2 use effective study strategies
Re-reading slides and re-writing notes are not very effective uses of your time. Thankfully, there is a wealth of research* that demonstrates which strategies are effective for learning. According to the authors of Ace that Test, there are five core strategies:
- retrieval practice – bringing concepts to mind without looking at your notes or other resources (Ch. 8)
- concrete examples – identifying or creating a variety of concrete examples that help you make sense of abstract concepts (Ch. 9)
- dual coding – using visuals alongside words to explain and describe a concept (Ch. 10)
- elaboration – describe and explain how things work (Ch. 11)
- interleaving – mixing up the concepts you are studying in a given session (Ch. 12)
Read the corresponding chapters for the “how-to” of each of these strategies. You should use a combination of these strategies as you study keeping in mind that just because something feels difficult doesn’t mean that you’re not learning from it. Learning requires you to create and modify your cognitive structures and that takes work! If you’ve tried a strategy a few times and it’s not working for you, modify it.
These strategies are flexible in that they are a starting place for you to determine what is most effective for you and specific content. For example, concrete examples may be easier for you to identify in Pharmacology as compared to Optics. Maybe Optics isn’t suited for this strategy, or maybe you need some guidance from peers or instructors on how to modify this approach for the course. Get curious and seek help when things feel difficult.
*Chapter 2 of Ace that Test dives into the details of the research that supports the use of these strategies if you would like to know more about how their effectiveness has been studied.