice you seem to have all of my bases covered.

 

When I was getting my MBA @ UNR while living at Tahoe I used to record my notes on a casette which I would replay on the ski lift

I got straight Bs and my MBA

of course a speed reading course might be an alternative

 

motivation? spring break starts in 2 hours, 23 minutes for me, any idea of how hard it was to get to class this morning?

also, don't be scared to ask for help, either from other students, ta's, study labs, etc. at my school we've got a site set up that allows us to chat online with other classmates, send emails to the whole class, etc. for any class that i do miss, i can hop on there and send out an email asking for someone to forward me the notes, and typically a number of them do.

 

I'll be the first to say it, get off F-Chat!!

lol, just kidding, I know I've learnt a lot of stuff here.

 

These are all great suggestions. What helped me was reading everything twice. First reading through the material and then going over it again with a highlighter and highliting the stuff that was important and or unfamiliar to me. This helped immensly with the production of flash cards (which I believe was really the genesis of my accedemic success) I would take the highlighted material and phrase it in the forum of a question for the flash cards the put the answers on the back of the cards. This helped GREATLY in the science classes that I was required to take. I would carry the flash cards with me EVERYWHERE. I would even quiz myself while sitting in my car at red lights. This practice drove my wife CRAZY, but she got over it.


It also helped going to class when I wasn't actually drunk. I barely made B's when I was getting my BA, later in life I went back for my BS and ended up with a 3.97 GPA (I got one B+ in the program) this program was probably the harder of my two degrees just by the sheer volume of information that was presented.

 

As seen posted on the door across the hall in my dorm back in the college days:

"The more you study, the more you know...

The more you know, the more you forget...

The more you forget, the less you know...

So...why study?"

 

Its best to be born to a super rich family, so you don't have to study and you can party everyday. But for the 200 Million other people they have to study and bust ass to make it. But it is worth it in the End.