Studying Efficiently Have you noticed that sometimes you seem to be studying for hours and hours and never seem to get sufficient work completed? Perhaps you have also noticed that there are other students around you who have time left for fun after their studies, and still manage to get the grades they want. They have learned to study efficiently. You can also acquire this valuable learning skill. Here are some valuable pointers.
1. Plan your Study Time
- Identify fixed commitments: Mark down on a weekly planner or on a very large sheet of paper all your fixed commitments, including your weekly school classes, family activities, your daily entertainment times (i.e., talking on the telephone, watching television, surfing the internet, etc.), daily meals, sleeping hours, recreation, and daily physical exercise.
- Set aside specific time for study: Mark down daily times for studying, including Saturdays and Sundays. Bear in mind that certain times of the day are better than others for you to study. Only you know what those times are. If you are not certain as to your best times, complete a Learning Styles Inventory.
- Structure study times: Be specific about what you plan to do in your study times. It is important to know what subjects you will work on and what specific activity you will do. For example, if you are going to study anatomy, write down something like, "Anatomy: Review the names of the bones in the hand."
2. Remember these Four Basic Guidelines
- As a general rule, plan to study 1-2 hours for each hour you spend in class.
- Study for each subject as soon as possible after that class.
- Short but frequent study sessions are more effective than longer, less frequent ones.
- Plan to start with the most difficult subject or the one you like least. Save the easiest subject for last. You will be more focused and less likely to procrastinate on those difficult courses.
3. Decide What to Do
- Assignments: Make sure you understand your assignments before you start your study session. Break large assignments such as research papers into smaller and more manageable chunks. Set deadlines for each task.
- Read: Use a study reading method, such as SQ4R (see elsewhere in this series), to help you concentrate on the textbook. Keep a record of what you need to read and when you should read it. Reading about the topic of each day's class ahead of time helps you to get the most out of the class.
- Review: You will forget approximately 60% of what you learned in class within an hour, unless you review the material. Review as soon as possible, and definitely within 24 hours.
4. Daily Review
- Edit notes: Look over the notes you took in class. Fill in anything you may have missed, write abbreviations out in full format, and make sure your notes are clear. Make note of any areas where you feel you require clarification. Then, be sure to check with your subject teacher or with a classmate as soon as possible. If you were absent from class, try to get someone's notes and copy them out. Search out the best note-taker in the class and ask her/him if you could borrow his/her notes. If you do not have the time to copy over the notes immediately, perhaps photocopy the notes, especially if the other person wants the notebook back soon.
- Formulate questions: Write questions in the margins of your textbooks, on the left side of the page of class notes, on 3" x 5" cards, or on sheets of loose leaf paper. To formulate appropriate questions, ask yourself what questions your notes answer or turn textbook headings into questions. Class objectives can also be turned into questions, and textbooks often provide review questions with each chapter. Identify any questions that you think might be on the test.
- Reorganize and reduce: Transform the information you have learned into a chart, schemata, diagram, picture, or mind map. Do as much as you can from memory and then check your notes or text to fill in the missing details. Several pages can be effectively reduced to a one-page mind map that can then be studied in a few spare moments several times during the day.
5. Weekly Review
- Test yourself: Try to answer the question that you formulated in your daily reviews without looking at your notes. Immediately, check to see if your answer is accurate. If it is, you can go on to the question; if not, answer the question again after checking your notes. Answer the questions out loud or in writing, rather than simply acknowledging that you "know" the answer in your head. Reciting is more effective than thinking the answers and writing the answers reinforces the information still further. The more senses you use, the more likely you are to learn and remember.
Clifford Morris
July 14, 2002