How to Study Blog » How to Study

What Your Instructor Wants to See on Your Exam

Brian — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:49:27 +0000

It sounds like such an easy question: ”What does your instructor or teacher want to see from you on your test paper?” And the easy answer: ”He wants to see the right answers.”

However, it’s a bit more complicated than that. What an instructor really wants is to see that you are grasping the material and making an attempt to get as much as possible from the course. That’s it in the proverbial nutshell. More specifically, here are 14 things that you can show your instructor in order to truly impress him when you turn in your exam paper.

If you are taking an Entrance Test like the AFQT, HSPT, ISEE, or SSAT, then you are a little at a disadvantage. Research the test thoroughly online and you will be surprised how much information you can come up with.

1) Show your instructor that you recognize and comprehend key concepts from the course. Sure, you can get that “A” by just answering the right questions. But showing your teacher that you understand what he has been teaching will make him more likely to help you in the future, and to give you the benefit of a doubt when a grade is in question. So especially on essay portions, do your best to explains in such a way that demonstrate that you have a true understanding of the course, and that you’re not just regurgitating word-for-word what the book said.

2) Show him that you have neat handwriting and an organized presentation. No, it’s not essential that your paper look good when you turn in your test. However, it does make a good impression. Perhaps more importantly, when the paper is neat, it’s easier for the instructor to grade it. And when the paper is neat and easy to read, there’s less chance of the instructor marking something wrong that should be marked right.

3) Show all work. This is especially true when it’s a math exam. Even if you can figure out the answer in your head, unless it’s a timed exam, you should show your work. There are two good reasons for this. First, as we’ve already mentioned, it’s smart to make a good impression on the teacher, and to show that you truly grasp the material. On a more practical level, though, it also proves conclusively that you’re not cheating on the test–that the test you’re turning in is really your own.

4) Show him a paper that is free of personal bias and that sticks to fact. This is, of course, unless the question specifically asks for your opinion. Too many people, on a test that should be all fact, insert lots of opinion, especially into essay portions. They do this, often, to try to take the instructors’ focus off the fact that the student doesn’t know the facts of the course. This strategy almost never works.

5) Show him good vocabulary. Most teachers are suckers for a student who uses an uncommon word in the correct way, when it’s exactly the right word for the circumstance. It shows intelligence and that you’re somebody who is genuinely learning.

6) On the other hand, show him that you’re not into overly-flowery language. Using good vocabulary is one thing. Throwing in one difficult word after another, though, in order to sound more intelligent than you are comes across as fake. And it does not make a good impression. Remember: When it comes to using uncommon vocabulary words on an exam, moderation is the key. Use a few good words, but otherwise, use words that you would use in your everyday speech.

7) Use quotes when appropriate. Here’s a trick that impresses almost every instructor, and adds something substantive to your exam essay portion. Memorize an exact quote that someone said pertaining to whatever you’ve recently studied in that class. Then look for a place to incorporate that quote in a long-answer or essay portion of the exam. For instance, if you’ve been studying about slavery, you might memorize a portion of the Emancipation Proclamation, and find some way to incorporate it into the test. This is a tactic that shows that you know more than just how to recite word-for-word the answers from the book, but that you truly understand how the persons associated with the material felt about it.

Similarly, use statistics when appropriate. Memorize some appropriate stats that pertain to the chapter that you’re testing on, and when you find the right opportunity, cite those stats, to really show the instructor that you know the material.

9) Proofread your work before you turn in your paper. While most of our suggestions here have pertained to making a good impression in the instructor, it’s also important that you not make a bad impression. For instance, papers that are filled with spelling or grammatical errors will not look good with most teachers. So make sure you re-read your paper before you turn it in, and correct any blatant errors in spelling or grammar that you see.

10) Follow the directions that are on the test. It’s amazing how many students know the material that’s on the test, but they irritate the instructor by not following the directions given on the test paper. For instance, maybe the directions say to circle the correct answer, and the careless student underlines it. Or the directions state that it’s a “True or False” section and the student answers “Yes or No.” Not good–and not something that will have your instructor feeling good about you as a careful student.

11) Finally, remember when you take a test that timing is important. Some students rush through the exam, because they have to be the first person to finish. They think that it’s a competition, and that the first person who finishes wins. However, this often communicates to the instructor that you were in a hurry and that you were likely careless in taking the test. On the other hand, waiting until you’re the very last person to finish the test sends a subtle message that you were unsure of yourself. Try to be somewhere in the middle when you hand in your completed exam. If you get done too much before everyone else, use that extra time to thoroughly proofread the test and check your answers.

These 11 suggestions will set you apart above others in your class. They will turn your test into a tool that links you with your instructor, and puts him in your corner.

Yes, You Really Can Study Math

Brian — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:39:10 +0000

It’s a popular misconception that you can’t really study for math. People who say you can’t will admit that you can do math assignments and math homework. But actually studying it–looking at material in order to better on tests and upcoming assignments–that, they say, is impossible.

They’re wrong. It’s true that studying math is different from studying any other class. After all, math is about more than just remembering certain facts. But it is something that you can study for–and studying will get you better grades, just as in any other course.

Think of it like sports. It’s true that you can’t get good at basketball by memorizing facts, like you can in a science class. But you can get good by combining learning with a schedule of continuing practice. This is the way study for a math class or test works. You study by learning the facts–and then spending hours trying to work problems for yourself, learning the methods and formulas that you’ve been studying.

On average, with most class tests or classes, you should put in two hours of your personal time for every hour that you meet in your math class. Research has shown that what differentiates the good math student from the bad is not how willing they are to practice the principles they’ve learned, but how willing they are to do it, whether they like it or not. Again, that’s as true of math as it is of sports. If you are preparing for an exam like the AFQT, HSPT or SSAT, you will need to put in more time.

Here are some other tips that you should keep in mind:

1) Review right after class. Getting math facts that you’ve just newly learned into your long-term memory is tough. Immediate review, I.e., studying right after you’ve been exposed to the new fact, is more effective than if you review it a day or two or more later. This is one reason that it’s smart to do your homework and related review activities immediately after your class, or no more than a few hours later. It helps you remember things better.

2) Don’t try to multitask while studying math. This might work while you’re reading for a history or science course, but it rarely works for math. To truly master new formulas and principles, your brain has to be fully engaged in the math that’s in front of you. This means no talking on the phone, no watching TV, and no listening to anything except soft background music.

3) Follow this formula while learning math: Read it, recite it, do it with notes, do it without notes. Let’s examine that a bit closer. First, read the new math concept that you’re learning–let’s say division by negative numbers. Next, recite it. Pretend like you’re a teacher, trying to explain to students how to divide by negative numbers. How would you explain it. Keep reviewing the material until you’re able to explain it without referring to your notes. Third, DO some problems, while looking at notes. Usually your notes will explain a step-by-step process, so follow this process closely as you work on a few division-of-negative-numbers problems. And finally, after you’re doing these with confidence, give up the notes and try them on your own.

4) Finally, as with any other studying, take frequent breaks. If math is not your subject, you might need more or more frequent breaks than with other classes–because math can really tax your mental faculties. So don’t stress yourself. Study at comfortable intervals, and then relax for a few minutes, and then start again.

This method will show you that, not only can you study for math courses and tests, but you can study in such a way that your grade will benefit.

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Acing Classes with Little or No Study

Brian — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:11:54 +0000

You’ve probably known people, either in high school or college, who seemed able to pass any class–even make A’s–with little or no study. It wasn’t necessarily your imagination, either. It’s a fact that people learn differently, and some people manage to absorb material without “study” in the traditional sense. That is, they might have other ways of learning the material rather than pulling out their notes and textbook and trying to memorize it.

Why Do Some Students Learn So Quickly?

So what is their secret? Why do these rare individuals manage to learn with so little effort and time? Usually, these people share the same rapid-learning strategy. It just might be that you can master this strategy too. It’s a method almost the opposite of rote memorization, the method that most other people use for studying.

Rote memorization is based on the idea that looking at material long enough and enough times will finally store the information inside the brain. The rapid learner’s strategy is different. He or she stores information by linking together ideas. They don’t rely on repetition; they rely on connections. Through these connections is created a web of understanding and knowledge that will succeed, even if they forget one part of it.

Let’s use a simple method for illustration. If you have a list of 12 items that you need to memorize, you can either go the traditional route of reading and re-reading it until you remember it–or you can try building connections. Assign each number from 1 to 12 a word that rhymes with it: “sun” for one, “shoe” for 2, “tree” for three and so on. Then assign each item that corresponds to that number a picture with the item on it that you just created. In other words, let’s say that your list is a list of types of extreme weather. If on your list, you have to remember that #2 is a tornado, you’ve already given 2 the rhyming word of “shoe.” By picturing in your head a tornado of shoes–a spinning vortex of nothing but Nikes and boots–you’ve made your connection. Now immediately, when you go to make your list when you come to “2,” you’ll think “shoe” and see that tornado. Then you’ll remember r that the answer is “tornado.” That’s what we mean by making connections–and it can be done instantly instead of spending a half hour remembering your list.

Here are some other tactics you can use for making connections that will help you remember material for your class:

1) Analogy and Metaphor. Create a different metaphor for each idea. For instance, functions on a computer can be likened to pencil sharpeners, or calculus methods can be equated with the speedometer or odometer on your car.

2. Visceralization. The goal with this tactic is to take an abstract concept that you need to learn and urn it into something tangible. You don’t just imagine a picture, but you integrate sounds, feelings, smells, and textures. For instance, if you’re trying to master the Pythagorean Theorum (which allows you to figure out the measurements on an triangle that has one right angle), put yourself in a situation where a ladder and a wall form the right triangle. You would feel the ladder and the wall and see yourself doing the measurements with a tape measure.

3) The Kindergartener Method This one simply says that you have to explain the difficult concepts in your class to a kindergartener Practice explaining it. This process of explanation forces a person to link ideas together until he himself has mastered them.

4) Mind-mapping. This has become a popular way of retaining information. Through this method, you start with a main idea and brainstorm the next logical connection. For each of those connections, you brainstorm the next logical connections, and so on. So imagine this: What if, instead of having 20 pages of notes, you had a diagram showing how one idea in your chapter is linked to the next and to the next, and so on?

5) Storytelling. This is a creative way of linking one thing you’re learning with the next In your mind, create a story that involves these elements in their necessary order. Then practice telling the story.

These linking methods, once you master them, will have you spending less time studying, and more time truly committing the material to your memory.

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The Study Guide Exchange: Great Group Study Method

Brian — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:14:47 +0000

Sometimes group study can be a productive thing, and sometimes, not so much. Group study becomes less than productive when your study sessions turn into occasions for friends to get together to have a good time and share gossip. Often, there’s little actual study that goes on during these sessions. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. With a little planning and hard work, your study group can really help each other master your course material. One of the best ways of doing this is through what’s called the Study Guide Exchange.

The Study Guide Exchange means this: Each of you in your study group (an ideal number is 4 to 6) is responsible for creating a study guide for the class chapter or unit, based on your own notes. That is, you should put your notes into a logically-flowing order and type it out in such a way that it can teach OTHER people what you’ve studied during the past few weeks. After each of you has produced your study guide, you then make copies and share these with the other members of the group. Let’s look in more detail at the steps involved in your Study Guide Exchange.

1) First, be sure that you have what’s necessary to make your study guide. This means your class notes and textbook, computer, and computer paper.

2) Decide which subject you’re creating the guide for. Most likely, this will be the class that your entire group shares.

3) Now study your textbook and lecture notes, highlighting all key points that you think you’ll need to understand for the test. This is an important step, because each of you might have slightly different views of what is and isn’t important. That’s what makes this idea so powerful: You’re pulling in four or five different ideas about what you should learn.

4) Try to keep your study guide to 8 to 10 pages. More than that, when you consider that everyone will be reading three or four or five of these, will be overwhelming.

5) Emphasize important points through the use of bold-faced or different colored fonts.

6) Throughout the guide, after you go over a couple of important points, include questions with blanks after them. Then in the back of the study guide, have an answer page, so that everyone can check their answers.

7) While you’re working on the answer page, double check to be sure that all of your answers can be found by the others without too much of a strain.

To distribute these, you can do one of two things: Either print out enough for everyone, or just get everyone’s email address and email it to them. Make sure that they have the program that they need to open the file (Word format, or .doc,, is a standard that most people should have, but make sure before you email them). Either way, everyone will wind up printing one copy.

Theoretically, you can all now study each other’s study guides individually, but feel free to get together as a group and quiz each other on them as well.

As mentioned earlier, this idea works better when you don’t have too many people in your study group. You can imagine how overwhelming it would be if you have 10 friends in the group, all creating their own 10 page study guide. This would be a 100 page study guide for each unit in your class, and that’s a bit much for any student to digest. Keep it to a small group, though, and this method will benefit the class grade for anyone who truly studies the guides.

Should You Be a Coffee Shop Studier?

Brian — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:07:42 +0000

You’ve seen them, you’ve talked to them–but are you one of them? I’m talking about those people at the local coffee shop, who have their laptop computers and perhaps a textbook or two, along with their notebook and pen. I’m talking about the coffee shop studier. This is the person who, rather than going to the library or staying at home or in the dorm, they head to Starbucks or some other coffee shop to fill their brain with the material from their classes.

Studying at coffee houses is all the rage these days. But is it smart?

Let’s look at the main reasons why people take their studies to the coffee house, and then offer our own pros and cons for the practice. If you ask students why they’re studying there at Starbucks, they’ll usually tell you one of the following:

It’s a quiet, calm environment, similar to what you’d find at a library.But at a library, you’ll sometimes run into friends and spend time visiting with them. That happens less often at a coffee shop.
For some people, a drink and a snack help them with the study process, and they’re readily available at a coffee shop. Again, this isn’t usually the case at the library (although some libraries are now experimenting with offering beverages).
Speaking of beverages, studying and caffeine go together like peanut butter and jelly. And you can’t find a better source of caffeine than your local coffee house.
If you WANT to study with friends, it’s easier to do so at a coffee house than at the library, because there are usually couches for groups, and there’s no librarian “shushing” you when you start talking.
And finally, more and more coffee houses have outside sitting–perfect for when the weather is nice and you’d prefer to be studying outside.

Some of these reasons are legitimate reasons, others not so much. Here’s our viewpoint of the best reasons you should consider studying at a coffee house, as well as a list of people who should not do so.

2. However, libraries usually limit the amount of time you can be on the Internet. Generally, coffee houses do not, so if you need more online time, the coffee shop is the better choice.

3. On the other hand, if you need an all-day study session, the folks at the library are less likely to mind you staying around without paying than the people at Starbucks. So if you can’t afford to keep buying items but need to study all day, a library is a better choice than a coffee shop.

4. Finally, if you need absolute silence, go to the library. If you need more freedom to talk to people, such as your “study buddies,” a coffee house works better.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of your coffee-house study sessions:

Go at times when it’s not likely to be as busy. It’s no fun getting there at the breakfast or lunch rush only to find that there’s no table available.
If you’re with a group, head for the couch, if they have one. You can squeeze more of your friends there than at one of those tiny tables. Plus it’s more comfortable for those long study sessions.
Don’t spend any more time on the Internet than necessary. It’s too easy to be distracted by email, instant messages, and random surfing. First, do as much study without the Internet as possible, saving the online work for last.
Finally, remember to buy something at least every couple of hours. This way, the staff who work there won’t get irritated that you’re taking up space, and you won’t be made to feel awkward.

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Making Time in Your Schedule for Study

Brian — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:20:03 +0000

Sometimes the busy student finds it hard to find time to study for his classes. Oh, it’s not that you don’t want to study. But between family stuff and extracurricular activities and maybe even a part-time job–how do you find the time? By having a plan, that’s how. Here are some suggestions that will help you to find time :

1. Set your priorities, and put them in writing. If you don’t have a concrete reminder that studying takes precedent over things like going to the mall or the movies, then something will always crowd out study time. You should live your life off a “to do” list, with all of your important week’s tasks listed on it. And studying should always be one of the top items.

2. Delegate some chores to someone else. If you look at your schedule this week and think that there’s no time for studying, because you have laundry to do on Monday, grocery shopping on Tuesday, someone to take to the doctor on Wednesday, and so on, then see if you can find someone else to do one or two of those chores. Pay them if you have to. Remember, your “to do” list is the most important, and studying should be one of the most important items on that list.

3. Study with a classmate. Sometimes when you just have no motivation to study, you’ll find excuses why you can’t. However, when you have someone else who is scheduled to study with you, you’ll suddenly find that you’re able to squeeze studying into your schedule after all.

4. Take your material with you. You’ll be amazed at how many times you can study for a few minutes, if you’ll just look for the opportunity. For instance, riding on the bus, sitting in a waiting room, waiting in the car while someone finishes their shopping, etc.

5. Make an “audio book” of the materials that you’ve been studying. That is, perhaps you can just tape yourself reading the textbook or your class notes. Then, as you’re doing other things, listen to the tape in the background.

6. Pay attention in class! It’s amazing how much of the material for a test that you can grasp if you just pay attention, and take good notes. In some cases, this could literally cut your study time in half.

7. Finally, don’t forget to take time to relax. This is actually important for your school performance. People who constantly work are in danger of burning out. You need some free time to keep your mind refreshed and to ensure that you do your best on your school work.

There’s no way to completely eliminate the need to spend quality time studying. And there’s no denying that how much time you study often reflects in your grade. However, if you follow these suggestions, you can be more efficient with your study time–and hopefully find that you have time for your course work after all!

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Making a Winning Study Plan

Brian — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:52:47 +0000

Most students will agree that the hardest part of any course is the out-of-class studying. Usually there’s so much to study that people start to procrastinate, putting of their studying until the last possible moment. Then, after cramming all night for a test, students arrive at class feeling tired and dazed by how much information they tried to remember. The easiest way to avoid this problem: Make a study plan.

A study plan should be put down on paper, so you can refer to it, and you that you feel committed to it. On the study plan, you’ll list the following:

• Days and times when you’ll be doing your studying. This should be considered your number one priority for the week, and therefore, you should not alter it without good reason.
• For each day and time, list whether you’ll be studying by yourself or with a group. This is an important factor, because if you’re in a group, it will change where you study, what times are available, and other parts of the plan. Remember: The needs of the others in the group are as important as your own needs. More on Studying with Groups
• How much time you plan to study for each course. This is different from the “dates and times” section above, although one will determine the other. If you decide that on Thursday, you will be studying by yourself from 6 to 9 p.m., you still need to decide which courses you’ll study for, and how much time to allot to each course. If you’re limited on how much time you can study, then give priority first to the subject where you have a test soon. Give second priority to courses where you’re struggling the most. Other courses go third and fourth.
• What you’ll be studying. This doesn’t mean what subject; that’s already been determined. But rather, if you’ve decided that you’ll be studying biology on Thursday, then you should include in your plan what materials you’ll be studying. Is there material in the textbook that you feel you need to review? Maybe you feel like studying your class notes will be good enough. Or maybe this course is one where you need to get a book from the library and study from it. Include this in your plan, so you’ll be ready to go at the right time. If you are studying for a test like the Nelson Denny, you will need to practice reading comprehension. There are also two primary ways that you can study; it’s up to you to decide which will be better in your circumstances. The first way is to study in chronological order (The order in which it was presented in class). The second way is to study the most important information, working your way down to the less important information.

Your study plan will not look like anyone else’s; they’re as unique as the students who make them. There’s one thing that all study plans will have in common, though: They always take into consideration the student’s schedule, the amount of material that he must study, and the circumstances and times that allow him to study best.

More on Making a Study Plan from Cornell (PDF)

Snacking When You Study

Brian — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:08:25 +0000

Ahhh, the late night study session. It’s challenging, it’s aggravating, with friends it can be fun, it’s important. It’s so many crazy emotions rolled into one. It’s also a time when you often just have to have a snack. Seriously, it’s not just fun to snack when you’re studying with friends, it’s actually a good idea. It’s easier to stay alert if you have a little something in you. Conversely, it’ll interfere with your ability to concentrate if you’re thinking about how hungry you are. However, it’s important that you eat and drink the right things during your midnight study sessions.

Here are some tips:

1) Keep plenty of cold fruit or cut-up, fresh vegetables on hand. This is actually the ideal snack. They’re good for you and they’re delicious. When you crave something sweet, go for the fruit. The sugar content will give you a little extra energy.

Among the best fruits to eat while studying are apples. They’re easy to eat, not all that messy, and they don’t go bad quickly.

Sometimes though, you don’t feel like sweets. That’s when you go for the fresh veggies like sliced cucumbers, celery, carrots, and so on. Get some dip and they’re delicious! You might also consider having some bagged salad on hand. It’s fast and appetizing to whip up a quick salad.

2) Resist the Ramen! Ramen noodles are especially popular among college students. However, you should never eat them late at night. Ramen noodles are high in sodium. In addition, they are loaded with MSG that might wind up keeping you awake later than you wanted. And that might mean missing your class the next morning. So avoid the Ramen noodles. In fact, ideally, you should stay away from any high-sodium snacks.

3) Keep away from caffeine. This might seem counter-intuitive. After all, many times when you’re staying up late to study, you feel like you need a cup of coffee to help you stay alert. The problem is that caffeine at this late hour often makes it difficult to fall asleep. Sometimes you might be tossing and turning for hours, thanks to that late night brew. And again, this puts you at risk of missing the very class that you studied for.

4) Starch it up! We sometimes think of starchy foods as not a good snack, but they’re actually good when you need to stay up late studying. Snacks like Triscuits or breakfast cereals (low-sugar, please) are good choices. They’re fairly healthy, they fill you up enough to concentrate on your work, and they won’t keep you up later than you want to be up.

5) Avoid having too many drinks. It’s so much the content of the drinks, it’s just that if you drink too many, you’ll be making many trips to the bathroom. That, in turn, takes away from time that you should be studying.

So go ahead: Have that snack when you need to spend a few hours studying with the gang. Just be careful about what you eat and drink.

Pros and Cons of Studying with a Computer

Brian — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:58:41 +0000

The question of whether a computer can help students in high school or college was settled long ago. It’s nearly impossible to find a student who doesn’t use a PC to help him type papers or look up things in encyclopedias. But what about major study sessions? The traditional form of studying has consisted mostly of pulling out your textbook and class notes and sitting at your desk or on your bed and trying to memorize as much as possible.

The dawn of the computer age, though, changes things up a bit. Now there are increasingly more ways to enhance your study sessions with the computer and especially with the Internet. But do computers help or hinder your study time? The answer might be: a little of both. Here are some ways that computers might be a boost to your grade–and a few ways that they might actually detract from your study time.
How Computers Boost Your Study Time
Honestly, there are more ways that computers can assist you with study than ways that they detract from it. For starters:

• Computers help you stay organized. In the old days, college students kept papers in their desk, in folders, in shoeboxes, and anything else they could find. Pencils and pens were lying everywhere, and five, six or a dozen books were laying all over the place. The modern student, thanks to computers, can be far more organized. Creating a separate file for each of your classes is as simple as creating a desktop icon. All of your research can be copied and pasted into that folder. Most printers now also scan, so you can even scan your class notes into the computer and place them into the appropriate folder. Want to be even more organized? Consider going to www.zoho.com, where you can create a notebook for each of your classes, and also have an online word processor to help with your assignments. All of that, plus there’s an online “to do list,” to help you be even more organized.

• Some students start taking their notes directly on their computers rather than on a regular paper notebook. This makes keeping notes much faster, especially if you type fast enough. Plus it keeps your notes together with all of your Internet research on the subject. Suggestion: If you want to use a computer to take notes, consider getting a netbook. They’re far more portable and easier to carry with you from class to class. Or if you can afford it, you might buy a tablet PC (either an iPad or other). These allow you to type on a virtual keyboard, thus eliminating almost all typing noise.

• Increasingly, there are advanced programs that enhance your study experience. For instance, there are programs specifically designed to create flow charts, and others that create easy-to-follow outlines. Some programs help you make diagrams and charts. Best of all: Many of these programs can be downloaded for free. Just go to www.download.com and type in the appropriate keywords.

How Computers Might Detract From Your Study Time

There are a few precautions you should consider when using a computer for your study sessions. For instance:

• Typing your notes in class could prove disastrous if you’re a slow typist. You’ll find yourself panicking, trying to keep up, and probably missing out on a lot. Not to mention that if you have a noisy keyboard, you risk irritating your fellow students and the instructor. Suggestion: Only type in class if you type fast and if you know your keyboard is fairly quiet.

• One of the biggest drawbacks is that there are a multitude of distractions on the computer. When studying at the PC, you’re risking being interrupted by countless instant messages, Facebook notifications, e-mails, etc.

Bottom line: Computers make great study aids, if you’re disciplined enough to ignore the distractions and if you’re skilled enough to operate it as required.

Why Study Study Skills?

Brian — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:42:56 +0000

As a student, your time is already limited. Maybe you already have a full class schedule, and in addition, you have to spend several hours a day to study for each course. So who’s got time to add something else into the mix? Yet there’s one thing that you need to add, which will actually improve the effectiveness of your study time, and help you get better grades: Studying about studying. That’s right: You need to devote some time and energy to studying some techniques and strategies that make for better students, and that lead to better grades. Here are five good reasons that you should try to master some proven study techniques:

1) The tricks you once learned for studying are not as effective as you might think. For instance, although the SQ3R method does give you a better grasp of the course material, this is only true for the person who is a good reader. Those with not-so-great reading skills won’t find SQ3R (“survey, question, read, review, re-read”) to be as helpful as good readers will. Similarly, although we tend to think that a study group is always a helpful thing, it’s not. In some cases, a study group can actually hurt your study time–since many times, unrelated chit-chat will get in the way of real study.

2) When you learn good study techniques, you actually wind up with more free time. And what school or college student couldn’t use that! The person who doesn’t know how to study finds himself trying to remember all of the material in his notes or textbook, but usually to no avail. He’ll spend hours cramming, and seemingly making little progress. On the other hand, the person who knows exactly how to study can master his notes and text in half the time–and have more time to spend with friends.

3) Proper studying strategies increase your confidence and reduce your stress level. When you have some techniques that you know will work, you can approach any test knowing that you know the material. This will mean less stress throughout your week, and especially right before the test.

4) Here’s maybe the most obvious point, but one that needs to be said: If you learn and use proper study techniques, you’ll get better grades and marks in your course. It’s a proven fact that those who know how to study get better grades.

5) You’ll be studying for the rest of your life. Good study skills aren’t just something that you’ll use while you’re in school. There are numerous other opportunities for you to study throughout your adult life. When you’re taking a driver’s test, attending a career-related workshop or seminar, studying your religion’s holy book, teaching a Sunday school class, and much more, you’ll need to know the best way to study.

So what’s included in the process of studying the best study skills? You’ll want to learn how to take notes, how to read textbooks, how to listen proactively in class, how to use other people, how to use technology such as computers, how to use the library, and more. It’s also helpful to learn test-taking strategies, to help you get every point correct that you possibly can on your next exam. For Teachers, see our Effective Study Skills Lesson Plan.

Here is a great page with more tips and details, Study Strategies for Success.

Bottom line: Learn to learn; study your studying. Get better with your study habits and you’ll reap rewards for years to come.

How to Study Blog » How to Study

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