Efficient study time management suggestions

[collegechick]

How do you manage your time? For example, I'm taking Saylor's Intro to Comparative Politics and reading everything easily eats up my entire day, as I'm not sure what's going to be on the test, so I'm studying everything. I've been on and off this course for close to a month now. (Stopped around the holidays.) I'm currently a caregiver, so there's some flexibility. Also time spent looking for full-time work and studying.

How much time do you account for your studies?
When do you choose to study?
Do you study 7 days a week?
Or do you pick a date, cram and know everything by then?
How do you know when you're ready to test? I studied intensely for 8 days for A & I Lit course and bombed it by three points. :ack: So, I'm trying to study even harder so as not waste anymore money.

Appreciate any feedback.

[AJ_Atlanta]

1 Hour during lunch, and about 3 hours after the kids go to sleep on weekdays give or take breaks. About 20hrs a week works for me, but I am more concerned with making sure I don't over study; taking breaks to stay fresh improves retention and overdoing it usually results in a crash.

Second point, I group material together in my plan. US History I then American Government for example.

Third point, for me flashcards work. There are some online sites or the very cool Anki application.

[davewill]

Saylor can be really rough that way. The material tends to be voluminous and a bit scattered. It helps to let the quizzes (if your course has them) be your guide. Since they don't count towards getting credit for the course, use them, and the practice final as a study guide. Spend less time on things they don't cover.

[gremlinbrawler]

I've been going at these tests for about 9 months now and so I've developed a schedule that works really well for me. At first I couldn't do quite so much but I think my focus has gotten better. I do this about 5 days a week but I do less on the two days that I work.

I use the pomodoro technique - you can look it up if you haven't heard of it. But I use my own times rather than the typical pomodor times. The program I use is free online. Pomodoro Method Style Time Management Tool & Timer | Marinara by 352

This is my pomodoro schedule:
30 min study
5 min short break
30 min study
15 min long break
30 min study
5 min short break
30 min study

So that adds up to two hours and I do that study session usually 3 times a day so I get about 6 hours in a day. Of course you have to take into account that it takes up more than 6 hours of your day with the breaks though. I usually schedule the night before when I am going to do the study sessions. I like to do them in different locations too. I usually do my first one in an armchair with a blanket in the morning, then I do my second two hours in my office, then I do the third session at a coffee shop most of the time.


Definitely read a few blog posts about the pomodoro technique if you want to try it. There are lots of benefits too it and it's great for maintaining focus.


Oh and to answer your other questions I usually do pick a goal date on my calendar for each test however I worry more about daily quotas because you have more control over that then you have over actually being ready for a test. So I try to meet all of my daily goals for studying and then if the date comes up and I don't do well on the practice test then I give myself more time. All you can do is your best so if your disciplined about studying then don't be hard on yourself if your not ready when you originally planned!
As far as knowing when you're ready I have always relied pretty heavily on practice tests to tell me if I'm ready which has only failed me once but I guess it's a little risky so it's really up to you. One thing you can do is try to pay attention to how much material you recognize on the test. So if you get a good score on the practice test but you were guessing the whole time and didn't recognize any of the material then you might not be ready.

As far as how much time I account for my studies - I assume ROUGHLY 20 hours per study.com course depending on how many lessons there are. I can often do it in less but I don' plan on that. It's been a while since I've done CLEP tests so it's hard to remember but I think I was doing about 20 hours for those too. But everyone is different so I would suggest you track your hours and then you will have a good idea of how long it takes you after you have taken a few tests.

I study all day and try to be done around 7 at the latest because my focus drops a lot at night. I also always take my tests before 2pm because I do much better at those in the beginning of the day too I think even though I'm not much of a morning person. Again that's just me though so try to notice what your own patterns are.

I wouldn't study 7 full days a week unless you absolutely have to! You deserve a break to recover. The most I do is 6 days a week and maybe 1-2 hours on the 7th but I usually take at least one day off.
My favorite blogger Scott Young has a lot of great articles on studying, intense schedules, breaks, and all kinds of helpful stuff. I have him to thank for most of my strategies. You can just type in The Scott Young Blog and get some useful info.

Hope this helps. You will definitely get better at all of this the longer you do it. I know that I have gotten much more proficient at studying, focus and test taking than I was when I first started. Good luck!

[collegechick]

Saylor can be really rough that way. The material tends to be voluminous and a bit scattered. It helps to let the quizzes (if your course has them) be your guide. Since they don't count towards getting credit for the course, use them, and the practice final as a study guide. Spend less time on things they don't cover.

I will try that plan of attack. There's so much info on this course, that the volume of material is tedious and overwhelming. I feel like I've gone nowhere.

[collegechick]

I've been going at these tests for about 9 months now and so I've developed a schedule that works really well for me. At first I couldn't do quite so much but I think my focus has gotten better. I do this about 5 days a week but I do less on the two days that I work.

I use the pomodoro technique - you can look it up if you haven't heard of it. But I use my own times rather than the typical pomodor times. The program I use is free online. Pomodoro Method Style Time Management Tool & Timer | Marinara by 352

This is my pomodoro schedule:
30 min study
5 min short break
30 min study
15 min long break
30 min study
5 min short break
30 min study

So that adds up to two hours and I do that study session usually 3 times a day so I get about 6 hours in a day. Of course you have to take into account that it takes up more than 6 hours of your day with the breaks though. I usually schedule the night before when I am going to do the study sessions. I like to do them in different locations too. I usually do my first one in an armchair with a blanket in the morning, then I do my second two hours in my office, then I do the third session at a coffee shop most of the time.


Definitely read a few blog posts about the pomodoro technique if you want to try it. There are lots of benefits too it and it's great for maintaining focus.


Oh and to answer your other questions I usually do pick a goal date on my calendar for each test however I worry more about daily quotas because you have more control over that then you have over actually being ready for a test. So I try to meet all of my daily goals for studying and then if the date comes up and I don't do well on the practice test then I give myself more time. All you can do is your best so if your disciplined about studying then don't be hard on yourself if your not ready when you originally planned!
As far as knowing when you're ready I have always relied pretty heavily on practice tests to tell me if I'm ready which has only failed me once but I guess it's a little risky so it's really up to you. One thing you can do is try to pay attention to how much material you recognize on the test. So if you get a good score on the practice test but you were guessing the whole time and didn't recognize any of the material then you might not be ready.

As far as how much time I account for my studies - I assume ROUGHLY 20 hours per study.com course depending on how many lessons there are. I can often do it in less but I don' plan on that. It's been a while since I've done CLEP tests so it's hard to remember but I think I was doing about 20 hours for those too. But everyone is different so I would suggest you track your hours and then you will have a good idea of how long it takes you after you have taken a few tests.

I study all day and try to be done around 7 at the latest because my focus drops a lot at night. I also always take my tests before 2pm because I do much better at those in the beginning of the day too I think even though I'm not much of a morning person. Again that's just me though so try to notice what your own patterns are.

I wouldn't study 7 full days a week unless you absolutely have to! You deserve a break to recover. The most I do is 6 days a week and maybe 1-2 hours on the 7th but I usually take at least one day off.
My favorite blogger Scott Young has a lot of great articles on studying, intense schedules, breaks, and all kinds of helpful stuff. I have him to thank for most of my strategies. You can just type in The Scott Young Blog and get some useful info.

Hope this helps. You will definitely get better at all of this the longer you do it. I know that I have gotten much more proficient at studying, focus and test taking than I was when I first started. Good luck!

Thank you for this extremely helpful comment! I will definitely check out Scott Young, the Pomodoro method & reference this comment.

[SaebScholar]

His thread is gold

[dfrecore]

Someone on here put together how to study for that specific course, I can't remember who though. But I copied it and pasted it into a Word doc, so here it is (sorry that I can't give credit where it's due):

In my biased opinion, this test is an easier option in place of American Gov CLEP. Biased, because general political science is just more interesting to me than Amer Gov. It's less bureaucratic jargon and more stuff/ideas/issues that you would generally be aware of and affected by if you keep up with current events.

Resources I used to study:

This CrashCourse playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5...g7DD5hQ3TfM1_k


Intro to Comparative Gov video series on YT channel "Zach Zhao" ...put them on 1.5 or 2x speed if you like.

Take the multiple choice unit quizzes and practice test; whatever you get wrong, Wikipedia it. Probably 70% of my studying for this test was on Wikipedia. Know and understand all the concepts, terms, and ideologies presented in the quizzes and practice test. If you can pass the quizzes and the practice test with a high grade (my rule is 90 but I'm an overachiever) you'll definitely pass the final test.

The Course Syllabus is very helpful for finding a particular article or document that the quizzes reference.

I studied off and on for about two weeks, and scored a 90.

[collegechick]

Someone on here put together how to study for that specific course, I can't remember who though. But I copied it and pasted it into a Word doc, so here it is (sorry that I can't give credit where it's due):

In my biased opinion, this test is an easier option in place of American Gov CLEP. Biased, because general political science is just more interesting to me than Amer Gov. It's less bureaucratic jargon and more stuff/ideas/issues that you would generally be aware of and affected by if you keep up with current events.

Resources I used to study:

This CrashCourse playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5...g7DD5hQ3TfM1_k


Intro to Comparative Gov video series on YT channel "Zach Zhao" ...put them on 1.5 or 2x speed if you like.

Take the multiple choice unit quizzes and practice test; whatever you get wrong, Wikipedia it. Probably 70% of my studying for this test was on Wikipedia. Know and understand all the concepts, terms, and ideologies presented in the quizzes and practice test. If you can pass the quizzes and the practice test with a high grade (my rule is 90 but I'm an overachiever) you'll definitely pass the final test.

The Course Syllabus is very helpful for finding a particular article or document that the quizzes reference.

I studied off and on for about two weeks, and scored a 90.

Thank you for the helpful comment. It's appreciated

[OnlineStudent011320]

There is some great tips on here!