I've passed my P&C the first time in NC. In NC they don't give a score, just pass or fail, which I heard was to prevent discrimination in hiring agents based on the score they received.
Here is what I've done that helped me when getting my degree. I've got a degree in biology so it's a little out there, but if it works for something that may be hard to understand/relate to in real life, I'd bet it helps with insurance law and products as well.
When reading material and making notes, on average many students read their notes approx 4-5 times for max retention. This is a long-winded study method but for people with the time it helps a lot of people out, including myself. I'll bet you my P&C license you will find some derivation of this idea somewhere online. The steps aren't concrete in the order and some might not apply depending on the subject and environment, but completing as many, if not all, of them is key to retention.
1st review- Look at the information just to put the words in your mind. Basically you are just washing the English over you. Read it and whatever you remember, you remember. Don't make a super big effort yet to understand it. This is mainly for right before a class or activity.
2nd review- Look over the information again a couple of hours later and make a brief 2-3 sentence summary for each section. These start off your notes.
3rd review- This would be a classroom environment or online/self-study activities. Obviously this might not apply to all students but here you would ask questions and get some of the key ideas down in class. Ask the instructor questions and participate in class. Take notes in class, which you add to the 2nd review.
4th review- almost immediately after class, end of the day, as soon as possible. Go over the notes here with the intent of retaining as many major ideas and details as possible. Also write down questions that are needed for clarification. Ask the instructor about them the next time you see them, or through an e-mail. As part of this, it might be helpful to draw an image like a flow-chart, a map, or something along those lines. This should be added into your notes. This is a major part of your notes, along with the 3rd review from class/activities.
5th review- This is 1-2 days before the exam. Go over all of the notes and see what you can recreate from memory. Test yourself with questions, definitions, explaining to others, etc. to apply this in different ways. Any holes in the notes or things you aren't sure on, go ahead and fill in with the textbook.
One of the things I have been seeing here is people doing 1-3 hours of studying the morning of the exam. I don't recommend it because you are mainly regurgitating information. Studies have shown that people who read something are able to tell you more about what they read from memory 1-2 days before than 20 mins before explaining. You are able to sleep, the neural networks have been updated in the mind, and the information is no longer being filtered in the short-term memory along with other stimuli. It's just scientific fact. And being a student, I can say that I can explain derivatives in calculus a lot better now (took the course 6 months ago) than I could when I was IN the damn class
. I've tried the all-nighters and for some things it works, but for some classes I can't get away with it.
Also, some people find that steps 3 and 4 are better off reversed. Again, the steps here aren't concrete. Try what you think is best for you.
Hope this helps. Some people can do it this way, others can't. A lot of med students do this to be successful in school but others believe they don't have the time based on the material presented in all the classes. It's a personal preference but I agree that not many people know how to study, they just try rote memorization.
Here is what I've done that helped me when getting my degree. I've got a degree in biology so it's a little out there, but if it works for something that may be hard to understand/relate to in real life, I'd bet it helps with insurance law and products as well.
When reading material and making notes, on average many students read their notes approx 4-5 times for max retention. This is a long-winded study method but for people with the time it helps a lot of people out, including myself. I'll bet you my P&C license you will find some derivation of this idea somewhere online. The steps aren't concrete in the order and some might not apply depending on the subject and environment, but completing as many, if not all, of them is key to retention.
1st review- Look at the information just to put the words in your mind. Basically you are just washing the English over you. Read it and whatever you remember, you remember. Don't make a super big effort yet to understand it. This is mainly for right before a class or activity.
2nd review- Look over the information again a couple of hours later and make a brief 2-3 sentence summary for each section. These start off your notes.
3rd review- This would be a classroom environment or online/self-study activities. Obviously this might not apply to all students but here you would ask questions and get some of the key ideas down in class. Ask the instructor questions and participate in class. Take notes in class, which you add to the 2nd review.
4th review- almost immediately after class, end of the day, as soon as possible. Go over the notes here with the intent of retaining as many major ideas and details as possible. Also write down questions that are needed for clarification. Ask the instructor about them the next time you see them, or through an e-mail. As part of this, it might be helpful to draw an image like a flow-chart, a map, or something along those lines. This should be added into your notes. This is a major part of your notes, along with the 3rd review from class/activities.
5th review- This is 1-2 days before the exam. Go over all of the notes and see what you can recreate from memory. Test yourself with questions, definitions, explaining to others, etc. to apply this in different ways. Any holes in the notes or things you aren't sure on, go ahead and fill in with the textbook.
One of the things I have been seeing here is people doing 1-3 hours of studying the morning of the exam. I don't recommend it because you are mainly regurgitating information. Studies have shown that people who read something are able to tell you more about what they read from memory 1-2 days before than 20 mins before explaining. You are able to sleep, the neural networks have been updated in the mind, and the information is no longer being filtered in the short-term memory along with other stimuli. It's just scientific fact. And being a student, I can say that I can explain derivatives in calculus a lot better now (took the course 6 months ago) than I could when I was IN the damn class
. I've tried the all-nighters and for some things it works, but for some classes I can't get away with it. Also, some people find that steps 3 and 4 are better off reversed. Again, the steps here aren't concrete. Try what you think is best for you.
Hope this helps. Some people can do it this way, others can't. A lot of med students do this to be successful in school but others believe they don't have the time based on the material presented in all the classes. It's a personal preference but I agree that not many people know how to study, they just try rote memorization.
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