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Resources - Study Strategies
 Did
You Know?
A study on memory revealed that most of our forgetting (50%) occurs
within the first 24 hours. There is a growth in the amount of material
that we remember when material is reviewed. To ensure memory retention
of material, review throughout the term. In this way, you won't find
yourself the week before exams trying to cram a lot of information,
you can focus on making connections between topics and synthesizing
material to anticipate exam. |
Study Problems
and Solutions
| 1.
“I don’t know where to begin.” |
Take
control. Make lists and break your workload into manageable chunks.
Prioritize! Schedule your time realistically. Don’t skip classes
near an exam; you may miss a review session. Use time in between classes
to review notes. Study an hour or two per day, and slowly build as
the exam approaches. |
| 2.
“I’ve got so much to study . . . and so little time.” |
Preview.
Survey your syllabus, reading material, and notes. Identify topics
your professor emphasized. Identify areas you still do not understand.
Previewing saves time by helping you organize ideas and focus on the
main topics. Remember, however, that previewing is not an effective
substitute for reading. |
| 3.
“This stuff is so dry, I can’t even stay awake reading
it.” |
Attack!
Get actively involved with the text as you read. Ask yourself, “What
is important to remember about this section?” Take notes or
underline key concepts. Discuss the material with others in your class.
Study together. Rather than reading passively and missing important
points, stay on the offensive, especially with material you don’t
find interesting. |
| 4.
“I read it. I understand it. But I just can’t get it to
sink in.” |
Elaborate.
As you are reading, supplement new information with your own examples.
Remembering new material is easier if you can link it to something
that’s already meaningful to you. Integrate what you’re
studying with information you already know. |
| 5.
“I guess I understand it.” |
Test
yourself. Make up questions about key sections in notes or readings.
Keep in mind what the professor has stressed in the course. Examine
the relationships between concepts and sections. Often, simply changing
section headings generates effective practice questions. For example,
a section entitled “Bystander Apathy” might be changed
into questions such as “What is bystander apathy?”, “What
causes bystander apathy?”, and “What are some examples
of bystander apathy?” |
| 6.
“There’s too much to remember!” |
Organize.
We recall information better if we place it in an organized framework
that makes retrieval more systematic. Here are some organizational
strategies:
Write chapter outlines or summaries; emphasize relationships between
sections.
Group information into categories or hierarchies.
Use information mapping. Draw up a matrix to organize and connect
material. For example, if you were trying to understand the causes
of World War I, you could make a chart. List all the major countries
involved across the top, and then list the important issues and events
down the side. Next, in the boxes in between, you could describe the
impact each issue had on each country. This technique helps you understand
these complex historical developments. |
| 7.
“I knew it a minute ago.” |
Review.
After reading a section, try to recall the information it contains.
Try answering the questions you made up for that section. If you cannot
recall enough, re-read portions you had trouble remembering. The more
time you spend studying, the more you tend to recall. Even after you
can perfectly recall information, further study makes the material
less likely to be forgotten entirely. In other words, you can’t
over-study. However, the process through which you organize and integrate
new information is still more important than how much time you spend
studying. |
| 8.
“But I like to study in bed.” |
Consider
context. Recall is better when your study context (physical location,
as well as mental, emotional, and physical state) is similar to the
test context. If you study in a setting that is similar to the test
setting, you are more likely to recall the studied material during
the test. |
| 9.
“Cramming before a test keeps the information fresh in my mind.” |
Plan
ahead. Start studying now and study regularly. About one week before
the exam, study for an hour or two a day, and then increase study
time as the exam approaches. Recall increases when you spread out
your study sessions. |
| 10.
“I’m going to stay up all night until I get this.” |
Avoid
mental exhaustion. Take short breaks often when studying. When you
take a study break, and just before you go to sleep at night, don’t
think about academics. Relax and unwind, mentally and physically.
Otherwise, your break won’t refresh you and you’ll find
yourself lying awake at night. It’s more important than ever
to take care of yourself before an exam. Eat well, sleep, and get
enough exercise. |
University of North Carolina, Counseling and Psychological Service. (n.d.).
Ten Traps of Studying. Retrieved April 14, 2004, from http://caps.unc.edu/TenTraps.html
Take
care of yourself
| Develop
a positive attitude; believe that you can manage the challenge of
exams. |
| Eat,
sleep, exercise, and relax adequately. |
| Avoid
excessive caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. |
| Schedule
your study time and place. |
| Plan
your day (or week) in advance - taking into account fixed commitments,
study activities, and optional activities. |
| Be
specific and realistic about what you can accomplish in a fixed amount
of time. |
| Plan
time for leisure activities. |
| Study
efficiently and effectively. Decide what are the important concepts
and study only them. |
Ensure
that you know what you are responsible for (Do you need to know the
textbook? the lecture notes? a combination? outside readings? charts?
graphs? formulae?) and then study only what is necessary.
Note how much time the instructor spent on each subject or unit and
allot study time accordingly (using your class notes, you may want
to create a timeline of subjects or units studied to graphically illustrate
the amount of time spent on each) |
| Study
difficult or uninteresting material first (preferably during daylight
hours) |
| Memorize
for short blocks of time only between classes; while you are waiting
for an appointment is an excellent time to review terms. |
Use mnemonics (memory-aiding devices)
For example, to remember the classification of living things in biology
use:
"Kings Play Cards On Fairly Good Soft Velvet." (Kingdom, Phylum,
Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety)
| Associate
new material with previously learned material. |
| Use
your own words. "Translate" lecture notes and textbook material
into tables, flow charts, hierarchical outlines, or concept maps. |
| Plan
regular breaks when studying for a long periods (10 minutes for every
hour of studying is a good rule of thumb). |
| Organize
study groups (having to explain concepts verbally to others helps
you to clarify them for yourself). |
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