What is "Studying"?

[The Conqueror]

I've heard many members saying you need to put in "5-6 hours of regular study per day" to crack IIT-JEE.
But what is "studying", anyway?

From Wikipedia:

There are an array of study skills, which may tackle the process of organising and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They include mnemonics, which aid the retention of lists of information, and effective notetaking.[2]

There are many threads in this forum wherein users have pointed out that our education system is ineffective and hampers the intellectual growth.
So, What is YOUR Philosophy of Education?

[sygeek]

Studying as our parents call it, padhai-likhai.

[nims11]

as my fiitjee teacher said, dont study hard, study smart. this advice helped me a lot although i started studying quite late,

[vaibhav23]

But how to study smart

[Liverpool_fan]

Indian Philosophy of Education

1. Attend classes. Whether you need them or not, it doesn't matter. Just more than 75%/80% attendance, even if you just blankly sit during all times.
   
2. Ask questions if its in syllabus otherwise keep quiet and sit in the corner.
   
3. Make an assignment on some blah blah topic. Just present it well. Doesn't matter if you just really learned, or just blindly copied just submit it on time.
   
4. Prepare for weekly/monthly/surprise quiz. If you had roted the questions then fine, if not copying wll be the best bet.
   
5. In between just keep talking well with the teachers, act as if you really respect them, and pretend to be very good to them.
   
6. Project? Blah. Just go the nearest shop and buy one. Even better just copy paste from the internet.
   
7. If you can't get inspiration to study for tests, just remind yourself you'll have to study the whole shite again if you mess up, that'll give you inspiration.
   
8. During the end, just mug up the topics of your exam, whether they benefit you or not in long term doesn't matter, but just don't screw up. You can even leak the paper, use written piece of papers, or try to copy, ask in exam, it's great as long you're not caught, if you're caught, then you're at mercy of the inviligator, good luck there.
   
9. During result, just hope you have passed. You have to hope examiner really checks your paperl if you've attempted well, or just skims and give you a random pass mark if you've not done paper well.
   
10. Get a good GPA/marks, whether you know shite about everything, that doesn't matter. Marks hai to shaan hai. Nahi hai to laadla bekar hai.

Do the above x N times, N times depending on total number of years/semesters. This is Indian education system.

[comp@ddict]

And i like that post ^

[soumo27]

^^Point No. 7.... +1

[nims11]

Originally Posted by sunny10

But how to study smart

always keep a syllabus with you and use it to plan what are you going to study. I usually mark the topics in the syllabus which i have fully understood and practiced.

after studying and grasping each topic, make a key of that topic so that you can use it to revise and take reference from it whenever required. Update that key whenever you find something new and important about the topic. i used to maintain a copy with keys to most of the topics i had studied. This was very helpful specially before exams.

[Garbage]

I used to get syllabus copy at the starting of educational year and not any text-books. I used to read reference books, reading points taught in the classroom, which gave me "real" knowledge irrespective of my syllabus.

At the time of exam, I used to solve last 2-3 years of question papers, because IMO people who set the paper have a frame in mind, and they hardly go outside that.

And this thing always worked for me... Most of the times, I was in distinction!

On a side note, I think, as you leave school and starts college, teachers are not there to "teach" you, but to help you learn. Its totally your responsibility to study and *ask* for help instead of thinking its teacher's responsibility to *teach*.

[Liverpool_fan]

And my apologies for taking this thread somewhat off topic in my previous post. As for my philosophy for education is concerned:

• First of all everything should be Up to date and not be antiquated, technology changes its face so should the stuff people have to learn should change too.
• The emphasis should NOT be on clearing exams. Studying should not be based on clearing exams. Studying should be for learning. Learning in order to solve problems, and problems and other problems.
• Kicking out emphasis on attendance and assignments. Both result in blank faces, and blind copying.
• Classroom size should be minimized, it should be 20-30 students, not 60-80.
• Practical approach to learning instead of a complete theoretical approach. If you ask me, if you solve problems and practically work, theoretical learning will be a side effect, I mean since sometimes you'll be stuck at a point while solving a problem and without learning the appropriate theory you cannot further solve the problems. So you have to learn that theory and its practical usage to further move along, and when you do that you always tend to remember a lot better and for longer.
• Practicals should be based on learning and getting the ability to do stuff. It should not be just an exercise to complete practical files.
• Exams should only be a some part. If possible, implement open book test, mind you this will really hit students hard, open book tests are always harder believe it or not.
• Main emphasis should be on original projects and practicals rather than text. Preventing copying, and plagarims will be quite a challenge here though.

There may be many other things, but you should get my drift.

[nims11]

^^ a comment on the first point.
Its my first semester and i was delighted to know that we were going to do 'C' under linux. but on my first lab class, i found that it was nothing but red hat linux (via windows' telnet) with an old version of gcc. Even the theory classes were poor with teacher teaching OLD standards and saying things like 'linux is not case sensitive'.

[The Conqueror]

Talking about practical exams in India, take for eg. Chemistry practicals for Class XI. For viva, questions based on memory recall are asked such as list all the elements in group/period xyz...or maybe "tell"(recite) the reaction involved in the reaction.

So in my opinion, practical examinations should emphasize on analytical abilities.

[mitraark]

Just for the sake of a counter argument.

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

And my apologies for taking this thread somewhat off topic in my previous post. As for my philosophy for education is concerned:

• First of all everything should be Up to date and not be antiquated, technology changes its face so should the stuff people have to learn should change too.
  

• Even a newer edition book sometimes creates a lot of confusion regarding syllabus , teachers are sometimes unaware of the latest changes , and most importantly it renders older books [ which fills our Libaries and book shelfs ] quite ineffictive as most people are quite anal about keeping it specifically to the syllabus. One could only imagine what would happen if complete change is to be brought into the curriculum .
  
  

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  The emphasis should NOT be on clearing exams. Studying should not be based on clearing exams. Studying should be for learning. Learning in order to solve problems, and problems and other problems.

  Exams are probably the fastest way for evaluating how much one has learnt.
  
  

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  Kicking out emphasis on attendance and assignments. Both result in blank faces, and blind copying.

  Attendance , Assingments , they make sure we are into studies , somewhat of a compulsion. Although dictatorial implemntation of it is not what is needed , without the pressure many students can easily deviate from studies.
  
  

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  Classroom size should be minimized, it should be 20-30 students, not 60-80.

  Easier said than done , especially when we live in a country where any students are unable to even get higher studies because of so few colleges. Goverment colleges are being overcrowded , we have 100 students in IT this year , let alone think about 20-30 people per classroom/
  
  

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  Practical approach to learning instead of a complete theoretical approach. If you ask me, if you solve problems and practically work, theoretical learning will be a side effect, I mean since sometimes you'll be stuck at a point while solving a problem and without learning the appropriate theory you cannot further solve the problems. So you have to learn that theory and its practical usage to further move along, and when you do that you always tend to remember a lot better and for longer.

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  Practicals should be based on learning and getting the ability to do stuff. It should not be just an exercise to complete practical files.

  Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

  Main emphasis should be on original projects and practicals rather than text. Preventing copying, and plagarims will be quite a challenge here though.

All of these , really hard to do when you have nearly a 100 students in a batch.

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

[*]Exams should only be a some part. If possible, implement open book test, mind you this will really hit students hard, open book tests are always harder believe it or not.

Would be unfair to those hardworking students who toiled hard and studied for hours and can probably clear th test without an open book.

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

There may be many other things, but you should get my drift.

Again , i mention that i have replied only for the sake of argument , i appricieate your gesture for taking your time for the valuable suggestions , i am just trying to mention why the might not be a fit solution for our current situation.

[puneetgarg]

instead of reading the replies of people here.. u better start reading whats written in ur physics, chem and math books.. that could be called one type of study

[Garbage]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

[*]Practical approach to learning instead of a complete theoretical approach. If you ask me, if you solve problems and practically work, theoretical learning will be a side effect, I mean since sometimes you'll be stuck at a point while solving a problem and without learning the appropriate theory you cannot further solve the problems. So you have to learn that theory and its practical usage to further move along, and when you do that you always tend to remember a lot better and for longer.

The problem with this approach is, you can't simulate all the real world / possible problems in the classroom. Instead if you learn a set of theory, then you might be able to solve n number of problems based on that.

Saying that, practical approach has to be there, otherwise students will not understand how to apply theory into real world. But you can't rely solely on practicals.

[thetechfreak]

Well, seeing the creative replies above, here is how it is defined by Google-

Devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge on (an academic subject), esp. by means of books

[sygeek]

The major problem with the education system, isn't the system itself, but the people behind the system. They act like closed-minded robots who implement rules just for the sake of it instead of proper reasoning. Seriously, this is the problem with the majority of the Indians, get out of our medieval thinking and learn to reason.

This image should explain what I'm trying to say:

[thetechfreak]

Well I once read this comment somewhere in fight-club section-


India doesnt have a education system. It has only a exam system where robots with best memory succeed

[Liverpool_fan]

Originally Posted by Garbage

The problem with this approach is, you can't simulate all the real world / possible problems in the classroom. Instead if you learn a set of theory, then you might be able to solve n number of problems based on that.

Saying that, practical approach has to be there, otherwise students will not understand how to apply theory into real world. But you can't rely solely on practicals.

The point is not solving exhaustive problems but building a very solid foundation on which the students get the abilities to solve problems. If the fundamentals in solving problems is solid, then going further becomes much easier and interesting as well. I'll say do little but do it well, don't try to do everything and end up being in mess in all.
Also, if you learn a set of theory (like our education system does), it's of no use if you don't know how to actually use it. Theory and its application/practical should always go hand in hand.

Originally Posted by mitraark

Would be unfair to those hardworking students who toiled hard and studied for hours and can probably clear th test without an open book.

Actually open book tests are far more harder than closed book ones. Only the students which understand the concepts very well will be able to correctly attempt an open book examination. Rote learning will never suffice. Don't think open book means you can search for answers in the book.

I disagree with rest of your points but don't wish to pointwise counter argue at the moment.

[Garbage]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

The point is not solving exhaustive problems but building a very solid foundation on which the students get the abilities to solve problems. If the fundamentals in solving problems is solid, then going further becomes much easier and interesting as well. I'll say do little but do it well, don't try to do everything and end up being in mess in all.
Also, if you learn a set of theory (like our education system does), it's of no use if you don't know how to actually use it. Theory and its application/practical should always go hand in hand.

Isn't that's exactly what I said? o_O

[Liverpool_fan]

Originally Posted by Garbage

Isn't that's exactly what I said? o_O

Erm...I thought you were saying only a set of theory is possible in classroom. Maybe I misunderstood you. Never mind we are on the same boat then.

[xtremevicky]

I for one totally agree with Liverpool_fan but I know implementing these steps will be difficult !

[The Conqueror]

Einstein once said "I would be more interested in knowing why the battles in history were fought rather than learning the dates of their occurrences".

Originally Posted by mitraark

Would be unfair to those hardworking students who toiled hard and studied for hours and can probably clear the test without an open book.

That simply translates to the fact that their hard work is nothing but rote-memory.

[neha]

i guess u gotta study for jee...
its not that u need to work very hard..its just that u nedd to study every thing in detail specially the ncert books they are just the fundamental part and besides if u have coaching u are better again...just be systematic and stick to what u have decided to study rather than leaving that up for the next day..like i did always/// all the best...

[way2jatin]

Originally Posted by comp@ddict

And i like that post ^

me too love that post

[Terabyte]

Originally Posted by mitraark

Would be unfair to those hardworking students who toiled hard and studied for hours and can probably clear th test without an open book.

Hardworking in what sense?
By hearting answers/guides is not hard-work!

Studying shouldn't include only your text-books but go beyond that. Learn to make proper use of Internet(when I say "proper use of Internet" I don't mean copy-pasting of some random text for your Assignments).

[it_waaznt_me]

Hmmm .. Mostly what is termed as "studying" these days is actually cramming which is directed towards short term goals such as cracking the exam .. Studying should actually be synonymous with "learning" so as to help the person in his future life with the knowledge he thus gained ..

[kolbywhite28]

Originally Posted by sunny10

But how to study smart

By "beginning with the end in mind." Before you start anything, you should know your END-GOAL. Do this to avoid the unnecessary (which simply studying hard often does).

[AcceleratorX]

Ideally, the term "studying" has nothing to do with exams. Studying means absorbing or discovering knowledge by whatever means, i.e. observation, analysis, reasoning etc.

Our exam system and competitive papers like the JEE which are based on definite, closed syllabi are definitely not testing how much or what the person has "studied".

My personal take on exams like JEE/AIEEE/PMT/whatever: They are "test case scenarios" where lakhs of "crash test dummies" are made to run a huge race for the best mechanical characteristics.

That is, the JEE studies you

[Sarath]

Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan

Indian Philosophy of Education[LIST=1][*]Ask questions if its in syllabus otherwise keep quiet and sit in the corner.
[/B]

That is my biggest gripe and the most frustrating one.