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How do you study for a degree? (Read 1939 times)

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SupremeWarrior

#1 October 06, 2009, 12:51:11 pm

I am also known as jimmy7512
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Ok, so I started university two weeks ago and I'm finding it all a bit overwhelming, I'm studying a Masters degree in Computer Science. The lectures are so boring and I can't help but lose focus after fourty-five minutes or so. I would like to know how you all are studying or have studied for your degrees.

I'm doing these modules this term!
- Programming Practice
- Elementary Logic with Applications
- Computer Systems
- Foundations of Computing.

I got my exams in january which is in three months and I'm really worried about and and don't know what to do at all. The lecturers just put up slideshows and just read them out! I got one lecturer with a strong russian accent and he also does not speak clearly.

I have ordered a book and awaiting for it to arrive but till then the only material I have is the slideshows that the lectureres use!

EDIT: I forgot to state I am an undergraduate.

Last Edit: October 06, 2009, 04:48:20 pm by SupremeWarrior

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Frisky SKeleton

#2 October 06, 2009, 01:24:01 pm

aye ess dee eff el cay jay ache
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just keep at it like you did for your undergrad

I USE Q'S INSTEQD OF Q'S

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EvilDemonCreature

#3 October 06, 2009, 03:25:00 pm

i don't like change
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I'm entering the very same program next spring. I'm rather glad I'm not in it now, I'm hoping I can find a job so I'll have an excuse not to put as as many hours on a single semester as I did for the undergrad. (Plus undergrad loans, what a pain.)

But yeah keep at it. You wouldn't be perusing your masters in that particular field if you didn't at least have a little interest. Lectures are overrated anyhow, and I usually depended on my own interest in perusing the material. If professors do anything well, it's letting you know exactly what you have to do in order to make the grade you need in his/her class. (Grad school isn't supposed to be the make-or-break session undergrad can be early on. You usually have to have a good enough record to have proven yourself already before you've even gotten in.)

Oh yeah, and are the slideshows available online? That usually makes pre-exam prep surprisingly simple. (I hardly use the book, and keep it just for further reference after the class is over. Unless it seems frivolous information I usually won't sell my books back.)

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Carrion Crow

#4 October 06, 2009, 03:56:37 pm

I need to watch things die
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Quote from: climbtree on October 06, 2009, 01:24:01 pm

just keep at it like you did for your undergrad

By masters he means 4 years straight to masters. He doesn't have a Bachelors already.

Make sure you buy your books cheap off amazon marketplace. I usually get the current edition -1 and they work out at under a tenner each.

When you are at uni you have to understand that you are not being taught anything, they are just telling you what you have to learn. That's why you can have a lecturer with a really strong russian accent. They are just there to give you an idea. Everything that you will remember you will learn outside the lecture theatre in private study and it will reinforce what you have already learnt. Make sure you get in your private study, do any examples you receive and moderate your drinking enough to learn.

Don't drink to excess all the time and do not let women take over your life. Wash behind your ears etc.

Bob's your uncle.

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something bizarre and impractical

#5 October 06, 2009, 07:07:57 pm

It's The Only Thing.
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If you really have no interest in doing it then uhhhhhhhhhhh

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Kaworu

#6 October 06, 2009, 08:17:44 pm

kaworu*Sigh*Isnt he the cutest person ever
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45 minutes is pretty good, I usually daydream/doodle as soon as I sit down, lectures are such a pain

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MuNkY

#7 October 06, 2009, 08:19:16 pm

I haven't eaten in 4 days...(o.0)
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Watch some porn and then study. It gets you super relaxed and it makes you lose interest in everything besides studying.

"It's not easy being obscene" - Kermit the Frog

www.myspace.com/hammockofbananas

This is my acoustic duet cover band thingy.

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the_bub_from_the_pit

#8 October 06, 2009, 09:34:19 pm

Power to the flowers
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go to a library, sit your ass down and study. if you can't concentrate or learn then university isn't for you.

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Rajew

#9 October 06, 2009, 11:11:58 pm

god damn it man-o-war god damn it
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From my experience, the lecture classes a Computer Science takes are kind of meaningless for the actual degree (besides Discrete Math, Calculus and Linear Algebra). Maybe you can just scrape by in those and really excel at the real stuff?

Hell, that's what I do and my professor nominated me for awards and shiz.

edit: heh i guess im...a prodigt.....

don't mind me, just postin' after a few brewskies

Quote from: Brent Murray on December 25, 2009, 07:15:11 am

somebody’s Barkley --- could be another’s Monopolo.

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Farren

#10 October 07, 2009, 12:41:04 am

I fear and I tremble
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or just brazillian and the bar is set so low you can walk over it

DEUCE: MEETING THE URINE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL AND REALIZING IT'S JUST LIKE ME AND MY PREJUDICES THIS WHOLE TIME WERE COMPLETELY FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF PTTTTHTHTHH GOD IT'S EVERYWHERE<br />DEUCE: FUCK THIS TASTES LIKE PISS<br />PANTS: WHERE IT SHOULD TASTE LIKE COTTON CANDY OR PICKLES<br />DEUCE: OR AT LEAST LIKE URINE NOT PISS

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Shepperd

#11 October 07, 2009, 12:53:17 am

MUSULMAEN
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I don't pick a text during the class periods but I go to every class.
GLORIOUS TIMES.
Time invested in leisure: 6 months minus 5 weeks.

Then I read the important stuff during exam periods.
HORRIBLE TIMES.
Time invested in some studying: 5 weeks.

I think that's good business. Never had problems.

Last Edit: October 07, 2009, 01:01:19 am by DJ Soup

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Rajew

#12 October 07, 2009, 02:10:27 am

god damn it man-o-war god damn it
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Quote from: Coxswain on October 07, 2009, 12:41:04 am

or just brazillian and the bar is set so low you can walk over it

american and if I "keep up the good work" I'm practically guaranteed a job at EA by the end of sophomore(this year) because my school has connections

edit: heh...proidgy....

don't mind me, just postin' after a few brewskies

Quote from: Brent Murray on December 25, 2009, 07:15:11 am

somebody’s Barkley --- could be another’s Monopolo.

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Vellfire

#13 October 07, 2009, 02:27:03 am

TV people want to leave
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damn, my school just has connections to lexmark (main hq is like ten minutes from campus), which is way way more boring

I love this hobby - stealing your mother's diary
BRRING! BRRING!
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datamanc3r

#14 October 07, 2009, 03:37:24 am

The Irrepressible
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You pay a gazillion dollars for your books for a reason. Use them. As much as it sucks to read a textbook, you will probably get more information from it than you will from your professors. In fact, for my math class I sit in the back and read my textbook throughout the period because my prof blows.

I just started school myself and I'm getting the hang of some study habits because in high school I was extremely loafy. Better study habits pretty much start with good food and sleeping habits though -- and God knows that I had terrible food/sleeping patterns back in high school. ANYWAY, good health goes a *long* way. Helps you stay awake in classes at least. As for paying attention to your teachers, you'll get a knack for it. You've got at least 4 years to develop the necessary ass muscles. And it's computer science, anyway. Haha, you'd better learn to sit down awhile.

"I would be totally embarassed to write this, even as a fakepost. it's not funny except in how you seem to think it's good. look at all the redundancies, for fuck's sake. "insipid semantics, despicable mediocrity" ugh gross gross. I want to take a shower every time I read your prose." -Steel

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Taylor Kaz

#15 October 07, 2009, 03:38:51 am

haHa!
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I have a Bachelors in Psychology and studying for my masters + specialist degree in School Psychology.

Find new ways of motivating yourself. We don't need anymore studies, it's completely normal for a human being to lose focus after 45 minutes.
1.Drink caffeine.
2.Find motivation anywhere you can.
3.Balance studies with fun stuff but dont let one or the other take over. (get outside every once and a while, so you're not looking at numbers and computers all day everyday.)
4.Generally, all you need is the stuff from the lectures. Usually textbooks are intellectually dishonest, but you should at least skim over them for computer science.
5. Order your books from dealoz.com

I like this metaphor for studying: If you want to get into better physical shape and you do so by running 20 miles a week. Will you get in better shape by running all twenty miles at once or if you spread the miles out over different times. Jogging 20 miles gets a bit mindnumbing and monotonous, so can studying. Study (sprint) for 1 hour, take a break, go get a coffee. Study another hour. etc.

College is fun man. I know it's new for you but you'll see.

! <---Copy and Paste for emphasis

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datamanc3r

#16 October 07, 2009, 03:40:45 am

The Irrepressible
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Oh yeah and

http://lifehacker.com/software/sleep/take-a-caffeine-nap-154237.php

"I would be totally embarassed to write this, even as a fakepost. it's not funny except in how you seem to think it's good. look at all the redundancies, for fuck's sake. "insipid semantics, despicable mediocrity" ugh gross gross. I want to take a shower every time I read your prose." -Steel

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Mince Wobley

#17 October 07, 2009, 03:49:41 am

None of them knew they were robots.
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I think I already suggested you go find something you like instead

Play Raimond Ex (if you haven't already)

I'll not TAKE ANYTHING you write like this seriously because it looks dumb

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SupremeWarrior

#18 October 07, 2009, 06:47:15 am

I am also known as jimmy7512
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Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 963

Thanks for the tips guys, I guess everyone is kind of alike then. I try to get home and study at least once every day. I'm actually finding it easier now since I am getting the hang of one of my modules. I just need to draw some kind of study plan or agenda so that I can organize myself. I also found out one of my exams will have four questions and I have to answer three of the four questions.

@Mince Wobley: I think I'll stick with this for a year and if I don't pass I'll probably switch but I really have no idea what to switch to.

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datamanc3r

#19 October 08, 2009, 05:25:33 am

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The first thing you should get into the habit of doing is reading a unit ahead before each class session. *definitely* helps.

"I would be totally embarassed to write this, even as a fakepost. it's not funny except in how you seem to think it's good. look at all the redundancies, for fuck's sake. "insipid semantics, despicable mediocrity" ugh gross gross. I want to take a shower every time I read your prose." -Steel

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Shepperd

#20 October 08, 2009, 06:14:58 pm

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Quote from: Juris on October 08, 2009, 05:25:33 am

The first thing you should get into the habit of doing is reading a unit ahead before each class session. *definitely* helps.

nah

don't read and have a good time, life is short.
when it's exam period, suffer and read.

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