Studies (of studying) have shown that the best retention occurs with
distributed learning and
practice testing. All other forms of memorization are flat out ineffective (highlighting, re-reading, summarizing, etc). Basically these other methods are great for organizing the material that you need to test yourself on. Learning styles, e.g. auditory, visual, kinesthetic, are also a joke. Your test grades reflect your mastery of the material, so prepare for the test by testing yourself.
The only way to get better at something is practice, and perfect-practice makes perfect. Bad practice will result in a bad performance. (Musician analogy).
- Eight 1-hour study sessions > One 8-hour study session (Distributed Learning - spread it out, don't cram)
- Create practice tests for material that requires problem solving or reasoning
- Use flashcards for static memorization (for concepts, facts, formulas, the flash card is the test).
Repetition is important for recall because there is a rate at which we forget newly learned information. These world memory champs review material in certain intervals to prevent that information from being forgotten, otherwise they have to relearn it all over again. Some German psychologist's theory (forgot his name
😆), is that the
biggest loss of information occurs within the first two hours. Mentally quiz yourself at 2 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, (or whatever intervals make the most sense for your classes) and this will prevent you from forgetting what you've learned.
Also focus is very important. My favorite is the
Pomodoro Technique. Basically you study or work on material for a solid 25 minutes
uninterrupted, and then take a 5 minute break. During that break, take your phone off silent, go to the bathroom, whatever, as long as that 5 minutes is spent doing
anything other than thinking about or looking at your study material. That = 1 Pomodori. After 4x Pomodori, take a 15-30 minute break, and then repeat the process all over again.
With Pomodoro I can measure how much
actual study time I get in, and this helps with
time management. Annoying cell phone alerts and other distractions really harm study efforts. This way you can also carve out blocks of the day for study. If you do 2 hours of study per credit hour (x), you really need x * 3/2 hours (assuming you take the 30m break and not the 15m). So 2 hours of perfect study requires 3 hours.
This will allow you to be realistic and plan out your day when juggling studying with ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc.
As for projects and papers, if you're using that allocated amount of daily study time to write or collaborate with classmates, you'll find that the work completes itself. Obviously papers require a little more effort in that you need several drafts and a second pair of eyes to review your work, but these principals and techniques will save you from burning a weekend on a term paper that you should have been chipping away at all semester/quarter.
Others have mentioned math/writing tutor centers and office hours. Use them! Remember that 2 hours of study per credit hour is the minimum recommendation. "Study" = anything you need to do for the class.
Hope that helps
@Kidaco8!
P.S. There are plenty of Pomodoro timer apps for Mac, PC, Android, and iOS.
P.P.S. I cannot stress enough how important it is to rid yourself of distractions. That iPhone is your enemy when trying to master class material.
