This Is How Lauren Studies For Art History:

I don’t think I have ever studied this hard. Or I just don’t remember it. I was given a study guide yesterday for an exam TOMORROW. So I’ve been studying all day long on my day off. The only food I’ve consumed is half a bog of conversation hearts (THANKS JESSGURRRLL) and some Dr. Pepper. Since I find unusual joy in making flashcards, I spent a good two hours making these. Forty four images, forty four artists, and forty four dates must be memorized by TONIGHT! I think I’m a visual learner so all of these are color coordinated by time period/chapter. One side has the image, and the other has the name, date, and artist. I actually need to know plenty more information, but that would take way too long to study and I’m betting I can just make up the rest!

My strategy going into this was to make groups of ten cards or so and memorize group by group. This seemed to work very well. So I line them up by date order and go through the line over and over and over and over and over until they are all memorized. This is working quite well. I just hope I still know it all by morning :/

When I was memorizing all this stuff, I was also thinking about my future. Why do I need to know “The Birth of the Virgin” by Lorenzetti was made in 1342, or Donatello’s “David” which was made in 1460? It just seems so useless. I mean, I don’t know why I am in college just yet so I’m just going with the flow. I don’t know why I need to take Art Survey I yet, but who knows, it could be useful someday, right? If not, knowing all these facts makes me feel pretty extraordinary! I also hope that I won’t be wasting any more time next year taking classes that feel useless.

2/22 PS. I got the exam back today and got a B-. Not bad considering the circumstances. Next time I’ll do the same thing.