Question Having trouble studying..

[GoForPDI]

Hey guys, just to set the scene.. i'm currently doing Advanced Higher Maths at School, which is the highest level of Maths you can do at School in the UK (Higher than A Level Maths), it involves stuff like Complex Numbers, Three dimensional Vectors, Calculus (Differential Equations, complex differentiation and integration), y'know all that jazz. I'm also doing Advanced Higher Physics and Advanced Higher Graphics. My Maths exam is on Wednesday.

I find the Maths itself easy to do.. but... I just can't bring myself to learn the course, I need Maths for my University course.. but i'd rather just sit about and drink some beers and play guitar.. but then all this guilt builds up, I stop procrastinating, I open my books, I hit a block, then I start worrying about wether or not I have a problem, then I just sit like that for a few hours and keep thinking ''I better do this, I better do this, I better do this.''

I had a few good nights the other night, but today... much of the same, I tried to be a ''sponge'' today (Took my inspiration from Gene Kranz's description of Shuttle Astronauts) and soak up as much as possible, but I seem to be failing any test I sit. the only reason I do fail is because I can't remember how to do a particular question, or I never bothered looking it up and learning it. If I know something, i'll do it well.

I really need some help and advice guys

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Perhaps I'm not the one to give study advice, being a student myself, but I will say this: If you're trying to get your head down and work, Orbiter is NOT your friend! :lol:

 

[GoForPDI]

Haha! I had to delete it!

 

[Dambuster]

Moi aussi! I'm about to retake Latin, and am having precisely the same problem. Some form of self control seems to be the solution, however that appears to be easier said than done - so any advice is welcome!

As for Maths, I can't tell if you're already doing this (actually on rereading I think you are, but I'll leave this in anyway), but just do shedloads of past papers, anything you can get your hands on - that did the trick for me.

 

[mjanicki]

First, well done for doing the Advanced Maths.

Now, as for some advice I might offer, I focused on one thing you said:

the only reason I do fail is because I can't remember how to do a particular question

I hear that a lot. Sometimes that can indicate that a student is focused on the wrong objective. You say that you cannot "remember how to do a particular question." This may indicate that when you do study, you are studying as though Maths are just a set of memorized rules -- for problem X, do the differentiation thingie. Study for understanding instead. You will find it much more interesting, which should make it easier to focus on studies instead of wondering what is happening down at the pub.

Think of it this way:

In Orbiter one might follow a tutorial that says to use the align planes MFD to set up for a lunar transfer. That is one particular problem that that person now knows "how to do." Going from Earth to Moon, use the align planes tool thingie, got it. Now, when that same person is faced with transfering to Io while orbiting Jupiter, he or she may wonder, "darn, now how do I do this problem? I've never even seen it before!" The person sees them as different problems, gets frustrated, says things like "there's just too much to memorize," and loses interest because it all just seems like a bunch of arbitrary rules.

Now, take someone who approaches Orbiter with a desire to understand _why_ we use the align planes MFD, or any other tool. He or she reads all the tutorials available, goes to the library to find a book or two, and experiments -- literally plays with the ideas until the ideas become part of the person. That person will have no trouble with the transfer to Io because the _why_ of using certain tools provides the understanding necessary to deal with a whole host of problems -- even never-before-seen ones. This person is also much more likely to keep trying new things in Orbiter because it is actually interesting. Never underestimate the drawing power of figuring out something that is difficult.

So, first, don't beat yourself up too much. Every mathematician I know has failed at least one Math exam at some point. Part of what makes them Mathematicians is that they treat it like any other problem and work toward a solution.

Then, when you next sit down to study, look for all the wonderful, interesting bits of Maths pertaining to _why_, instead of viewing them as just a set of procedures to follow. At worst that may help you when taking exams. At best, it will lead to a greater interest in the material which will lead to further studying, trips to the library, and *playing* with the ideas until they are part of you. At that point exams aren't much concern because much of your playing will turn out to be more difficult than the exams are.

Best of luck to you and I hope at least some of this has been helpful.

-- Mike

 

[RisingFury]

I had problems like that too and sometimes I still find it hard to actually sit down and start studying.

During high school I developed a system for myself... do a task, play a game for 5 minutes, do a task,... It got me to sit down and start working and eventually the momentum built until there was less game time and more studying...


These days I don't game much anymore... but I still sometimes put off studying. The toughest part is getting over the first task, once it's done, it just rolls.


Maybe you'll find a system that works for you.

 

[River Crab]

Much agreed with what has been said in this thread. A tip from an aerospace graduate student who submitted his master thesis this year (not me ):
Study, but don't burn out all night. Instead, study an hour or two, then do something else, then come back and take a practise test. After that time of not-studying, you'll realise what it is on the test that you haven't absorbed. This is the stuff you really need to study; now you know what you don't know.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I've got this problem of self-motivation when trying to do homework. I don't even procrastinate with entertaining things; I may do absolutely nothing other than try to make myself do homework, or do other work I wouldn't usually. Even simple assignments. -_- Sometimes this problem spreads to other things; it takes a certain moment of "purpose" to get up in the morning, though I bet this is extremely common.
Overall, life is much easier and happier if you get enough sleep. This also takes self-control but everything else will practically fall into place.

 

[Fabri91]

At times I've got the exact same problem, and I'm trying to solve it like RisingFury did...study something for an hour, check the forums for 5-10 minutes, then continue sutdying, which works quite good.

Just don't worry, you're not the first to encounter this sort of lack of self control, it happens! What does matter is that you find a system that works for you.

 

[Notebook]

Same problem here, even though I like maths, I find it hard work. Working on your own is difficult,(studying is work).
The method for me was to get somwhere quiet, choose a topic I was familiar with, and go through examples till I didn't understand the question. Then backtrack, and work on it till I did(asking friends,teachers). No point in going on I found, it just got worse, and it saps your confidence.
Also, find a level where you are happy to stop, no point in trying to do the whole of maths, it took centuries to get to where you are.

Regarding sleep, a tip from an expert I heard. Go to bed to sleep, don't read a book, watch tv, iPod, play games, listen to the wireless. Put the light out and close your eyes. If you can't sleep, get up and do something.

Don't try to study when you are tired, or distracted, waste of time. Go out and have some fun.

N.

 

[garyw]

I have the exact same problem with some of the mundane tasks at work. The best advice I got told was to basically not fight the urge to procrastinate but to work it into your tasks.

What you do is break up the studying. Rather than trying to study an entire chapter at one go - don't. spend 10-20 minutes studying the chapter or looking at a problem then give yourself 20 minutes playing a game or doing something else, then 20 minutes back at the books and repeat.

The human brain is better at doing things in 20 minute bursts anyway and you'll get studying done but you won't have to force yourself into sitting there with the book for three hours looking at the same page.

 

[GoForPDI]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Today I went on a half hour bike ride to my old house that we still have (well.. its a flat), so I got myself up there, read over the stuff I wanted to go over, then spent 10/20 minutes talking to myself, going through every bit of each thing I had just read over. I did this naturally, and its all still here!

I really concentrated on trying to understand what was going on behind the numbers, which helps greatly too.

Looking over my checklist of things to do, I have six more things to look over. I'm already pretty good with the calculus, vectors and matrices, just need to relearn some small things, and try and relearn number theory and graphs/functions.

Its looking good! Thanks a lot guys, I took a lot of this advice on board. Early night for me now. Job interview tomorrow evening.

 

[FADEC]

i'm currently doing Advanced Higher Maths at School, which is the highest level of Maths you can do at School in the UK (Higher than A Level Maths), it involves stuff like Complex Numbers, Three dimensional Vectors, Calculus (Differential Equations, complex differentiation and integration), y'know all that jazz.

Can we change our brains, please? :lol:



PS: I agree to Orbinaut Pete. Orbiter is not the best thing to get your head down Maybe a girl friend could be more effective, you know...

 

[GoForPDI]

Haha! To be honest, I don't really go on Orbiter that much, I like posting on here for the friendly banter and keeping up to date with space!

Only Calculus can afford to be my love interest just now!

 

[Dambuster]

Haha! To be honest, I don't really go on Orbiter that much, I like posting on here for the friendly banter and keeping up to date with space!

QFT!

Also, what exam are you doing? I did Further Maths for A level, it sounds roughly the same to what you said.

 

[GoForPDI]

Basically, the Scottish system is this (This is how it was for me, a new system is being phased in at the moment):

Standard Grade/Int 2 =/> GSCE (Mandatory, 3rd and 4th year, Int 2 also optional at 5th and 6th Year)
Higher < A Level (Optional at 5th and 6th Year)
Advanced Higher > A Level (Optional at 6th Year)

Further Maths does sound as if its in the realms of the AH course. Dispite AH's difficulty, Universities tend to view AH as equal to A Levels in terms of entry requirements.

I remember talking to an English student who was starting A Level Maths, and the sort of Maths he was doing sounded very much like the sort of Maths we do in the second year of SG. We pretty much cover trigenometry and basic algebra in SG, before moving onto more complex algebra, functions, vectors and basic calculus in Higher. AH includes complex algebra, complex calculus, matrices, 3D vectors, imaginary numbers, all that good stuff.

 

[flytandem]

In the long run, the most important thing is to "love" your work. It doesn't really matter whether one is a ditch digger or a nobel prize winner. Waking up each day with first thoughts being the wonderful anticipation of yet another fantastic day ahead is the key to success.

I was having a tough time much like the story that started this thread. I was in an engineering program at Waterloo University (Canada). Attendance was optional, grades were based on final exams. I had attended less than 50% of class by mid second year, but managed to get as far as end of second year with rank of 14th out of a class of 150. I could handle the work but the poor attendance was a symptom of a very big problem. I was not enjoying the work.

I woke up one day and realized I felt like I was on a bus going the wrong direction. The sooner I got off the better. I quit that very day. It broke my parents hearts. I then imagined I had won the lottery and imagined what I would do with my life if I was allowed to do anything. I heard my heart and haven't looked back since.

 

[Jarvitä]

The important thing to ask yourself when studying mathematics is, do you understand why you're using the formulae? Are you just feeding your data into the formula from the textbook, or do you understand why this method is the right one? Can you prove with logical rigour that it's the right one?

This reminds me of a great thesis assignment my university math professor once gave me:

"Presume that the empty set is defined in a logically consistent way. Using that, define a number, define comparative relations between numbers and the addition of two numbers. Prove your definition of addition to be logically consistent by proving the sum of two numbers to be a number."

Took the better part of a summer semester.

 

[GoForPDI]

You guys are all legends, all the advice is great! I'd always been so worked up about the ''amount'' of things I had to know rather than what it actually was I was doing. I'm reading into everything again, its all making sense, one more push tonight, early bed, then up tomorow fresh for one last day of study.

Thanks guys

 

[GoForPDI]

Did the exam yesterday... And, I did enough to know the course well enough to pass, but perhaps I didn't dedicate enough time to Maths over the course of the year to get an A or a B. The sorts of questions asked in that were very difficult and required a bit of thinking. I gave it my best shot, but a C will be most likely out of that.. I'll approach my Maths differently at university I think, get more engaged in it rather than seeing it as just another ''class''

Advanced Higher Physics next, i'm gunning for an A, I enjoy it a lot better, so I should study well for this