The following article which I read from here, gave an overview of how best to study effectively. A lot of students think that if they start revising early and do revision few times, they will remember and do better in exams. The truth is that we need to study effectively in order to remember the correct things. If we misunderstood a concept, studying and revising ten times will still make us arrive at the wrong answers as the foundation was wrong.
So here is the thing to study well and effectively is to do it thoroughly the first time through and make sure we understand it as a whole and have the correct information. Effective learning also invovles active questioning and asking ourselves lots of questions. As soon as we cover one new topic, we quiz ourselves to prove that we trully understand. Then, we learn to connect new information to what we already know. Next is try to draw it out visually, the cnocept, the idea and what we can understand so far.
The full article is shown below.
The way most students study makes no sense.
That's the conclusion of Washington University in St. Louis psychologists
Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel — who've spent a combined 80 years studying
learning and memory, and recently distilled their findings with novelist Peter
Brown in the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.
USING ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IS MOST EFFECTIVE
The majority of students study by re-reading notes and textbooks — but the
psychologists' research, both in lab experiments and of actual students in
classes, shows this is a terrible way to learn material. Using active learning
strategies — like flashcards, diagramming, and quizzing yourself — is much more
effective, as is spacing out studying over time and mixing different topics
together.
McDaniel spoke with me about the eight key tips he'd share with students
and teachers from his body of research.
1) Don't just re-read your notes and readings
"We know from surveys that a majority of students, when they study,
they typically re-read assignments and notes. Most students say this is their
number one go-to strategy.
WHEN STUDENTS RE-READ A TEXTBOOK CHAPTER, THEY SHOW NO IMPROVEMENT IN
LEARNING
"We know, however, from a lot of research, that this kind of
repetitive recycling of information is not an especially good way to learn or
create more permanent memories. Our studies of Washington University students,
for instance, show that when they re-read a textbook chapter, they have
absolutely no improvement in learning over those who just read it once.
"On your first reading of something, you extract a lot of
understanding. But when you do the second reading, you read with a sense of 'I
know this, I know this.' So basically, you're not processing it deeply, or
picking more out of it. Often, the re-reading is cursory — and it's insidious,
because this gives you the illusion that you know the material very well, when
in fact there are gaps."
2) Ask yourself lots of questions
"One good technique to use instead is to read once, then quiz
yourself, either using questions at the back of a textbook chapter, or making
up your own questions. Retrieving that information is what actually produces
more robust learning and memory.
RETRIEVING INFORMATION IS WHAT PRODUCES MORE ROBUST LEARNING AND MEMORY
"And even when you can't retrieve it — when you get the questions
wrong — it gives you an accurate diagnostic on what you don't know, and this
tells you what you should go back and study. This helps guide your studying
more effectively.
"Asking questions also helps you understand more deeply. Say you're
learning about world history, and how ancient Rome and Greece were trading
partners. Stop and ask yourself why they became trading partners. Why did they
become shipbuilders, and learn to navigate the seas? It doesn't always have to
be why — you can ask how, or what.
"In asking these questions, you're trying to explain, and in doing
this, you create a better understanding, which leads to better memory and
learning. So instead of just reading and skimming, stop and ask yourself things
to make yourself understand the material."
3) Connect new information to something you already know
"Another strategy is, during a second reading, to try relating the
principles in the text to something you already know about. Relate new
information to prior information for better learning.
"One example is if you were learning about how the neuron transmits
electricity. One of the things we know if that if you have a fatty sheath
surround the neuron, called a myelin sheath, it helps the neuron transmit
electricity more quickly.
"So you could liken this, say, to water running through a hose. The
water runs quickly through it, but if you puncture the hose, it's going to
leak, and you won't get the same flow. And that's essentially what happens when
we age — the myelin sheaths break down, and transmissions become slower."
4) Draw out the information in a visual form
"A great strategy is making diagrams, or visual models, or flowcharts.
In a beginning psychology course, you could diagram the flow of classical
conditioning. Sure, you can read about classical conditioning, but to truly
understand it and be able to write down and describe the different aspects of
it on a test later on — condition, stimulus, and so on — it's a good idea to
see if you can put it in a flowchart.
"Anything that creates active learning — generating understanding on
your own — is very effective in retention. It basically means the learner needs
to become more involved and more engaged, and less passive."
5) Use flashcards
"Flashcards are another good way of doing this. And one key to using
them is actually re-testing yourself on the ones you got right.
KEEPING A CORRECT CARD IN THE DECK AND ENCOUNTERING IT AGAIN IS MORE USEFUL
"A lot of students will answer the question on a flashcard, and take
it out of the deck if they get it right. But it turns out this isn't a good
idea — repeating the act of memory retrieval is important. Studies show that
keeping the correct item in the deck and encountering it again is useful. You
might want to practice the incorrect items a little more, but repeated exposure
to the ones you get right is important too.
"It's not that repetition as a whole is bad. It's that mindless
repetition is bad."
6) Don't cram — space out your studying
"A lot of students cram — they wait until the last minute, then in one
evening, they repeat the information again and again. But research shows this
isn't good for long term memory. It may allow you to do okay on that test the
next day, but then on the final, you won't retain as much information, and then
the next year, when you need the information for the next level course, it
won't be there.
PRACTICE A LITTLE BIT ONE DAY, THEN TWO DAYS LATER
"This often happens in statistics. Students come back for the next
year, and it seems like they've forgotten everything, because they crammed for
their tests.
"The better idea is to space repetition. Practice a little bit one
day, then put your flashcards away, then take them out the next day, then two
days later. Study after study shows that spacing is really important."
7) Teachers should space out and mix up their lessons too
"Our book also has information for teachers. And our educational
system tends to promote massed presentation of information as well.
"In a typical college course, you cover one topic one day, then on the
second day, another topic, then on the third day, another topic. This is massed
presentation. You never go back and recycle or reconsider the material.
"But the key, for teachers, is to put the material back in front of a
student days or weeks later. There are several ways they can do this. Here at
Washington University, there are some instructors who give weekly quizzes, and
used to just put material from that week's classes on the quiz. Now, they're
bringing back more material from two to three weeks ago. One psychology
lecturer explicitly takes time, during each lecture, to bring back material
from days or weeks beforehand.
THE KEY, FOR TEACHERS, IS TO PUT THE MATERIAL BACK IN FRONT OF A STUDENT
DAYS OR WEEKS LATER
"This can be done in homework too. It's typical, in statistics
courses, to give homework in which all of the problems are all in the same
category. After correlations are taught, a student's homework, say, is problem
after problem on correlation. Then the next week, T tests are taught, and all
the problems are on T tests. But we've found that sprinkling in questions on
stuff that was covered two or three weeks ago is really good for retention.
"And this can be built into the content of lessons themselves. Let's
say you're taking an art history class. When I took it, I learned about
Gauguin, then I saw lots of his paintings, then I moved on to Matisse, and saw
lots of paintings by him. Students and instructors both think that this is a
good way of learning the painting styles of these different artists.
"But experimental studies show that's not the case at all. It's better
to give students an example of one artist, then move to another, then another,
then recycle back around. That interspersing, or mixing, produces much better
learning that can be transferred to paintings you haven't seen — letting
students accurately identify the creators of paintings, say, on a test.
"And this works for all sorts of problems. Let's go back to
statistics. In upper level classes, and the real world, you're not going to be
told what sort of statistical problem you're encountering — you're going to
have to figure out the method you need to use. And you can't learn how to do
that unless you have experience dealing with a mix of different types of
problems, and diagnosing which requires which type of approach."
8) There's no such thing as a "math person"
"There's some really interesting work by Carol Dweck, at Stanford.
She's shown that students tend to have one of two mindsets about learning.
IT TURNS OUT THAT MINDSETS PREDICT HOW WELL STUDENTS END UP DOING
"One is a fixed learning model. It says, 'I have a certain amount of
talent for this topic — say, chemistry or physics — and I'll do well until I
hit that limit. Past that, it's too hard for me, and I'm not going to do well.'
The other mindset is a growth mindset. It says that learning involves using
effective strategies, putting aside time to do the work, and engaging in the
process, all of which help you gradually increase your capacity for a topic.
"It turns out that the mindsets predict how well students end up
doing. Students with growth mindsets tend to stick with it, tend to persevere
in the face of difficulty, and tend to be successful in challenging classes.
Students with the fixed mindset tend not to.
"So for teachers, the lesson is that if you can talk to students and
suggest that a growth mindset really is the more accurate model — and it is —
then students tend to be more open to trying new strategies, and sticking with
the course, and working in ways that are going to promote learning. Ability,
intelligence, and learning have to do with how you approach it — working
smarter, we like to say."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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