Study habits->

sharptech

Question about studying..

When going though books do you guys take notes on each chapter? Or do you do something else that helps you learn the material etc..

I am taking notes from the 70-270 MS book and also doing the stuff hands on, taking a bit of time though..

just wanted to know how other people study etc. Thanks!

jpeezy55

I may not be the best person, but I usually just read through the book. I'll take a lot of practice exams and then re-read the parts that gave me trouble. I am now studying for 70-291 and as soon as I get my new machine built, I'll be able to run VMWare and get some scenarios set up to practice DNS, DHCP, RRAS, etc...

Hands-on is one of the best ways to grasp some of these concepts.

Also, to aid the reading, I have tried Test-Out and CBT Nuggets, not sure which I like better though...

eurotrash

I just read through and if I hit on something (other than theory) that I don't know, I do it on my computer.

sharptech

Thanks,

So far taking notes is taking a while- easier to go back and check what I need to.. I have never tried using the videos, I may check them out.

Hands on is no problem, I have all the resources available..

Thanks for the input.

Megadeth4168

I read through and highlight... Really the highlighting does not really do much for me except it does make me stop and think about what I just highlighted and why before I continue....

Other than that, I usually do very well on the rpactice tests but I do go back if I get some wrong on the rpactice test.... I go back if I get them right also.... Just depends on how uncertain I felt when answering the question.

One more thing I do is take as many practice tests I can... Any questions I get wrong I paste into a word document with the explaination of the correct answer.

A lot of times when I go back and review this later I say "I can't believe I got that one wrong before"! It seems to work for me.

Danman32

I pretty much read through a book, took the book's practice exams, find other free exams floating around (not ****!), doing some labs on key areas, etc.

If you have the discipline to take notes while reading, that is beneficial, as you learn through your tactile senses, not just your eyes.

I've found when I was studying for Physics in college that writing notes to study from achieve at least 50% of the studying I needed by itself, usually more. Then the remainder was memorizing my notes (usually formulas back then).

JDMurray

sharptech wrote:

When going though books do you guys take notes on each chapter? Or do you do something else that helps you learn the material etc..

First, I read though a chapter fairly quickly, just to get an idea of the information, and not to throughly memorize the material.

Next, I re-read the chapter slowly, high-lighting information that I think is important. The amount of highlighting per page gives me an idea of the "information density" of a particular chapter or book.

Lastly, I go back through the chapter again and make notes based on my previous high-lights.

After reading several books on cert material in this way, I merge all the notes, removing redundant material, and then study from those notes.

When studying material from audio/video sources, I simply take notes as I listen. Being a slow typist, I end up listening to the material several times before completing my notes.

I will also take notes from practice exams and check the information against my other sources.

sharptech

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Slowhand

It's kind of intimidating, in a way, listening to some of these responses. I do as I always did, be it high school, college, or any other studying. I watch the video courses offered by CBT Nuggets and TestOut as my primary source of information these days, because I've found they work really well for me. When I do read books, I use them as reference material, or I'll read a chapter on something I'm completely unfamiliar with. When I need to, I'll fall into repetition, going over the same material two or three times to make sure I read/watched it with a full attention span.

Taking notes. . . well, I used to try to hone my skills in that area, and I found myself getting worse and worse at it. I discovered, (after getting out of high school and finding the more hands-on friendly world of IT,) that I simply wasn't suited for writing notes on most things. Sure, there are times things are so complex I need to make myself some notes to remember what I was doing, or how to proceed, but for the most part, I read, I listen, and I do. For me, trying to pay attention and write down my thoughts, twice removed from an instructor or a book, leaves me not really following the material as well as if I simply focus on what's happening.

Of course, this is just what works for me. All the advice in this thread is excellent, and I'm probably going to end up giving each method a try at one point or another, but I'll more than likely end up going back to where I am now, since that is what fits me the best. I hope you find the material you need, and you find a good way to learn it. Good luck.