study strategies

I joined the forums this month. Ive been around since september 9th (my first AP class)

so, back to the subject. does anyone have any good study tips???

Fold a sheet of paper in half, write all terms, names, and dates on one side and then go through all of them and see which ones you can answer. Write the answers for only the terms you don't know on the other side. No need to worry about the terms you do know, you already know them.Quiz yourself untill you know them all! This, with some outlines, and other things to help you grasp important concepts is a good mix.

just as everyone else had said already. NOTES man NOTES! Take those notes in a way that is most effective for you. You could also try and read it out loud. hope this helped.

Before I begin, I would like to tell those who have this as their first AP class, and possibly remind those who have taken AP classes before, that AP history classes focus more on they why and how than the when, although the when is important too. Most questions, as you have probably noticed, refer to time periods. My suggestion is to start making yourself a chart NOW that tells about trends in important time periods and what was going on. This will make studying for the AP test in May sooooooooooooo much easier. Trust me.

While all of the ideas mentioned above work for some people, there are some people that have problems looking at words on a page. My suggestion if you are still having trouble is to draw diagrams like flow charts, venn diagrams, etc. or even pictures to help you remember.

I find that one of the best ways to remember something though is to teach it to someone else. As strange as teaching something you don't know may sound, I have found this to work for me. Find a partner and take your book. Have your partner ask you questions and you can use the book to answer the questions. Reverse it too because you learn the most when you hear, read, AND teach something.

If you still aren't remembering something, I learned a new method at the end of last year. Some people have to be moving while they study to learn the most. While you study try walking around or even something small like bouncing your leg. The small things you can do in class to help you remember.

Another way is role playing. Like, for court cases get with a group and act it out. You may better understand it later and you will remember it better because your brain was most likely paying attention more actively than you had been.

If you still aren't getting some concepts, go check out a book. There are lots of good historical fiction novels that help you better understand how life was at those times. If you can't find one, make one up (or force a friend whose good at writing do it).

Yet another strategy is to make acronyms or senteces to remember things...think about how well you know the order of operations and binomial expansion (pemdas and foil). Sentences are fun too. They don't even have to make sense.
Example:
Penguins Eat Meals During Adult Swim.
or recently (this morning actually) I used
John asked out Sandra, but Anthony was her Suitor;Thomas went with Ginsberg and Bryer stayed home

Yes, I know, it's horribly stupid and corny but it helped me know the order of supreme court justices by seniority. (I was using this at a college too...)

You can also use flashcards. If those bore you, you can make them into cards to use for a game similar to trivial pursuit and play with all of your friends.

You could make your topic into a song...I know one for the quadratic formula that will NEVER leave.

For last minute cram sessions, you know the ones the night before the test, DO NOT pull an all-nighter. Study for a while then get at least a few hours of sleep. SLEEP IS ESSENTIAL. When you sleep your brain makes connections that help you remember. However, there are some people, like myself, who are good at remembering things without sleep. However, that skill took me years to perfect.

That's all I'm going to write for the moment. I'm sorry it's so long, but I hope that you find some way to learn. Everyone has a different learning type...learn yours and you're set for most classes. And by the way, my mom's a teacher which is why I know so many of these.