Study Less, Study Smart
A guide to effective study techniques and enhanced learning.
By
Marty Lobdel l
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction 5
How long can you study effectively? 7
Reinforce your study habits. 9
Create or use a study area 11
Learning mindfulness 13
Discovering the meaning 15
Deeper Processing 17
Mnemonics 19
SQ4R 23
Note taking 25
Underlining, may hurt your efforts 27
Regular Attendance 2 9
Study group 31
Get enough sleep 33
Conclusion 3 5
I
ntroduction
I taught college success at Pierce College for nearly 20 of my 40 years at the college. I often opened the quarter by asking students, “How do you go about learning something?” They usually answered that they would read it over, and over, and over until they memorized it.
This taught me something: most students don’t know how to effectively learn school material. This is not their fault; most students have not been taught how to study. They have most likely been told to read it until they know it. They have also been told to spend more time studying and they will be an effective learner. “Seat time” is important for learning, but seat time that is not effective is a frustrating waste of time.
I also realized that students confused memorization with grasping or understanding what they studied. This was not surprising since much of elementary school involved rote memorization rather than understanding concepts.
The following strategies are research based rather than someone’s opinion or belief. I have received a large number of responses from students who have applied my suggestions and found they work. As I always said in class, I don’t expect you to do everything I suggest; but, try a couple of strategies and when they work add to them.
Becoming an effective learner is an acquired skill. As with any skill, being a strong student takes coaching and practice. Trust me; you can learn to be a more effective student. The strategies in this book are meant for students from junior high to post-doctorate. The information is also highly relevant for learning material for one’s career .
H
ow long can you study effectively?
At the outset of my study skills lecture, I asked the students how long could they study effectively. The shortest time mentioned was five minutes, but the average matched what researchers have found. Most students lose concentration after 20 to 30 minutes of studying. I did have a man, who was visiting my classroom; say he could study for six hours with solid concentration. After class, I learned that he was finishing medical school. Clearly he had developed his study skills to a high level.
Even though most students can only study efficiently for about 20 to 30 minutes, many students push on for hours with little learning taking place. At this point, students learn to hate studying .
R
einforce your study behavior
My first rule : when you feel that you are not learning efficiently, take a break and reinforce your prior studying behavior . To continue trying to study, if you are not learning efficiently, actually punishes your attempt to study. You feel bored, listless and discouraged which makes you less likely to want to study in the future.
Here are some suggested reinforcements. You could: take a five minute break and enjoy some coffee, soft drink; call or text a friend; do some calisthenics; listen to a favorite piece of music; have a snack.
The point is to do something that you like and tell yourself that it is a treat for studying well. It is interesting that a five minute break will allow you to come back and study efficiently for another 20 or 30 minutes. It will then be time for another break and more reinforcement.
At the end of your study time, plan a bigger reinforcement, for example, watching a favorite program, going out for pizza, or taking a long shower. You make a treat for yourself and gradually studying becomes more enjoyable and productive.
You should also look for short opportunities to study. For example, if there is a dead time between classes, use it to study. The same goes for work breaks if you are employed, or time commuting on bus or rail. There are often several times during the day that you can spend a few minutes studying.
U
se or create a study/library
Few of my students lived in homes with a study or library. There are school and public libraries, but they are sometimes inconvenient to access. So, I propose rule number 2 : create a study.
Why is this important? Many students try to study in places that are meant for other purposes. My students often studied in their bedrooms, sometime at a desk, sometimes in bed. The problems here, the student often finds taking a nap or going to bed over-rides studying. A second popular study spot is the kitchen table or bar. As you may have guessed, thoughts of eating or snacking often over-ride concentration. The third study spot is the den or living room. If the TV, or stereo is on, studying is unlikely to be effective.
Creating a study is fairly simple. Get a table lamp and attach a small sign that says, “Study lamp.” If you study at a desk in your room, use the lamp only while you are studying effectively. Do not use it for any other purpose or while taking a break. Studying in bed is a bad idea. The desire to sleep is too strong. If you study at the kitchen table or bar, remove all food related items and use your study lamp. If no one else is in the living room and all entertainment is off, use your study lamp. I have had numerous students tell me they need music to study by. If the music is truly background, then okay. But if you are singing to the tune or tapping your feet, or imagining the artist, then you are not fully concentrating on your studies and you need to turn the music off. No matter where you study, turn your cell phone off. Keep in mind you are doing focused studying and do not want interruptions .
When you get to a point where you need to take a break, turn the study lamp off and reinforce your good studying behavior. When you’re ready to study again, turn the lamp back on. After a while, the study lamp becomes a cue to get focused on the material you’re studying. Gradually, you should find that the length of time that you can remain focused will also increase. I have had some students say that they have come to like studying as a result of this technique.
If you have access to a library, use it. Libraries are designed to facilitate concentrated reading/studying. If the activities of others in the library cause you to lose concentration, find a study carrel that creates your own quiet space. Once again, you should take breaks and reinforce your studying .
M
indfulness
Have you ever noticed when you check the time and then someone asks what time is, and you say you don’t know? The reason is simple; you were not trying to remember what time it was, you were only checking the time. Or have you noticed how few items you can recall after reading a newspaper or watching the news? Material that is remembered, when you are not trying to learn it, is called “incidental learning.” Incidental learning is inconsistent and meager compared to intentional learning.
Rule number 3 : you remember or learn best when you intend to learn the material. Intending to learn is a form of mindfulness. Every class you attend, every note you take, every text you read should be times where you think, “I intend to learn this material.” Exactly what changes at the brain level is unclear, but such mindfulness will impact your learning effectivity .
D
iscover the meaning
I often asked my students, what does “meaning” mean? The word “meaning” is not easily defined by most students.
I think the best way to conceptualize “meaningful” is to say that things are meaningful when they relate to something you already understand.
I would then do the following demonstration. I read the following letters, and asked them to try to remember all letters in sequence: H-W-A-E-D-P-N-P-E-S-Y-D-Y-A. Most students could not correctly recall letters beyond “P” or “N”. I then rearranged the 14 letters and read: H-A-P-P-Y-W-E-D-N-E-S-D-A-Y, and most students could repeat the letters in sequence. Clearly, once there is meaning to the letters, they were easy to remember. Rule number 4 : trying to learn any material that is meaningless is a very difficult to task. The next section will suggest ways to find meaning in your lessons .
D
eeper processing
I then did a second demonstration. I divided the class into two halves. I told them I would be reading a series of words. One-half of the students were asked to write their estimate of how many vowels were in each word, the other half were asked to estimate, using a 1 to 5 scale, how useful the item would be on a deserted island. I read each word slowly, so they could write their estimates. After reading the list, I paused for 30 seconds, while they wrote their name and address; I did this to dump short-term memory. I then asked them to write as many words from my list as they could recall. The demonstration never failed. The students estimating vowels got about 5 or 6 words while the students thinking about the usefulness averaged 10 or 11 words. Twice the recall for one group, with no more time or effort expended.
Each side heard the words in the same tone, at the same pace and yet one side typically recalled twice the number of words, and they were not even trying to remember them (yes, thinking about the usefulness of an object even improved incidental learning). The above difference in performance is due to “deep” versus “surface” processing. If you think of the words in terms of the number of vowels, letters, etc., then you are surface processing. When you think of the meaning of the word and its usefulness, you are using deeper processing.
So, how do the above translate into studying more effectively? Rule number 5 : discover the meaning of what you are studying. Rule number 6 : always engage in deeper processing.
Yes, this is where students must think. Teachers and textbook writers typically try to make material meaningful, but even the best lecture or text may not resonate with students. This is where you have to think how this new material relates to things that you already know and understand. If you fail to see connections, ask classmates how they came to understand the material. Many schools have tutoring centers staffed by people who can help you make sense of what you’re studying. You can also go to your teacher and ask for more clarification. Faculty usually appreciates students who ask follow-up questions, for example, “that was a great lecture, Professor Plum, but I’m still unclear about….”
I know that some students simply memorize the material, but this will not serve them well in the long run. Subsequent courses often require that you understand basic concepts before you enroll. Few things are more frustrating than failing a class because you didn’t understand the prerequisite concepts, and yet passed a prerequisite course. I know one student who completed high school calculus by memorizing the material, but not understanding it. Unfortunately, when he tested for university entrance, he was required to take calculus again. He was not a happy camper.
With regard to deeper processing, try to think how to apply or use the new concept. Ask yourself, when or where would the concept have value? Or, have you seen the application of similar concepts? The more you think about the deeper implications of the material; the more likely it will make sense, and you will remember it.
There is another bonus: the more you understand, the easier it is to learn new material. You will also come to see that virtually everything you learn connects with other things you already know. Chemistry connects with biology, which connects with psychology, which connects with history, which connects with literature, and so on. You are now on your way to being educated rather than merely trained .
M
nemonics
It is always best to try to understand concepts, but some lessons involve facts. While concepts are categories, principles, definitions, and relationships, facts typically are names, dates, and numbers. For example, “atomic number” is a concept while the “atomic number of oxygen” is a fact (number 8, for you non-chemistry types). Most students when faced with factual material turn to rote memorization, for example, repetition, flash cards, or quizzing one another. Yes, you can learn by rote. In fact, most of us learned our multiplication tables by rote drills. However, rote learning usually takes a lot of time, effort and can easily become confused at the critical point of recall. Therefore, rule number 7 : try to use a mnemonic device to memorize facts.
What are mnemonics? Mnemonics devices are gimmicks that facilitate the memorization of facts. There are three main types of mnemonic devices that I find useful for academic learning: acronyms (coined words); acrostics (coined phrases) and interacting images.
Acronyms (coined words)
Most are familiar with acronyms such as scuba (Self-Contained, Underwater, Breathing, Apparatus) or NATO (North Atlantic, Treaty, Organization). Acronyms allow one to pack a lot of information into a small, easily remembered package. How does this work for school material?
I had a student who was so frustrated that he could not remember the ordering of multiplication for the following type of problem: 2x+6y X 4x+ 7y. The student never learned the acronym FOIL (First, Outer, Inner, Last). I had another student who had trouble remembering if it was the left or right atrium of the heart that had oxygenated blood. We came up with the acronym: RADEO (Right Atrium is DEOxynated, I know radio is spelled differently, but that doesn’t matter). Once she had this, it was obvious that the left atrium is oxygenated.
The Great Lakes are HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior). The spectral colors are ROY G. BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet). My students often had trouble with remembering if sensory neurons were afferent or efferent neurons. I pointed out that they are the SAME (Sensory Afferent; Motor Efferent). Creating an acronym can save a lot of time, but if you can’t find a clever acronym, you might try for an acrostic.
Acrostics (coined phrases)
Most of us remember: In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue; or, thirty days hath September, April, June and November…. These phrases help us remember facts that could easily be lost or confused.
I still remember my son trying to tighten a bolt but not sure which way to turn it. I said turn it “clock-wise”, but in the digital age this had little meaning. I demonstrated the correct rotation, and he said, “Oh, you mean: righty tighty, lefty loosey.” Yes, that is what I meant.
So, how can you apply acrostics to academics? Let’s say you need to know the biological taxonomy: kingdom; phylum, class; order; family; genus; and species. You could make up a phrase such as: Kings Play Chess on Friday with Great Spirit. If you needed to know our solar system’s planets in order: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (notice, I still count Pluto as a planet…oh well, I’m old) .
You can remember that “stalactites” “hang tight.” Or, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. Or, Whales And Jellied Marmalade, Moonpies and Jam… (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson…), gives us the presidents of the United States in order. Or, I before E, except after C, except in words like neighbor. Or, when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking (in most instances, but not all). Many facts can be readily recalled when transformed into a saying.
I have been told that anatomy teachers sometime help students remember the twelve cranial nerves in order, top down, with the saying: On Old Olympus Towering Top, A Finn And German Viewed And Hopped. Translated: Olfactory; Optic; Oculomotor; Trochlea; Trigeminal; etc. There is another saying (ooh, ooh, ooh, to touch and feel….) about touching and feeling a certain female body part. This is a risqué acro
stic that only the bravest female instructors would ever share with students. However, this raises a good point: sometimes the best mnemonic is a little weird or naughty, making it easier to recall. Just be careful who you share it with.
Interacting Images
My favorite type of mnemonic is the interacting image. In this mnemonic you pair the fact you are attempting to remember with an image that guarantees the correct recall.
I had a student who was frustrated in a nutrition class. She grasped the major concepts but had trouble with the facts on tests. She reported that she struggled with remembering how many calories per gram were in the three major food groups. We looked them up: carbohydrates 4c/gm; proteins 4c/gm; and fats 9c/gm. I suggested she think about her car which has four wheels; therefore, car bohydrates have 4c/gm. A pro-car would have four wheels; therefore pro tein would have 4c/gm. I then asked her about cats. How many lives do cats have: nine? So a fat cat would have 9c/gm. Later, someone asked me about alcohol which has 7c/gm. This was easy, seven letters in the word “alcohol”, or a favorite call drink: Seagram’s Seven with Seven-Up (sevens everywhere).
I had trouble remembering whether infradian cycles were longer than a day, or were ultradian cycles longer than a day. Then I recalled an old advertisement:” Now beautiful hair in 45 minutes with Ultress.” Ultradian is similar to the word Ultress, so a short period of time is associated. Therefore, ultradian cycles, for example REM cycles, are shorter than a day and infradian cycles are longer than a day.
Interacting images can allow you to link many important facts with an image that guarantees the correct recall. There are other mnemonic techniques, such as, peg-word and method of loci. I never found them having great academic use, but you may. You can learn much more about mnemonics with a quick web search for sites or books on the subject .
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