Study Strategies

Question

OK, I am not sure if I should be posting this question since it is not obviously a programming question per se.. However, I will throw myself to the wolves, and if deemed inappropriate, I will happily delete ^_^

As you can see on my profile, I am studying towards the MCAD (yes I know it is soon to be obsolete, which is why I am studying so hard!). One thing I find is that some of the buzzwords can be difficult to remember, as well as the little quirks/processes to do certain tasks.

Now this may sound like a stupid question, but I know everyone is different and answers may vary, and there may be a little gem answer in here that may help others (including myself!). And I am sure we all agree that most developers are almost constantly studying so we should be working to improve our technique right?

So,

What study strategy do you have? How do you revise, learn and memorise new topics?

As an example, heres my current "process":

• List the chapters that I need to cover for the given exam.
• Buy another book (normally one of the Kalani books in my case).
• I then work my way through the chapters (studying from various sources to get different angles).
• These chapters will obviously have labs/exercises to complete, which I do.
• If I have any major weaknesses, I repeat the relevant chapters..

Now one of the problems is that there can just be so much content, and retention can be hard.. I have tried several things from "flash cards" just grinding the subject to help me remember, but these can get kinda monotonous..

So, people of StackOverflow, unleash thy study strategies! :D

Answer 1

From my experience there are three keys.

1. Everybody is different - so there is no one way that works for all !
2. Do the labs & exercises. Although they often only scrape the surface of the studied topic, they get you thinking about it and can break you through a barrier
3. Re-write what you think is important. Only write down the same words as the book if you can't think of better. [ I often write this longhand and then retype - which reinforces the learning. As I recall Joel said something similar on SOFL podcast ]

Good Luck

Bonus tip. If you get stuck on something, walk away from it for a while then come back.

Answer 2

When I did my MCAD a few years ago, one of the things I did was to read out the cheat sheets you find at the front of the Kalani books into a microphone, recorded it and listened to it on my ipod on the way to work in the morning.

What it will not do is singularly get you an MCAD.

What it will do is really highlight what you don't know.

I’ve found that one of the biggest dangers of revising for any sort of exam, is revising what you already know. It natural to do this as it boosts your confidence and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.

What you need to do is always be going outside your comfort zone and study the stuff you don't know.

Donald Rumsfled would probably call this turning the unknown unknowns into known unknowns and will give you the chance to turn them into known knowns. Which is of course what you'll need to pass.

Some people mock MCAD because they're "nothing to do with development and just all about remembering a metric crap load of little facts." Generally these are the people unwilling or unable to get one. An MCAD won't turn you into ScottGu overnight, but truth is somewhere in between. MCADs do give you are far deeper and comprehensive understanding of the Microsoft development environment which only works in your favour as a developer.

Just my $0.02. Good luck Rob. It's a challenge, but a worthwhile one.

Answer 3

For memorizing facts what works best for me is to write down questions on a piece of paper as I read the chapters in the book. I then write down the answer in my own word, below the question, so that the answer can easily be covered, by another paper or something like that. When I have gotten through the chapters to read I have assembled a number of papers of questions that contain the essence of the material, and I proceed to questioning myself on the questions until I know all the answers.

The advantages of this, as I see it, are:

• You have to pay attention while reading, to find what is really important.
• You write down the most important parts, in your own words, helping you learn.
• You can go through the questions quite quickly, and repeat this many times, to get it to stick.

It soon becomes obvious which questions are the hardest, and that might be a good signal to go back to that section of the book and read it again.

Answer 4

A simple tip I would use is something I learned when I was studying with the OU. When ever you are studying a book treat is as a workbook. Always have a highlighter pen to hand; highlight key points, make notes on the pages, add comments, stick bits in...

It really helps you engage with the book, and stops your brain from switching off. If you have ever read a few pages, and found yourself thinking you didn't take anything in you will know what I mean :).

Answer 5

One thing that does help me in some situations, especially when there's a lot of information I need to digest, is making a mind-map. It's an easy, creative way to structure information. You can do it with pencils and paper (which is more fun), or digitally. There's free software to make mindmaps, as well as a well-known commercial package.

In any case, I think the main thing that almost every technique boils down to, is a structured way to let your brain reproduce stuff regularly . Choose a way that suits you best. (And there are lots of ways, given the huge amount of books on this subject)

Also seems like I'll be learning lots of new techniques from the other answers, btw :)

Answer 6

In my case, I'm studying for my MBA (Tech Management) whilst working as a dev. Time is of the essence. I've found that you can "get into" a topic simply by reading the preview/introduction and then the summary, this will allow you to rip through the accompanying notes quicker as you will generally only read more on what you didn't grok from the summary (your mileage may vary).

For technical or not-so-technical books you might find it best to read the chapter summary first, then the chapter, then do something else. Upon returning to the book and attempting the exercises, you'll find out what you have and haven't retained (to some extent), and for this you can then re-learn.

Answer 7

Your process is missing a key component: doing! You can study till the cows come hom, but learning comes with doing. Do!

As for sitting down with a book,have lots of these laying around. They are great!

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/477320/3M-Flag-Highlighters-Assorted-Colors-Pack/

rp

Answer 8

Hi Guys! Wow, looks like this was a great topic to get going, there has been some great answers!

Thank you very much!

Now, I do need to dedicate some time to going through these and perhaps consolidating the ideas.. As to how I come up with a "best answer" I have no idea! What do you guys think on leaving this open? I know its kinda anti-stackoverflow, but its seems there could be so much more input here..

Open to thoughts/comments/suggestions..

Thanks again guys, this is great :)

Answer 9

Download mnemosyne. It's an open source flash card based program, but it's much more intelligent about quizzing you on what and when than you would be doing it yourself. It's based on memory research that suggests that the best time to quiz you on something is right when you're about to forget it -- it's as if your brain realizes that it was about to throw away something useful and so retains it longer the next time. Mnemosyne uses a sophisticated algorithm to predict the moment you are about to forget and quizzes you then -- this also makes optimal use of your time because you're only quizzed on things if you're about to forget them, without wasting your time on information you already know.

There is an alternative program, SuperMemo, but is is proprietary. I'd recommend going to the website though and browsing the tons of available content on writing effective flash cards though.

Answer 10

I have found using Mnemosyne useful. It's a flashcard program coupled with an algorithm that spaces the rate at which each card is presented (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced%5Frepetition). The simple fact of writing the card will help you memorize the material.

Answer 11

From this excellent book, here's some tips:

Repetition

• Just repeating doesn't work on its own, meaningfulness, familiarity, "Getting it" are required first.

A man must get something before he can forget it. i.e. learn it AND understand it.

• You pay more attention to things you're interested in, i.e. going to France makes you more interested in French.
• Overlearning has been proven to be effective.

Take a break/space it out

• The break doesn't have to be long, but break between learning sessions.
• You have 3 hours for study: you can do 3 x 1 hour blocks, or one block of 3 hours.
• Distributed learning (1x3 strategy) is far more effective if there's a gap between learning and testing.
• Massed learning is better (one 3 hour session) if recall is needed straight after learning, i.e. an exam the next day.

Small chunks vs Big chunks of material

This is whole vs part learning (small amounts or a whole chapter):

• Whole: gives context to each part, prompts you for the next part
• Part: gives feedback on how you're doing on each part sooner

Use each method where it's relevant for the material. The more there is to learn, the more part learning is effective.

Whole is actually better for distributed learning, but combine both. e.g. learn A then B, then re-read A and B together.

SQ3R

Survey, Question, Reader, Recite, Review is a study method from 1946. This study guide involves read, recite, review

1. Survey - Read the contents, chapter summaries
2. Question - Ask questions about the headings
3. Read - Read the Chapter, don't take notes just answer the questions you asked.
4. Recite - Read, read and re-read
5. Review - Review your notes.

Hopefully my scrappy notes make sense.

SuperMemo

This is an algorithm a Biology PHD student created while studying. It involves relearning material over a set period of time.

How well you recall material, the "Response Quality" - you rate your response 1-5 - influences the Easiness Factor which determines how often you re-test. He claims you can theoretically learn 50,00+ (I can't remember the exact number) items over the course of your life using the technique.

• There's a supermemo iPhone app that's free (plug: I wrote it) - Flashback Lite

--

The OU degree I've been studying uses distributed learning by breaking a course into 12-14 units which are just book of up to 50 pages, sometimes more. These then have 4-5 chapters. The method works far more effectively than anything I've seen previously.

However for a MCAD you don't need reasoning, you're asked a question with 4 choices. So the flash card (supermemo) approach would probably be best, after you're very familiar with each topic.

Answer 12

There are a few different ways I approach this:

1. Bloom's taxonomy has an interesting point in that there are different levels of knowing something, e.g. differences from knowledge to comprehension or comprehension to application. To my mind this is important in just seeing how different subjects can be handled,e.g. while in some subjects reading the material is enough in others exercises can be quite useful.

2. Self or group dynamics. Do you do better interacting with others to pick up something or do you prefer to be left alone to absorb something? This can take some practice and experiments but can be useful in the long run. I know I shifted when I got to university as I went from being a top student to near the bottom of the class. Granted that it was an advanced class, it was still a rather humbling experience.

3. Knowledge acquisition strategy. Can just reading be enough for you? Does writing something out help with recall? Does seeing something visually do more for you than just words on a page? Does hearing something work better than reading? Lots of different ways here and it can be some trial and error to see what works best in your case.

4. Verification of data. My favorite example here is being able to explain something to someone else that may have no knowledge of a particular concept or topic. At times this can be quite frustrating but it does tend to show how well you really know something if you have to explain it to someone else.

5. Motivation and Technique. Why are you doing this? How are you doing this? Sometimes those questions can have very useful answers as if you aren't motivated that can be part of the problem right there.

A few blogs that I have found useful at times:

• Sources of Insight
• Upgrade Reality
• Gift of Re:Life