How to study???

Over the next 5 or 6 years I want to do some studying, just for myself nothing career or job related, probably looking at a music degree from the open university if I can scrape together the costs (which isn’t looking easy at the moment).

However the main point of my post is… how the **** do people study???

When I was at school many many years ago, I just got by on “natural talent” I don’t know how to study, or take notes or have any kind of plan for learning, and we weren’t taught any such extra skills back then. So I just attended class listened and learned without any extra effort.

Now, especially in a time compromised environment where I am fitting study into a working life, I suspect I should have a better strategy, but I really don’t know how, and I mean even on the most basic level I don’t know how to take notes, what I should take notes of or what I should do with them later, in fact I find taking notes a disruptive process as opposed to just listening.

Two years into my OU course and I would just say don’t worry and just go for it. The material is very easy to follow and early on they do incorporate study skills into the studies. There is also the student forums and you are assigned a tutor for any questions.  You also only really pay for a couple modules at a time so if you really hate it and it’s not for you then no big loss. Dive in and crack on I say.

I think old methods are less relevant now. In the past, how was it put – a lecture was a means of getting the information on the lecturer’s page onto the student’s page without passing it through the minds of either. When I was at University the internet didn’t exist and it was too expensive to provide handouts. I guess nowadays notes can be made available online, post covid even whole lectures were recorded and still available and there’s way more opportunity to watch and listen and think rather than frantically scribble to get it all down before the next slide (often handwritten on transparency!) pops up.

Sorry, doesn’t tell you how to, only that my experience is irrelevant. I’ll ask my 2nd year Uni daughter later. She’s just moved back in for the summer and one thing I notice she hasn’t brought with her is copious copies of textbooks and folders and folders of handwritten notes. She has brought a laptop though.

Find what works for you.

I went to uni and discovered lectures really aren’t for me (which was difficult as it was a course with 30+ hours of contact time, there wasn’t time to work on it all outside of classes ).

For me it’s either practical problem solving, research and essays. I just need to do it without distractions which often means being a bit old-fashioned, printing stuff out and finding somewhere quiet to work (i.e. no phones or internet).

You might be looking at this the wrong way around.

I know you are not looking to do this for a career/work type reason, but the purpose of undergraduate degree learning for many people (i.e. those not taking vocational degrees where the material you learn actually matters) is that degree level learning teaches you how to learn and that’s the whole point. School level teaching (and I spend most of my working life teaching A level) is essentially coached rote learning. A lot of kids (especially those from ‘good’ schools – and by that I mean ones that get good results by being awsums at coaching) get to degree level  and freak out that the hand rails have disappeared.  And by learning to learn I mean both the mechanics of how to structure it in a much more self directed environment and the ability to doubt and question sources.

I’m sure you’ll be fine. This far out it’s probably just about working out how you’ll ‘ring fence’ the time needed (the reading, the writing/typing and most importantly the thinking). How you’ll do it after that will just come – it’s part of the journey. At uni me and my now wife were so different. She was a voracious  reader and note taker. Then making notes from her notes. Then distilling notes from her notes from her notes, before tackling anything. Me, I scanned the books in the days  before a deadline and jotted the odd thing down. Then me and a bottle of cheap whisky would start the evening on the day before the deadline. I’d wake up to find the bottle had taken one for the team, I had zero memory of the experience but an essay would be sat on the table. Every. Singe. Time. Both methods worked kind of – she still has a little bit of sick in her mouth when I remind her which one of us got the first 🙂

You’ll find your own path. Good luck.

Edit to add – if ‘learning to learn’ isn’t actually why you plan to do this and a degree to your name isn’t a motivation – you might consider if an actual degree is needed (especially at the cost they come with now). If it’s the actual knowledge that’s a priority, there might be more effective vehicles.

scribble to get it all down before the next slide (often handwritten on transparency!) pops up

Sounds like one my lectures (esp with OHP).

slides the lecturer had for years – you spent more time trying to copy that listening and understanding. A friend & I decided the only way to get all the notes was one to copy the top half and the other the bottom then combine later.

Firstly: I’ve heard it suggested that doing on OU degree is the hardest way to do one. Not sure how true that is?

Secondly: There’s so much available in terms of study techniques etc online. I find sticking broadly to the pomodoro method of 25 minutes reading 5 minutes break is good. 3 pass reading technique is also good.

Notes are a hard one….depends on what exactly your content is going to be?

If you’re reading journal articles, it’s quite different to some other stuff that you could end up doing.

Trusting the process is key for me. I’m coming towards the end of an MSc in sustainability….I’d not studied Science since GCSE 20 years ago and wasn’t great at it then. It was a real struggle at first, but by the end I can see how all of the information is slowing fitting into place.

My first degree was Music and I was a professional for 18 years…..happy for you to either drop me a pm or even do a teams chat etc for some advice.

I’m a big fan of shorter periods of quality time.

I jot down handwritten notes at the time, then format them into typed notes that I can refer to. Lists and obvious bullet points then need to be memorised.

Past papers are exceptionally useful too IMO. Questions come up again and again, even if they’re slightly differently formatted.

I’ve just finished my 6th year with the OU, doing a Masters in Env Sci for ‘fun’, have deferred a couple of modules during my studies so I could’ve been finished now but have 2 more years to go (or more, or fewer if decide to).

It is quite easy to fit around every day life, I read what I can during the week but like to have one full day at it over the weekend.

I haven’t ever made any notes, note taking for me doesn’t work. As it’s all online you can just search for what you want on the module website.

Im not self funding, have student loans paying for it.

On the subject of note taking..

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2414241-writing-things-down-may-help-you-remember-information-more-than-typing/

Personally, I find taking notes and writing everything down essential to help me remember things.

The point of notes isn’t the copying, it’s the summarising and interpreting that goes into their creation.

I’m also studying a bit, because I’ve taken up chess as a hobby and want to improve rather than just playing for fun. Every so often I read a chapter of a book, make a few notes as I go along, do the exercises, make flash cards (Anki) out of interesting positions/moves. Seems to be working, but I was always one of the annoying clever ones at school and good at learning.

Personally, I find taking notes and writing everything down essential to help me remember things.

Yep, physically writing stuff works for me, even if it isn’t legible afterwards :).  There is something about slowing down the process of ingesting the material that helps.  I type way faster than I can write so typing something out helps a bit, but not as much as writing

When I was at school many many years ago, I just got by on “natural talent” I don’t know how to study, or take notes or have any kind of plan for learning, and we weren’t taught any such extra skills back then. So I just attended class listened and learned without any extra effort.

everyone is different, and with lecture content likely reviewable online, especially at the OU, 2024 is likely very different from 1994.  However if I was to try and learn something now I would:

– watch the lecture perhaps taking a few notes, but not writing down everything.  I’d want one sentence or phrase that described the key point of each slide.
– after the lecture summarise, perhaps on one post card what was the key message from that lecture

– at the end of a topic summarise what you’ve been taught.

– if you are being taught a process, or method etc – then do it, as much as you can.

– throughout my degree I did a lot of practical work which I got good marks for but in general I actually didn’t understand the details.  Later I went back to supervise other students doing those experiments – that was where I really learned stuff.  So I would say if you want to understand it, explain it to someone else – even if that is just talking to the mirror or recording yourself on video but never broadcasting it; there’s nothing like a half finished sentence to show you what you don’t know.

i suspect in 2024 the real challenge is avoiding distractions.

Two years into my OU course and I would just say don’t worry and just go for it. The material is very easy to follow and early on they do incorporate study skills into the studies. There is also the student forums and you are assigned a tutor for any questions.

Which is fine until you get assigned an absolute walloper for your final project.

It is quite easy to fit around every day life, I read what I can during the week but like to have one full day at it over the weekend.

Not my experience at all BUT I was working shifts which changes things somewhat. Still don’t have any time mind you…

Firstly: I’ve heard it suggested that doing on OU degree is the hardest way to do one. Not sure how true that is?

I’d say it’s pretty true. Nobody has ever given me stick and most congratulate me on doing it at all.

FWIW I started on the BEng Hons mechanical engineering course and ended up with a BSc Hons in Combined STEM, basically the same degree minus the final project but another level 3 course. I had a surplus of credits as well. Practically it has made no difference, I still got a mechanical engineering job and the IMechE still say I have the academic requirements for IEng so I’m no worse off. I realise thats not answering the question but hopefully it will help someone.

If you get a set of notes or ppts, possibly online.

Get an iPad or similar that will allow you to read the notes then using “draw” circle important points with active reading ie “pen” on paper.

Take this important information then write it into your Notebook, every so often go back over stuff and circle/underline parts with explanations or links in margin.

Rinse and repeat.

Put it off to the last minute, panic, let the wheels comeoff, throw some stuff, hand it in late. Aim for 41percent.  Get a 2.1.

Then get counselling for all the damage you’ve done to yourself over two degree and many many years.

Put it off to the last minute, panic, let the wheels comeoff, throw some stuff, hand it in late. Aim for 41percent. Get a 2.1.

Then get counselling for all the damage you’ve done to yourself over two degree and many many years.

Shit, was I supposed to get a second degree first?

I used to find typing up notes bangs it into your head effortlessly. Take notes from whatever academic book you read, after a couple of months I’d remember the gist but not enough detail for exams and notes make your reading more focused. Talking about your work aids memory and throws up any issues you’re a bit vague on.

When I was at school many many years ago, I just got by on “natural talent” I don’t know how to study, or take notes or have any kind of plan for learning, and we weren’t taught any such extra skills back then. So I just attended class listened and learned without any extra effort.

Ive not read the replies – sorry

I was much the same as you at school – and thru my nurses training.  I went back to Uni in my 40s.  What I did was try really hard to be disciplined.  Took good notes in lectures then typed them up at home the next day ( It was mainly evening classes)  The notes I took were basically the bullet points of the lectures then written up in full the next day including going to course material / textbooks to check on stuff I was not sure of.  Writing it all twice helped get it stuck in my head.

Assignments again – discipline.  The day after we got them I would start writing outlines for essays to get it started permeating my head and I would make sure that I worked on them consistently ie an hour or two every day or two.  A lot of that was sitting thinking and looking up stuff and letting the ideas come to me.  I would try to get them finished a week ahead of time

It was part time learning – I was still working.   Effectively I did the acedemic part (ie not the practical or work experience) of the third year of a nursing degree twice.  took me 2 1/2 years to get the degree.

Its one of the toughest things I have done as it was all self funded and self directed but it it seemed daft to pay that money and not get the best out of it.

So thats my advice – be very disciplined, get ahead on your academic work, see it as getting the best out of it.