Learning How To Learn Better: Developing Effective Study Skills

1. Learning How To Learn Better: Developing Effective Study Skills

2. How Do I Prepare Better? • Step 1: Know how you best learn. • Step 2: Evaluate what you’re doing. • Step 3: “Play” to your strengths. • Step 4: Develop a plan of action. • Step 5: Carry out that plan. • Step 6: Decide what worked (or didn’t). • Step 7: Adjust and begin at step 2 again.

3. http://www.studygs.net/activelearn.htm

4. Be an Effective Learner • Understand your learning style • Identify your strengths and use them • Predict mismatch in your learning experience • Anticipate/accept discomfort in some learning situations • Develop skills in non-preferred styles • Seek others with a different styles to develop new skills • Develop excellent thinking skills: • Organize knowledge and facts • Look for patterns in a new task • Look for connections to find deeper understanding • Try different learning strategies; learn when to apply them • Be self-aware about when you do or don’t understand • Seek to understand

5. NOTE TAKING • Use a note-taking system. • There are many “systems” out there. • Which system is not as important as using a predictable, thought-out technique for taking notes. • Modify them to suit your needs.

6. NOTE TAKING • Do a Google search to find out more “systems”. • Here are just a few examples: • The Cornell Method • The Outline Method • The Mapping Method • The Charting Method • The Sentence Method • The 2-6 Method • SQR3

7. The Cornell Note-taking System • Record notes with NO UNCESSARY words. • Write questions that help do MORE than just recall definitions. Ask about cause/effect, relationships, etc. • Recite • Reflect • Review • Summarize

8. NOTE TAKING • Use “speedwriting.” • Mst stdnts cn lrn spdwrtng in svrl mnts. Jst omt ll or mst vwls. • Use color-coding techniques. • Use different colors to record ideas presented in class and found in the text or readings. For example, use blue to code major ideas and green to code links to previously learned material.

9. STUDYING • Schedule a time to study each day or at least every other day (whether you have homework or not!) • Stay organized. • Review and organize notes as soon after class as possible. • Try to review the previous day’s notes before the next class begins.

10. STUDYING • Vary study activities. Do things other than read. Think of techniques we discussed. • When you read, get the MOST out of it! • Read an assignment for 25 minutes. You lose 85% of your input after the first 25 minutes, so reading longer can be a waste of time. • Read summary/section headings before you begin. • Underline, highlight, jot down main points. • After twenty-five minutes, take a break. • After your break, review all marked material. • Repeat until you’ve finished reading and you do a final review (after a break).

11. STUDYING • After studying, be sure you can restate or explain the material in your own words, with your own examples. • Mark anything you do not understand and look for answers (textbook, websites, classmates, or teacher). • Make flashcards of important terms, concepts, vocabulary. Define everything in your own words.

12. STUDYING • Try to intentionally “remember” things different ways. It’s like filing a sheet of paper in one place in a file drawer OR making copies and filing it under several headings. • Use the room you’re studying to “hook” onto. Associate information with an object or location. As you study, be consistent. On the test you can visualize your room to help recall. • Make mind maps.

13. Shows “structure” of subject Shows links between things Has “raw facts” like normal notes Easy to remember. Quick to review Shows the relative importance of individual points Shows how facts relate to each other. More compact than “notes” Mind Maps

14. Start with a word or idea and find an image that represents it. Subtopics branch off main center. Use single words or simple phrases Start with an image that represents the main concept. Use images whenever possible Size of “branches” should show importance Put different concepts on different branches Use color to separate / distinguish ideas Use colors for branches and terms Use cross-linkage to show how one part affects another To make a mind map

19. STUDYING • Use mnemonics or memory aids: • Acrostics • Acronyms • Keywords • Roman room

20. STUDYING • ACROSTICS • Use the first letter of each word to make a sentence. • My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. • Mercury, Venus Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

21. STUDYING • ACRONYMN • The first letter of each word forms a new one. FBI • Federal Bureau of Investigation NASA • National Aeronautics and Space Administration SCUBA • Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

22. STUDYING • KEYWORDS • Think of a word that reminds you of the concept you’re trying to remember and then find an image or sentence that combines the two to represent the meaning. • For example: The Spanish word, dormir means to sleep. To remember that one could say, "Norm sleeps in the dorm.”

23. STUDYING • ROMAN ROOM • This technique works well with long lists. Think of a room you know well. Imagine moving from left to right, selecting different objects and pieces of furniture. Important information is then attached to a specific piece. • For example, in order to remember the first ten states to ratify the Constitution… • Delaware could be connected to a Dell computer • Pennsylvania, could be connected to a pencil to the right of the computer • And so on…

24. STUDYING • Try to have a positive attitude. • Find something useful or good • How you feel about facts directly impacts how well you can recall them. • Learning is more effective and efficient when the learner is relaxed • Use humor. Access to learning is easier in the future when it is connected to something funny.

25. STUDYING • Enhance your memory. You remember: • about 10 percent of what you read. • about 20 percent of what you hear. • about 30 percent of what you see. • about 50 percent of what you hear and see together. • about 70 percent of what you say (**if you think as you are saying it). • about 90 percent of what you do. • Plan to reward yourself for a job well-done.

26. How To Review(See Handout) Forgetting is most rapid right after learning. Review helps combat this. Relearning is easier if it is done quickly. Don't wait until it's all gone. You have to start over at the beginning. • Learn the material. • Review early! • Space out review sessions.

27. TAKING TESTS • Stress hormones can block retrieval of information stored in the brain. • Learners in a state of fear or stress have a harder time learning • When you're calm, your memory returns.

28. Combating Test Anxiety BEFORE the test • Know what you have to be able to DO. • Ask teacher • Use the teacher’s secret list • BLOOMS TAXONOMY

29. Blooms Taxonomy

30. Combating Test Anxiety BEFORE the test • Study. Be as prepared as you can be. • Make up a one-page summary sheet of material you’ve learned. This will help you focus on what you really need to know. • Don't stay up all night studying. • Bring everything you need to the exam (pencils, calculators, etc.)

31. Combating Test Anxiety DURING the test • Read over the whole exam before beginning to write anything. • Choose the easiest thing on the test and do that first. Then do the next easiest thing… • Stay in motion. If you get stuck, skip it and come back. • Show your work. This may prove you didn’t “cheat.”

32. Combating Test Anxiety DURING the test • Go for partial credit even if you’re not 100% sure. • Make your work legible. • If you don’t understand the instructions, ask! • Don’t let yourself panic! Stay calm. Breathe. Close your eyes. Roll your neck. Relax.

33. Combating Test Anxiety DURING the test • Go back and check your work, if there’s time. • Hand in your paper when time is called. (Nothing makes an instructor/proctor more homicidal than having to wrestle you to the floor to get your paper!)