How to Study a Subject You Hate

Hi everyone and happy new year! I really hope that you took the time to recharge those batteries so that you can start the new year on the right foot and also I really hope that you're not sick like me, raging fever right now, you can't even imagine. Now since I start my new semester next week and I am particularly not fond of one of the classes that I'm gonna have to take, math, I got inspired to create this video and yes my friends we are going to talk about how to study for a subject or a class that you hate. Tip number one, find the reason why. If you look deep enough you'd actually be surprised why you don't like a particular subject or a class. For example, you don't like the teacher because you have difficulty in it, because you failed it once and now you're scared to fail again or hey you might be jealous of your friend that does absolutely zero of the exercises or homework and he or she gets 96 while you still struggle to get a 60. You kids are magic, I don't know how you do it. Number two, rephrase your statement. Now after you found out why you aren't a particular fan of that class, phrase it in a way that you have a problem and that you can find a solution to that problem. You can say I have trouble understanding formulas, I have trouble memorizing dates if you don't like history. However, if your answer to the question why is simply I'm not interested in this and that's possible, here are a few ways that you can make it more easy to get going. To start with the basics, so tangibles. Invest in beautiful things, make them. It doesn't have to be something expensive, take a simple notebook and make it your own. Stay clean and organized. If from the get-go you're having trouble understanding material, you find it intimidating and heavy and confusing, don't overcomplicate your life and don't self-sabotage yourself by just not caring and keeping notes here and there. That's what I did with my algebra class and my calculus, it was a mess. My notebooks were disgusting so I never wanted to open them, I never wanted to study them and I got even more confused. Number four, start smart. I know this is going to sound a bit weird but the most difficult thing when you have to study for a class or for something that you don't like and you absolutely dread, the most difficult part is getting started. You know that expression beat around the bush? Well, this is the time to beat around the bush. So what I'm saying is that don't attack something that you hate full-on because, let's face it, you'll never do that because it's too much effort and you'll find it exhausting. So start by going at it but around it. So do something that doesn't require much effort, so rewrite your notes or just plan all the problems you have to do or just quickly look at the problems and underline some important things. Just the fact that you're starting with something small and something not directly in the bottom of the ocean but just like a tippy-toe in the water like me, you're gonna realize it ain't that bad and, you know what, I'm wet anyway so might as well jump in. Number five, gamify your study sessions. So if you have to study something that's very boring or very dry or something, like I said, you're just not interested in, try to make it fun and competitive. We are competitive by nature. Look up math games or chemistry games or finance games and make it like fun so when you're on the train or in the bus or in the metro, you can always practice something that you hate in a cool and entertaining way. Number six, holding hands with positivity. So I used to do this when I had very heavy math courses in high school and in CEGEP. I associated math with zen time. I absolutely looked forward to doing my math homework and the more problems the better because if I had 60 problems to do, I had like, I don't know, an hour or two of just me being alone, listening to my music, jamming, you know, that type of thing. And the last tip is called small efforts, big results. Now, I don't know about you but if I really, really don't like a class or a subject, I don't like studying for long periods of time or focusing for very long periods of time on that topic. I just can't. If you tell me, Anna, you have to study two days exclusively on physics, I'll be like, no. I used to force myself to do small problems every single day so that I avoid and completely, like, not even think about a binge study session for that class. Schedule five minutes, ten minutes to just read a little bit, do two problems every day, every here and there, play a little math game, you know, do some problems, review that, watch a YouTube channel or an anatomy, anything that will help you get closer to understanding the material in small bursts so it's less intimidating. To finish up, guys, please ask for help. When you're lost, when you hate a class, it's usually because you don't get it, you don't understand, you're lost, you're afraid to fail, you're afraid of it. So go out there, don't self-sabotage yourself. So that being said, thank you so much for watching, please don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you like it and subscribe to me if you like what you see because I post videos every Thursday and now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get some Advil and go back in bed and sleep because I'm burning. Not in a good way. Bye, guys!