I am finding it very hard to retain information I need to learn. I have a 900+ page book to study for an exam and I have gone through the first two chapters at least 4 times and taken the chapter review exams. I just cannot get it. It is very, very dense material (110 pages just in the first 2 chapters) and so much is covered in each chapter that by the time I get to the end, and the test, I can’t remember the first part of the chapter. I just read chapter 2 and immediately took the review rest, 20 questions, and I got 5 wrong and couldn’t even answer another 4 of them.

I’ve never had problems like this. I am not just reading, I write notes as I go, think of tricks to remember things but, it’s not working. I feel so defeated every time I do these two chapters again, and again, that I just want to give up.

Don't give up! As we get older our learning methods change, just like our metabolism changes...Now I read the material onto a digital recorder, make a cd and play it back in the car...for a short cut see if they have it in an audio format. However, reading it aloud is part of the audial tool for learning and remembering. For some people writing it verbatim works...I hope this helps. Good luck.

I've been studying a lot too (currently taking pharmacology - required to become a registered nurse).
One thing that sometimes helps if I'm not "getting it" is to rephrase your notes as a question.
Another thing is to go to the end of the chapter, read the questions & maybe take a few notes on the questions, then go back and read the sections of the chapter that pertain to that question and figure out the answer as you go.
It also helps to tell someone (even if it's the dog or cat - stuffed animal if you don't have real ones) about what you've just read. It sticks in your head longer if you try to explain it to someone else.
If it's a subject that you can sketch diagrams of, that might help too. I've had to draw pictures of kidneys, heart, etc and draw arrows pointing to what part of the body certain drugs effect and what they do ... increase or decrease heart rate, increase or decrease blood pressure, etc.
Removing distractions also helps (or turning off TV, computer) ... and here I am instead of studying! LOL!
Hope that helps. Don't give up, you'll "get" it. :thumbup:

I also have the book on my Kendall and I have had it read to me. It hasn't helped.

What is that supplement that is supposed to help with memory?

Maybe I should take one small section and do it over and over until I can't possibly (!) forget it.

ginko
i have adhd and didn't find out tll i was 34, what a relief it was when i found out, it's easier to deal w/whenyou know what's going on
good luck

You did not mention what the subject is -

What if you "just" read the next two or three chapters - if you have time - and then come back to the first ones.

Sometimes I need to know more before I "get" what the the first part was about.

(Okay, so I process bass-ackwards, sometimes.)

This was a trick I used when I went to nursing school. I would also set it to play as I went to sleep. Amazing how much it helps!

It's networking. Chapter 2 is about DoD (Department of Defense) and OSI modeling, what protocols are used at each of 11 layers, what each does and how it works, what ports are used for what process, the classes of IP addresses, what ranges for each class, etc. etc. etc. All in one chapter.

What if you think of it in the same way as building a complex quilt block?

Edited - great minds - look at the times of these last two posts!

Try Focus Factor, Ginko or even sucking on mints while studying. Make sure that the TV, stereo, etc. are all off and try reading out loud while visualizing what you're reading. I know the mint thing sound strange but get the strongest ones you can stand---like Altoid peppermints. The smell of mint has been proven to stimulate brain cells.

Sometimes the speed reading method helps when I'm not feeling engaged in the material. You don't have to read quickly. Just use the underlying format.

Before reading a chapter:
Read the test.
Read titles.
Read summaries.

Cover all highlighted elements before reading the chapter in a straight narrative fashion.

If you're still not engaged, take notes by hand, doodle in context, make a cheat sheet (that you won't use), or flash cards.

Always get up and move when you take a break. Exercise. Shower. Eat. Good luck.

What I did for the last hour is take the several tests at the end of chapter 1, over and over, until I got every answer right. Some are written exams, some are multiple choice. If I missed one I went back and read the relevant pages. I'll start on that with chapter two and when I get them all right, I'll also go back and do chapter 1 again.

And find some ginko or mint. :P

Doesn't sound like interesting material to learn!!!
I hope you catch on really soon!!!

My son is a computer network engineer and it comes easy to him. Visualizing what each section is talking about may help. Diagramming how one is related to the other ... and as others have suggested, relating those sections of info to sections of a quilt might help.

Gingko Biloba, foods with omega 3 fatty acids (like salmon) or an omega 3 fatty acid vitamin might help.

Sounds like you are making progress. Good luck to you. :wink:

I have been a telecom systems administrator for many years and I find that easy to learn new things on. I can create and route a number anywhere, anyhow, make it ring anywhere or several at once, send a caller to menus or call centers, if an office is closed due to snow, I can route their calls to another location, manage voicemail systems, I can even do wiring... I just don't do NETWORKING, as in routers and switches.

It's related but it's totally different in many ways.

Pam have you considered a study partner?? When I was getting my bachelor's in nursing we helped each other get through.
Good luck!

In my Social Psych class I learned that you have to read the material 4 times to get it right. First a general overview, then for content, then a reminder and the picking out bits. That's how I tackle the text. GOod luck and don't do too much in one sitting.

Wow!

Dumb questions - but I'll ask anyway -

Is networking the Hardware part of it?

So if it's hardware, how does wireless work?

If you can do wiring - is networking extended wiring?

(I apologize for these being simplistic )

At any rate, I wish you well with this endeavor.

Go ahead and skip to the next chapters. It will make more sense once you see how & why it's used and some of it you will never see again--particularly references to the OSI model--LOL!

Seriously! Sounds like you are studying for your Network + exam or possibly just the first step--the A+. Skip ahead--there will be very few if any questions about the "good old days" of networking on the exam. I'm from the good old days and there were very few of those type questions back then.

I think I am finding out that all this STUFF in the beginning is probably never going to be used again. I do WANT to learn it since I know from experience that when I really know how something works, then when it doesn't work I can usually tell right off why it isn't working.

Reading it 4 times seems to be what it is taking for me to get it down.

Pam, another thing I just remembered is to take frequent breaks to just breathe, walk around, chill out etc. It's amazing how much that helped me :)

I started a networking class once, found it unutterably boring, dropped it.

I would say read all of the chapters once without worrying about memorizing every fact. Just read to see what's there, what the context is, the flow of the information.

Then go back and instead of making notes, make a study guide. What are the 7 (or 11) layers, what goes in each one, etc. Do this for each chapter without worrying about mastering one before moving to the next.

Next round, you study. Get with someone in the class or a group of people to go over it. Maybe someone else has devised a system to help with the learning.

This sounds like the kind of densely detailed info it's hard to memorize unless you use it. So if you can find use cases to demonstrate the info or relate it to, you might do much better than just by reading alone. The Internet may have things like this.

Thank you for responding to my questions - even though I don't really understand the answers :oops:

But I'm glad there are people that do.

Try to spend no more than 2 hours reading or studying without a significant break. Your brain checks out after 2 hours. My butt checks out before that! Some brains check out earlier, but it's a rare brain that can take more than 2 hours straight. Even better - take a break every hour. And don't forget to eat!

This is why MOST college lecture courses are in ONE hour segments - the lecturers want you paying attention. High school classes are even shorter, because teen-agers have a shorter attention span.

You don't say when you have to take the exam so I don't know your time constraints. Whoever said it takes 4 times to get something is right on the money! I think of the first pass as establishing a rudimentary path thru your brain. Each subsequent path reinforces that path and, the breaks between each pass allows the information to ruminate in your brain. :-)

Maybe you're trying to hard?? Try to relax a little. Sounds like your anticipation of taking the exam is causing undo stress. Good luck~~!

Networking is a specialized field within IT so it is both hardware & software but more on the hardware side I would say. How to build, merge, extend networks and then you go on to managing and security for networks.

Back in the good old days, there were different types of networks & the topology was different for some. You don't see any token ring, 10BaseT, or even IPX any more. We had to know all that crap back then. Now it's all ethernet using TCP/IP 90% of the time.

What is it that you don't understand about wireless? It works just like wired for the most part only it send the signals over the air instead of through the wire on a specific frequency at a specific speed (a-b-g-n)

Then you have wi-max which works basically the same but is on a cellular phone frequency so it can reach for miles instead of feet.

Oh, and I always heard that it takes repeating something 7 times to memorize it. That might be true for the boring stuff. The interesting stuff comes a lot easier!

BTW--There is an acronym for memorizing the OSI layers. I can't remember it exactly now (it's been 15 years ago) but it has something to do with geeks & pizza. Give me the answer again and I can probably figure it out. Something like All Geeks Like Pizza Some Times or similar.