Comments on: Accelerated Learning

By: Leszek Cyfer

Leszek Cyfer — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:34:14 +0000

I use succesfully one more technique – every time I learn something knew I pretend as if I was explaining it to my friend or to a child. Works every time :)

By: MARY

MARY — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:00:07 +0000

When I was a sophmore in pharmacy school, I took organic. After hearing horror stories about it freshman yr,I got an organic chemistry book from the library the summer before and tried to learn the basic concepts. Basically, you have to study consistantly because 1 concept builds on another. You can’t cram for a test in a night if you haven’t been studying it! Study groups are a big help,also.

By: Evita

Evita — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:47:40 +0000

Good tips, Trent!
I studied finance for a degree while working full-time as an adult.
I found it very helpful to 1) always prepare my classes by reading the material beforehand and 2) write a very short summary of each class (formulas to remember, definitions, etc.). While reviewing for exams, I would read over my summaries and make sure I understood and remembered everything. It worked very well.
Hope this helps!

By: 20 and Engaged

20 and Engaged — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:44:58 +0000

I really liked chemistry in school, and I think studying it in chunks and applying it right away definitely helped.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:30:09 +0000

Thanks Riki!

By: David

David — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:01:21 +0000

There appears recently to have been a vast outpouring of theories to the effect that success in life is not actually a function of “talent”, or genetic predisposition favouring such tasks as kicking a football or memorizing the properties of halogens. Instead, success is a function of “hard work”.

What I want to know is this: suppose one is not genetically predisposed to work hard. Is one doomed to failure?

By: Dano

Dano — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:53:58 +0000

Nice post, Trent. Very solid breakdown of the learning process.

By: KD

KD — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:46:30 +0000

HA! I got a chuckle out of you post. Organic Chemistry was the only class I ever got a D in. And the reason why I decided not to go to vet school! I had to take a second class. Didn’t help that the professor was terrible. I applaud you perseverance

By: Riki

Riki — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:39:37 +0000

Ryan . . .

There’s a great website I use with my students:
brightstorm dot com.

Hopefully it will help.

By: AnneKD

AnneKD — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:58:16 +0000

This is timely, I’m starting school for another degree (engineering this time) in the fall.

I loved organic chemistry when I took it, everything clicked. Wish I could say the same the first time I took physics. Engineering physics will hopefully be a bit harder- I’ll dig into it more.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:52:55 +0000

Con,

So far, I haven’t had trouble with the accounting side of things. It’s mainly 4 function math with a tiny bit of algebra.

Stuff like factoring and radicals trip me up. AFAIK, accounting doesn’t really use those.

I like/understand real world math. I just can’t envision a scenario where a client or supervisor asks “I need these polynomials factored by 5. Thanks”.

By: con

con — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:24:37 +0000

#5 Ryan

Are you sure you want an accounting degree if you despise math?

However, my older brother was TERRIBLE in math in high school and then my parents got him some self-help booklets and now he is the head of finance at a major hospital here. Go figure. Something just clicked.

Not saying that’s your case, Ryan, maybe you’re good at math but despise it just the same. :)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:02:48 +0000

This was a timely post – I’m almost failing my algebra class. Which isn’t an option since I need 2 more math classes for my accounting degree.

I despise math – I have no motivation.

By: Stephan F-

Stephan F- — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:28:25 +0000

I think this is why a lot of products and companies fail, the first time you make something is almost all learning experience, and when you are done you would have done so much differently that it would be a whole ‘nother product.
But most companies ship it and it ends up taking a huge amount of resources to keep up. And there never is a good version 2. Look at Microsoft it usually takes them 3 tries to get it right when they make a big change.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:33:26 +0000

Patterns…that is the key to all advanced study. It is a more involved study skill, but identifying patterns and applying them to your learning and testing is most important of all the elements listed here.

By: Allison

Allison — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:22:40 +0000

I would also add that you shouldn’t go it alone. The people who did well in my organic class were those in study groups. Instead of trying to work through the problems alone and banging their heads against a wall when they got stuck, they brainstormed together and helped explain things to each other. There’s only so much explanation that a professor can do in class. Guess which strategy I took :(

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:21:53 +0000

“Focus on patterns.”

This times a million, especially for organic chemistry. For years, I’ve been saying to anyone who will listen that if you think organic chemistry is all about memorization, then you’re doing it wrong. It’s actually about developing your chemical intuition, and patterns are a big part of that. There are a lot of common features in all those reactions and mechanisms that they have you learn, and if you can really internalize that, you start to see the reactions and mechanisms not as a collection of unrelated information, but a system that makes sense. Studying then becomes so much easier. I don’t think I studied for any of my organic chemistry exams for more than a couple of hours, and I aced both semesters.