I’m about to study for two IT certifications and I find it hard to study on my own. What are some practices and techniques you guys use?

  • Ben
    1•1 year ago

    When I studied to become a Radio Officer (Marine, not Navy) I joined a Radar Maintenance class with six guys from various parts of India.

    They added a new page to my ‘technique’. I visited them and saw all their notes plastered on their walls. They didn’t sit and revise - they walked around and stared at the walls… it was amazing.

    So first of all, we’d do a class - maybe a couple of hours - where I’d mark diagrams (using colours) and take notes (also using highlighters to mark important sections of printed notes).

    • After the class, during break, I’d spend the first five minutes just scanning over the whole class one time.

    • When I got home later, I’d go over it again for about 15 minutes and basically blu-tac them onto the walls. Then I’d scan across the older notes.

    Within a week of scanning them, I could basically scan from further away until I could remember most of what was on them without being close enough to read them.

    • Only tidy away what you know - but be sure you know it before you move it to longer term storage. I could basically recite the contents of an A4 sheet by just scanning down the headings at this stage.

    When I was sure I’d internalised a sheet, I could take it down and stick it in my folder.

    The hardest subjects are the most boring, and often least relevant, parts of the course. I think I must have put in 80% of my efforts into less than 10% of the actual coursework.

    • Flashcards are awesome. You should have them in your pocket - Question one side, Answer on the back. You should have them in your pocket always, in the toilet, on a bus, wherever you go. If you do just 5 minute sessions multiple times every day then you’ll know them all at the end of the week.

    As a testament to how well this worked, I remember learning hundreds of ‘Q’ codes. If you randomly throw one up at me, I’ll remember every detail…

    Stuff I remember learning iin 1984, like QRA - Q: What is the name of your vessel/station? or QRK for 'What is the readability of my signals?` with answers rated from 1 to 5.

    I never went to sea - so I never used this stuff after I finished College (Margarette Thatcher put the plug on that) but it’s all there.