How do you study?

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Alexandrov

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What's your study strategy in terms study/break/study/bigger break/etc.

For me, i tend to study for 5 hours, with 10-15 min breaks every hour...i don't think it's working all that well as it's showing in my marks...that and lack of sleep (hence why i am on here at 2am).

Does anyone have any advice, or maybe share what worked for you guys? I've heard some people do 30 mins studying, 3 min break, etc

If you had 8 hours to study, how would you break that up?

And realistically, how many hours do/did you put in on a non working day like a saturday? 6, 8, 10, 12, more?
 
As juvenile as these questions are, i am honestly trying to figure myself out and find something that works.

Also, keeping myself away from distractions like the internet can be a very difficult task. During my study breaks i will surf the net, and sometimes that 10 min break turns into an hour and then it throws my day off completely.
 
Try setting your marks by content rather than by time. You will avoid clock watching and you will have a clearer progression.

On non-work days, that method usually works out to five to six hours.
 
well first of all get all distractions out of ur way
i switch off my mobile, close the stores and work in a room without internet access
on a day i dont work I can easily put in 10 hours of studying, four in the morn, three in the afternoon, three in the evening i would take a one hour break for lunch where I switch on my mobile on surf the web, between the pm and evening section i would go out for a run or for some shopping (retailtherapy is good)
I take breaks of five-ten mins max about every hour to get a new tea or a glass of water/diet coke
the brain needs small breaks to reorganise all the stuff u crammed in
I try to set a target to get to at the beginning of each study day, but I dont get hysterical if I am short of the target at the end of the day
I try to go throu a section per weekend and do the catch up + exercises during the week (evenings) if I have worked well over the weekend my reward is an easier week, otherwise i keep on digging
good luck
 
METHOD
Start with reading and then switch to answering questions when you start to lose concentration. After the questions, go back and read the relevant piece of the text that covers the questions you got wrong.


TIME
There are significant diminishing returns to time spent studying. I could manage 2 hours max after work, and maybe 5 hours a day max at a weekend before my mind was exhausted and I couldn't take things in. So that's about 250 hours in four months - easy enough.
 
I keep a kitchen timer in my study and record all my time spend studying. I try to study in one hour increments before taking a break.

With 8 months til my next exam I'm taking it easy on weekends and shooting for 3 hrs/day. Weekdays I'm shooting for at least 1 hr/day. I'm trying to get 15 hrs/week. After the new year I may change my goals.

If you do what I do and keep a timer next to you and you start and stop it every time you get up, i.e. top off your coffee, potty break etc. it's hard to get much more than 8-9 hours in on a non-work day. I take the week before the exam off and 8-9 hrs/day is the max. Any one telling you they study for 14-16 hrs/day is misleading you.
 
Why bother studying? If you have an undergrad and work in the industry in some capacity, you should be fine...
 
My advice for studying is to spend less time reading and more time thinking. If you read a chapter in the assigned reading about a topic you haven't already mastered and you don't have any questions about why or how it works you either are absolutely brilliant or you don't really understand what you just read. Think about everything critically and then use your resources (e.g. Yahoo search, Analyst Forum, textbooks) to try to gain a better understanding.

I don't say this because of the greater good of 'really learning' the material, I'm saying it because if you understand the subtleties you'll have an easy time answering the questions on the exam.
 
There is no magic to this.

Starting in January, Allocate a couple of hours per weekday (take 1 day off per week) to read chapters, do the review questions

Allocate 5-6 hours over the weekend (try to tak one full day off) to review the materials, and spend time working on problem sets and reviewing the answers.

The 3 weeks before the exam start memorizing formulas, taking complete practice exams, some high level review.

Stick to this and the results will follow.
 
Pretty much what Gecco said, however, I dont plan a day off each week. Some days you sit down to study and you just can't concentrate, those are the nights I take off. On weekend I generally will put in 5-7 hours on both Saturday and sunday. Generally Ill take a few hours to watch a big game on Saturday or Sunday.

A couple things I have always found helpful are a 10-20 minute break here and there, not ever hour or every X hours just when you need it. Get out walk down the streeet grab a starbucks or something. I also have to listen to music while I study which I guess makes me one of the lucky ones, I know alot of people who cant listen to music and study. Sometimes a new CD can really motivate my studying. Some of my personal favorites are Hannibal Soundtrack, Beautiful Mind Soundtrack, and I also listen to a lot of Trance, or (I know I am gonna get harrassed for this) ENYA
 
Here in college a popular method is the one where you do 20 min studying then 5-8 min breaks and continue
 
MGG wrote "Sometimes a new CD can really motivate my studying."

Me too. An amusing side-effect is that I come to associate certain albums with certain exams. Every time I hear a certain album I'm like "Ah, CFA level 1" or whatever. Weird.
 
DeadCat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MGG wrote "Sometimes a new CD can really motivate
> my studying."
>
> Me too. An amusing side-effect is that I come to
> associate certain albums with certain exams.
> Every time I hear a certain album I'm like "Ah,
> CFA level 1" or whatever. Weird.


Haha, I have the same thing, but with certain foods. I used to study for the LII at lunch and would eat pretty much the same thing everyday. Now anytime I smell it I think of pension accounting and afs vs htm investments.
 
Sunflower seeds and studying works for me...... also for the music people just baught a new Study CD yesterday.... "Greatest Movie themes" some great study music with scores from movies such as Lord or the rings, edward scissor hands, Platoon, etc....... Another one I listend to in the store was the soundtrack from "World Trade" which sounded pretty good as well...
 
I find that 'eye of the tiger' gets me mega pumped up for quants, whilst 'the ace of spades' gets me into the killer-rage that I need to tackle Derivatives. After 45mins of that I trash my desk and throw my stereo out of my window.

I then have a 15min break whilst I repair my stereo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, October 16, 2006 at 11:58AM by DeadCat.
 
Maybe this link will be useful for you:
http://www.analyst-exam.com/

Regards
Chris
 
DeadCat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find that 'eye of the tiger' gets me mega pumped
> up for quants, whilst 'the ace of spades' gets me
> into the killer-rage that I need to tackle
> Derivatives. After 45mins of that I trash my desk
> and throw my stereo out of my window.
>
> I then have a 15min break whilst I repair my
> stereo.


rofl DC rofl
 
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