Strategies for learning topics that bore you?

[schmidt]

(It should be noted that I live in Sweden, if my terminology seems strange ask for the equivalent in UK/US terms, that's probably the best I can do).

Here's the deal:
I graduated (or not really but bear with me) from a 3 year gymnasium with 8 F(ailed) (out of a total of 27 courses). Now, to apply for higher education you need at least 90% of the grades above F.
Right now is there 5 courses left for me, meaning I have to take 3 more to be able to apply at all. The bad part is, the courses I have to take are (according to me) quite boring. History (A), Chemistry(A) and Math (C). I do enjoy math but I tend to procrastinate to much and the history course covers such a broad topic that you don't go into details (I love details and modern history).

So you the bottom line is, do you have any good tactics on how to learn and maybe even enjoy learning things that you usually see as boring, or just how can I make it efficient?

I work full time, but don't watch TV so I have a lot of free time.

Oh, and hi! Im quite new, but I've already found many interesting threads about different topics.

A big thanks if you actually read this far, even more if you answer.
/Schmidt

*Update slight modification, you DON'T go into details in the first history class.

[Sleeper]

See as boring......
Solution: Change perception, the mind can be tricked (should be easier for an intj), honestly it can

Study efficient
Solution: Build a system to somewhat cheat when studying (speed read articles than summarize into points than rereading them helps)

[coffeeloverfreak]

For me, I think it was the overachiever/fear of failure part of my personality that made me want to ace even the boring courses. Mind you, I tended to find the easiest courses boring. The ones that were tough, or a challenge, were most interesting to me, because it was so unusual for me to actually be challenged in school. (I spent most of the time wishing someone would please PLEASE challenge me, especially in grade school and high school). Even as a straight-A student, I was only proud of the As I earned in challenging courses; the ones I got in the boring courses were sort of "meh" to me.

That pattern has followed in my life. Sheer boredom drove me out of the "easy" low-stress jobs into the advertising world, with its insane deadlines, high amounts of stress, and intense pressure. I guess I've never really been happy taking the easy road.

All that to say that, for me, the mere threat of failure would have been motivation enough to pressure me to work harder to succeed. Even if the subject matter itself was boring, it was the challenge that I found interesting.

For you, it sounds like it's the opposite problem; the subjects you find boring are the ones you just slack off in until the result is failure. I know a lot of people - including some of my good friends - who are like that. The brain engages when a subject is interesting, and otherwise, stubbornly shuts down and refuses to be called into service.

Given that, I'm not sure if any of my tricks or tips would work for you. Just keep telling yourself that you're better than the material, and that you don't want to let boring subject matter stop you from achieving your goals, that's the best I can suggest.

[bubbles]

I know this is hard, but if you're not having a hard time with that subject, then you can trick yourself to become interested in it. It's not easy to do, but it works. I found that the more I force myself to read about a subject, the more interested I get in it. Motivate yourself to learn things that are boring by thinking that learning that subject will make you a better [insert your dream career]. Here are some reasons that might motivate you to get good grades - 1. to show other people that you're capable of doing so; 2. to fulfill a goal that you've set for yourself; 3. scholarship $$$$; 4. it's not going to be this bad forever. The last one in particular motivates me to work. I just want to get it over with so the future would be better.

[ShiroAqua]

A method I have for learning topics I don't want to learn is to pace myself appropriately. It's much easier to motivate myself when I think "I'm going going to study this particular subject for 15 minutes or 30 minutes a day." rather than for 2 to 4 hours a day.

As long as I keep on studying at it, little by little, I'll move forward, it'll just take a bit longer. Another thing is that as I keep on pacing myself, eventually it gets much easier to stick with for longer periods of time.

[blueback]

Maybe you could try doing all the boring learning and then find someone to talk to about it. The history course might not be in-depth but I guarantee if you make time to talk to the professor about it you will understand more and he will probably have an orgasm because so few students are interested enough in his course to track him down and ask questions. Besides, if you understand what a history teacher wants to hear you can write an A+ paper in 5 minutes. Chemistry could be sort of the same way. Talk to your instructor or someone that works in the chemistry lab and ask a bunch of questions about how stuff really works and maybe the history of how things were discovered, etc. You can even do the same thing with math. Track your instructor down and ask lots of questions to expand your understanding of the subject. Turn each subject into a game to see how much you can learn.

When you turn the subject into a sort of interactive story it makes it much more interesting.

[schmidt]

Maybe you could try doing all the boring learning and then find someone to talk to about it. The history course might not be in-depth but I guarantee if you make time to talk to the professor about it you will understand more and he will probably have an orgasm because so few students are interested enough in his course to track him down and ask questions. Besides, if you understand what a history teacher wants to hear you can write an A+ paper in 5 minutes. Chemistry could be sort of the same way. Talk to your instructor or someone that works in the chemistry lab and ask a bunch of questions about how stuff really works and maybe the history of how things were discovered, etc. You can even do the same thing with math. Track your instructor down and ask lots of questions to expand your understanding of the subject. Turn each subject into a game to see how much you can learn.

When you turn the subject into a sort of interactive story it makes it much more interesting.

Very true, I like to discuss topics (even those that bore me in theory). I'll do my best. Thanks.

[eternaltriangle]

I think no topic is boring, what is dull is the way that it is taught. For instance, you can teach mathematics as a conceptual thing, or as a series of little steps to solve a particular problem. You can teach math with real world examples, or simply with abstract theory. You can teach it using lots of graphs, or just equations.

Depending upon the choices your teachers have made, they will have lost half the class - possibly including you. If your visual IQ is higher than your verbal (or whatever, I don't really know the categories), try to figure out how you understand things. Do not listen to the stupid advice of my mother... my mother would always be like "write a list, with all the steps". However, I learn through pictures, and through concepts, not steps. Not all teachers will teach to that, but often you can find books that will help. I stumbled through high school math, but I still remember everything I learned, and am surviving in graduate level econometrics (and got a 780/800 on the quantitative section of the GRE).
I found it helpful to play around with things, and test them - to see how different ideas fit together.

Unfortunately, at least in America, the education system is getting narrower. Increasingly, teachers are females with arts degrees (eg. English and history). That teaching pool over-represents people with list-making tendencies. My advice is not to base what you do on what has worked for others in the past, but rather to figure out your own learning style. eg. are you right-brained, left-brained; visual vs. verbal.





eternaltriangle added to this post, 11 minutes and 27 seconds later...

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