Best Ways to Study
By: Talia Walters ‘20
I don’t know about anyone else, but I never learned how to study in high school. I was always the kind of person who would cram the night before in a panicked, caffeine-fueled rage before getting to school the next morning, taking the test, and doing mostly fine. Despite the horror of each experience, I never learned my lesson, and then I got to college, and it was down hill from there. So, to save you the trouble I went through, I’ve curated some handy tips on how to study.
If you have a ton of reading… ANNOTATE
Telling people to annotate feels so dirty to me; if your high school was anything like mine, you had to annotate every single book you read, killing multiple trees with the sheer amount of post-it notes you were going through every semester. Unfortunately, it seems like those English teachers had a point. Annotating is a great way to keep your ideas organized while you’re reading something, and it gives you the ability to look back on information without having to do the entirety of the reading again. How you annotate is dependent on the person— some people will prefer to annotate as they read, and some will prefer to annotate in chunks after they’ve finished a section or a chapter. Either way, annotating and taking notes of your reading makes it easier to recall information (and find information you don’t remember) closer to the test date.
If you have to memorize big concepts…NOTE CARDS
Another flashback from high school, note cards are severely underrated study tools to help you memorize big picture ideas. Are you a history major with a bunch of dates to memorize in a short amount of time? Note cards. Are you a biology major that has to memorize the parts of the cell before your test next Tuesday? Note cards. Are you are theater major that is having trouble memorizing your lines? I’ve never tried to use note cards for this, but I’m sure it could work. It is both the act of writing out the information on individual note cards and also the ability to rapidly review information that makes note cards such a valuable learning experience. I recommend using different colors for different groups of information, as it’s more likely to stick in your brain if there’s something visual happening instead of just staring at words on cards.
If you have to memorize detailed information…STUDY GUIDES
Most people are used to waiting for their professors to give them study guides, but have you ever considered making your own study guides? Writing a study guide like you’re going to give it to your fellow students is great way to get specific, small details from classes deep into the pits of your mind. It works similarly to note cards as you’re writing down information to encourage memorization and also able to review rapidly, but it allows you to be more specific in your information as well as connect bigger pieces of information more than if you were using individual, separate note cards. Study guides also tend to be less cumbersome and harder to lose than note cards, so if you’re prone to dropping cards on your way to class or losing them behind your bed, it might be better to stick with memorizing information from a homemade study guide.
If you’re a visual learner…MIND MAPS
If you feel like seeing the information all laid out in front of you is the best way for you to remember things, then you might be a visual learner. And mind maps are perfect for visual learners. The best way to make a mind map is to start with a topic, like “Bio-mechanics” in the center of the page and from there, start branching off information from the word. Then you want to branch off information from those branches, and then branch off information from those new branches. Really, in the end, it should look like a mind tree with how many branches of information there are. It’s easier to understand how everything connects when you see a grand map of concepts you need to memorize and remember. It acts very similarly to a study guide, but in a way that visually stimulates the mind to help remember information better than if it was just in straight lines down a page.
If you’re competitive…JEOPARDY
I don’t mean actually watch Jeopardy (though I’ve done that many-a-night on my own instead of studying). Sometimes the best way to learn something is to find a competitive way to figure it out. If you have a group of people willing to join, this might be a great time for a class game of Jeopardy (or if you prefer, something like Kahoot!). Quizzing yourself on the material not only gives you a good sense of what you know and what you don’t know but it also encourages you to remember answers you’ve gotten wrong so that you don’t miss them again. While you’re able to quiz yourself on your own and you don’t technically need a whole group of people to play a fake game of Jeopardy with you, the closer to the actual game show you get, the less like studying it will feel. Plus, you could always set up a prize system for whoever wins – I’m thinking Trader Joe’s cookies!
If you need to talk it out…STUDY GROUPS
When we keep all of our thoughts inside our head, sometimes it’s really hard to pick apart all of the pieces and figure out what we’re supposed to learning, studying, and remembering anyways. It helps to just say everything out loud to get your thoughts in line. Study groups are a great way to talk through problems you may be having in a class or concepts that are stumping you in practice. It’s incredibly likely that someone in your study group will really understand things you don’t and be able to help you; it’s also incredibly like that you will really understand something someone else don’t understand, and you’ll be able to teach them the concept, which is a great way to study itself. Plus, sometimes it’s just good to have other people who are in the same boat as you trying to learn the same things!
If you like figuring things out on your own…THE FENYMAN METHOD
Named after the physicist Robert Fenyman, this method of studying is for a very specific type of person. The goal is to essentially explain major concepts to yourself. You sit down with a notebook, take the general topic of what you’re trying to learn, and write out what it means and how to use it all by yourself. Most resources suggest creating explanations that slowly get more difficult as you continue; for example, your first explanation of bio-mechanics is explained in a way that a 5-year-old could understand it, but your second explanation is for a 12-year-old, and then your third explanation is for an 18-year-old, so on and so forth. Each explanation should increase in difficulty. This guarantees that you can understand the foundation of what is going on before moving on to more specific details, creating what would theoretically be a pyramid of knowledge. Then, once you’re done, you have a notebook full of explanations that you can look back on before the test to help you remember what you learned. It’s not the easiest way to study, but if you need to just bulldoze through information to remember it best, then this might be the most helpful way to study.
If you need structure…ACTIVE RECALL
The most structured form of studying is called Active Recall, and it’s for the kind of people who really love reading their textbooks. You’re going to read through your chapter, and then at the end, you’re going to shut your book and say out loud/write down a list of things that you remember directly from the reading. This is going to include full explanations of difficult or big concepts, definitions of any new words, and anything else that would be pertinent to know for an upcoming test. After you say/write down everything you can, you’re going to cross reference your notes to the reading. If there are any gaps, anything you didn’t remember, or even incorrect information, you’re going to reread those parts of the chapter. Then, you’re going to do it all again. It’s a slow process of reading and rereading, but if you just can’t study without reading from your textbook, this is a better way to make sure the information sticks in your head instead of just letting it float by as you read passively.
Helpful tips
Figure out what way to study is best for you
This doesn’t just mean method; it also means if you like music or not, if you want to have snacks or if they’re distracting, or if you prefer studying in your room or in a library. It doesn’t hurt to try out different places, different methods, and different strategies to see what helps you best remember information.
Make sure you’re taking breaks, so your brain doesn’t fry
No one can focus for too long. That’s why every major studying method has you only studying for up to a half an hour at a time. It’s important to take breaks every once in a while, switch to different material if you’re just not studying well, and realizing that maybe you need to try again the next day if it’s just really not working. If your brain isn’t cooperating, it doesn’t help anyone to try and force it.
Multitasking has never worked for anyone
Trying to study multiple things at once isn’t going to work, and it’s just going to confuse you between the two subjects. It’s even worse when you try to study and also do housework, cook, or hang out on social media. We are creatures that need one thing at a time to focus on; multitasking is a myth. Just do one thing at a time.
Studying more earlier is better than later
I’m not telling you to wake up at 6am to study before your classes (because let’s be real, I would never do that myself). What I mean is that it’s better for your memory to study closer to the date of the lecture than it is to study closer to the date of the test. This means going home and studying after class every day is more beneficial for your grades than cramming the night before. Who knew!
Always ask for help if you don’t know what you’re doing
Professors are there for a reason, and they really love to help. It seems obvious, but if you’re really struggling, it’s best to visit office hours and ask instead of hoping for the best on the test.
Conclusion
Some of these may seem pretty obvious, but it’s hard to remember when you’re panicking about a test you have coming up. These methods have helped me immensely in classes that I didn’t know how to even start studying, so hopefully you’ve learned some techniques to help you the next time you feel like that. And if you’re looking for a bit more help, check out this article on the best resources for studying or this article on the best places to study!
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