How Are Your Study Skills?

What is the best way to know what will be on a test or exam?

• Ask your teacher... but don't accept generalities ("chapter 6"). Instead ask about specific concepts, ideas, or sections of the texts you will need to know.

• Check your notes for the big ideas your teacher wrote on the board in class.

• Ask someone who took the course in a previous year.

• Assume you know already, because you were paying attention in class.

Why is it a good idea to do homework (or review what you learned in class) the very same afternoon you took the class instead of the next day or later in the week?

• If you discover you didn't actually understand something, this gives you extra time to ask clarifying questions before the assignment is due.

• Studies about memory and learning show that information "sticks" in the brain better if reviewed within 4-6 hours of initially encountering new concepts/ideas.

• To get it over with.

Which is a more effective way to do better on a test?

• Take a practice test

• Study more

Answer explanation

_{Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255.}

True or False: caffeine is helpful to keeping one focused while studying

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Moderate levels of caffeine can help with maintaining attention and focus... but caffeine can also negatively effect sleep, become addictive, and raise levels of anxiety. Sleep, in particular, is vital to brain health and memory performance. So use caffeine with caution!

True or False: The parts of the brain that control memory and thinking are smaller in people who regularly exercise.

• True

• False

What are examples of "active" reviewing?

• Re-reading your notes

• Using flashcards to test your knowledge/recall

• Making your own flashcards

• Watching a video about the concepts that will be on the test

• Creating a graphic organizer of the inter-relatedness of the concepts you're learning

Answer explanation

Did you answer "using flashcards"? Flashcard self-testing is good strategy for reviewing... but it's not engaging your brain in the active way that MAKING the flashcards would.

What is the most effective way to study with others?

• Take turns explaining concepts to each other.

• Read each others' notes

• Study individually within a group; when you have questions, you can then ask others what they think.

• Use a set of flashcards, to "test" each other's knowledge.

Answer explanation

When you teach or explain something to someone else, you have to really know it. Teaching to someone else who already knows the material will help you check that you do, indeed know of what you are speaking.

Which of the following is NOT a useful study strategy?

• Space out your studying, so you do a little at a time and revisit content regularly.

• Find a way to elaborate upon, make additional connections, or come up with your own concrete examples about what you're learning.

• Simply reading your notes.

• Find (or create) different modes in which to review the information: e.g. visuals, videos, audio, songs, etc. instead of merely reading/re-reading.

• Prioritize sleep the night before, and eating a good breakfast the day of.

Retrieval practices are ways to bring what you learned back into the active learning center of your brain, to reinforce synapse connections and "solidify" your learning for longer term retention. Which of the following are the most effective retrieval practices?

• Organizing your understanding visually

• Drawing diagrams to explain it

• listening to a recorded lecture

• Writing about it

• Answering questions

True or False: Once you get focused during a study session, you should simply keep the concentration steadily and not take any breaks.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Your brain needs both focused and diffused time. Many people find using the Pomodoro cyle useful: 25 minutes of concentrating, broken up by 5 minute breaks, with a longer break after 2 hours.

Warning: this is totally different from allowing your focused periods to be interrupted by distractions.