How to Study

A Moonen Production

Re-reading your notes does not count as studying, even if it is the easiest way to technically study. Watch [insert show here], and then set aside time to actually engage with the material. Do this each night and by the third night you should be able to retain most of the knowledge you have studied.

If you're in science or engineering, do problems.

If you're in history, write out key elements of a period in a paragraph.

One of the best ways to study is to try to teach the chapters you've read to your lazy friend who didn't read them, and have him/her try to teach you the ones s/he read. You could substitute your lazy friend with a parent.

According to Dartmouth Collage:•Study in chunks•Use daylight hours•Rank your three classes•Study actively•Find the right place to study

According to Stanford…

1. Set goals.If you don’t know what you want to achieve as a student, you won’t know how to get there or ifyou’ve accomplished things.

2. Use an agenda book.If you keep all your appointments, due dates, test dates in your head, you won’t have any room leftfor the new information you are learning about in classes.

3. Know your learning style.Develop techniques and strategies for compensating for possible differences between your learning style and your instructor’s teaching style.

4. Be an active reader.Be a text detective: ask your text good questions and it will yield good answers.

5. Participate in study groups.Share the load of reading and studying with other students – you will learn better by teaching them,and you will be exposed to ideas you didn’t come up with on your own.

6. Take notes.Use the Cornell, outline, mapping or charting method to condense and synthesize reading, lecturesand discussions.

7. Organize your study materials.If you organize your materials as you proceed through a course, you will retrieve information withgreater ease later.

8. Draft papers.Never turn in the first draft of a paper – always leave time to re-work it before your professor sees it.

9. Slow down on tests.Anxiety makes you skip over parts of questions. Read every word carefully.

10. Don’t replace protein with caffeine.Protein and complex carbohydrates are an energy source that won’t leave you jittery.

From The University of North Carolina

•"I Guess I Understand It”• Test yourself. Make up questions about key sections

in notes or reading. Examine the relationships between concepts and sections.

•"There's Too Much To Remember“ • Organize. Information is recalled better if it is

represented in an organized framework that will make retrieval more systematic. There are many techniques that can help you organize new information, including: 

• Write chapter outlines or summaries; emphasize relationships between sections. 

• Group information into categories or hierarchies, where possible. 

• "I Knew It A Minute Ago”• Review. After reading a section, try to recall the

information contained in it. Try answering the questions you made up for that section. If you cannot recall enough, re-read portions you had trouble remembering. How you organize and integrate new information is still more important than how much time you spend studying.

•"But I Like To Study In Bed“ • Context. The greater the similarity between the study

setting and the test setting, the greater the likelihood that material studied will be recalled during the test.

•"Cramming Before A Test Helps Keep It Fresh In My Mind“

• Spacing: Start studying now. Keep studying as you go along. Begin with an hour or two a day about one week before the exam, and then increase study time as the exam approaches. Recall increases as study time gets spread out over time. 

•"I'm Gonna Stay Up All Night 'til I Get This“ •Avoid Mental Exhaustion. Take short breaks often when studying. Before a test, have a rested mind. Eat well, sleep, and get enough exercise.

VisualizationThe idea here is that you want to put abstract information into a picture.

Rote MemorizationI’m not a huge fan of this method, but sometimes brute force is required. Rote memorization involves pounding information into your brain by repeating it continually.

InterlinkingTake two ideas and ask yourself how they relate.

MetaphorTake a more complex idea and compare it to a simpler one.

DiagramDraw it out. I love using diagrams for sorting large pieces of information.

AcronymsUse mnemonics. More later….

Link MethodThe basic idea is that you link two ideas together by forming a bizarre picture that involves both of them.If I wanted to memorize a grocery list that had apples, milk and beans, my goal would be to create two images that linked apples to milk and milk to beans. I would picture a giant apple milking a cow.

Peg Method . Associate what you need to learn with the alphabet. i.e. the three classifications of rock. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic in association to the alphabet below.A - ApeB - BoyC - CatD - DogE - EggF - FigG - GoatH – Hat

I - Ice

J - JackK - KiteL - LogM - ManN - NutO - OwlP – Pig

Q - QuillR - Rock

S - SockT - ToyU - UmbrellaV - VaneW - WigX - X-RayY - YakZ - Zoo

RetracingThis involves you starting with one concept. From that you find a relationship between that idea and another idea, etc.

Zoom and CheckSkim through any material you have to learn. Your goal isn’t to learn the information but to notice what you don’t already know. Write down a list of what you don’t know to review.

Self-TestGive yourself a test.

AnthropomorphizeAnthropomorphizing is the process of taking non-human things and giving them human characteristics. Describing a rock as being lonely would be an example. You can use this tool by giving abstract ideas human qualities so they become easier to remember.

Gap AvoidanceAlthough I always recommend actually learning information first, this can be a booster to help in a crisis. The basic idea of gap avoidance is that you become aware of what you don’t know and collect everything that you do.Someone once passed an inter-province chemistry test where one question was to write an essay on soap. He knew very little about soap, so the first step was to collect anything he knew that could be remotely related to soap. Next he made note of what he did not know, so he could consciously avoid displaying his ignorance when writing the essay.

I’d like to point out that this technique isn’t magical. If you don’t know something, you’ll still probably fail. But it can help if you are missing pieces of information and can’t go back to study.

BrainstormingWrite down all the ideas, thoughts and information you can think of.

Make it InterestingSounds obvious, doesn’t it? You’ll remember information you find more satisfying to know. Find ways you can use the information beyond just getting a grade and it will become more real to you.

Teach ItFind someone and explain it to them. Nothing forces you to learn better than teaching.

Post It’sPlace Post It’s all over your room with information from subjects. Mix them up every few days so that you will notice them as you walk around.

Pop QuizFor learning multiplication tables at random points during the day have someone say something like, “Quick! What’s 8×12?”. This method might require an understanding friend, but it can force you to remember information in any situation.

Find Your Peak Mental HoursEveryone has different creative peaks. Mine tend to be in the morning.

Know Thy WeaknessesDid you get a bad mark on that last test. Why? Was it just a lack of preparation. Did you not remember the information, or did you have trouble applying it? Figure out your weaknesses so you can develop tools (or use these) to work around them.

Things Moonen specifically uses:•Chunking: An effective way to simplify and make information more meaningful.

• For example, 9,182,994,415 is not an easy number to memorize, but if broken into chunks it get easier.

•Mnemonics: Any memory-assisting technique that helps us to associate new information with something familiar. For example:

• Order of geological time periods: (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent)Cows Often Sit Down Carefully. Perhaps Their Joints Creak? Persistent Early Oiling Might Prevent Painful Rheumatism.

• Order of Mohs hardness scale, from 1 to 10:(Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Orthoclase feldspar, Quartz, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond)Tulsa Girls Can Flirt, And Other Quirky Things Can’t Do.

• Rhymes and catchphrases work too• Red sky at night: sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning:

sailor take warning.• Rainbow in the morning: travellers take warning.

Rainbow at night: travellers' delight.

Here is a rhyme to help remember pi to twenty-one digits:

Now, I wish I could recollect pi.“Eureka,” cried the great inventor.Christmas Pudding; Christmas Pie

Is the problem’s very center.

And if you feel the need for a device for remembering thirty-one decimal places of pi, try this one:

Sir, I bear a rhyme excellingIn mystic force, and magic spelling

Celestial sprites elucidateAll my own striving can’t relate

Or locate they who can cogitateAnd so finally terminate.

Finis