Let's say you prestudy on one occasion for 20 mintues and on another for 8 minutes (and that's basically all it takes!). And let's say one of the topics in that day's lecture is the 'captured regulatory agency.' This is the theory that the regulatory agency ends up promoting the interests of the industry it's supposed to be regulating. And, as the professor is bringing this up, you are already writing down the name of the person who first developed this theory, the name of the person who came back with the rebuttal that no it's not really that much of a problem, and the third response (probably by yet another person) that it is a medium problem.
So, you are going two tracks, you are listening to the professor, and at the same time you are writing down as fast as you can what you already know about the subject, almost as if it was a conference and you were preparing to speak after the professor, as if you are the professor's intellectual equal. And of course, in many, many ways and in ways that count the most, you are. Now, the professor has spent a lot of time on his or her subject, definitely has things to contribute, is not necessarily right about everything (he or she being a human being afterall), but even if not right about everything, definitely has things to contribute. But you, too, on the topics and aspects you have thought about, have things to contribute.
This is an anti-stupor strategy. You are not sitting in the class in a stupor. You are engaging the subject in an active way.
And first okay chance after the class, you can review your notes in a thoroughly casual and off-hand way circling what strikes you as most important. And that's basically it. Because you have prestudied, very little poststudying is necessary! You can casually review if you like, but you are ahead of the curve.
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I don't recommend this for high school because it is kind of showing off. Even in college, I recommend being low-key and matter-of-fact about it, although in college, enough people are going after good grades that the dynamic has changed.
Plus, in high school you have the boredom factor, whereas in college you can usually skip every other class if the professor is really terrible (please be careful with this). In high school, I generally recommend prestudying only math and science.
05 Aug 2010, 1:48 pm
