Articles of the Month

The Right Way to Study

Was the last school year a disaster? Did you not get the grades you wanted and maybe even failed a course? Nevertheless, this year you are feeling a bit more ambitious and have set some goals. But have you thought about the way to approach your target?

Try this simple test with a friend. Starting from the top sequence, read these numbers at one per second and then signal a friend to recall each number at the end of each series. Most people can recall a maximum sequence of five to nine digits.

The way we study can either help or devastate our grades. When we begin to study, information enters our brain and is automatically sent to our short-term memory, in which by repetition, it can be maintain for a short period of time. For this reason, the first and last few words/numbers are easily remembered. In some cases, that information is transferred to our long-term memory. In other cases, the information is forgotten because as more enters your memory, your brain begins to bump out information. The long-term memory is a far more effective way to transfer information into a long-lasting source of stored memories. To store information in this part of your memory and prevent a bumping out effect, you need to practice concentrating on understanding the information or relating it to other things already known.

Here are some helpful tips to help you accomplish that desired grade:

• CHUNKING: Combine individual items into larger units of meaning. For definitions, try to understand what it means, instead of concentrating on what the textbooks tells you. Try to fit it into a larger picture (i.e. The course or other related definitions)
• EXAMPLES: Pay attention to these! Remember, in order to transfer information into our long-term memory, we need to relate it to other things already known. The editors include these to waste space and paper! They are there for a reason. And if there aren't any, make them up! Link them to events that have happened to you in the past or to information already known and stored.
• ORGANIZATION: When taking notes, organize the information into a hierarchical structure. It forces you to pay more attention to the main ideas, and later becomes an additional retrieval cue that helps to facilitate recall.
• MASS PRACTICE: Distribute your study and review time. Once you have spaced out your studying schedule, it later enables distributed practice. If you've studied something enough times over a period of time, you will begin to remember it without ever needing a trigger cue. It will just come naturally.

Try these tips and you will find studying a lot easier. Now your goals won't just be an ambition, it will be an achievement.