By Dr. C
Before we begin
I know, sounds odd, huh? But before you even crack those books there are
some simple steps you can take which will dramatically increase the efficiency
of your study time and decrease the number of hours you have to put in. As
strange as it seems, the psychological factors are just as important as the
physical ones in determining our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. When you
approach your work in a well prepared space mentally, you'll be more receptive
to information, pay better attention and remember more than approaching the
task haphazardly. What you need is to work smarter, not harder.
Most of these techniques are not secret and are generally pretty simple,
so what's the catch? People don't do 'em & they don't work if you don't do
'em. Often, with complex topics or advanced material people feel that there
needs to be a more difficult way, but really the basic techniques are the same
and can be tailored and adapted to just about any subject or learning style.
So that's the good news, the bad news - you really have to do all these
things, I don't mean religiously, but consistently. The research has shown that
periods of spaced, massed practice, or in English, lots of little learning
episodes to be a better technique for learning and retaining information. So,
much like with physical fitness training, a few minutes everyday will pretty
soon build your stamina, an once you get going, learning is actually usually
pretty enjoyable for people - mostly because as adults there are less likely to
be required subjects we can't stand, so ther's usually at least a passing
interest in the material. As with going to the gym, you have to keep at it, but
it eventually becomes self reinforcing and the sense of mastering a
topic/aspect of some material is what keeps legions of academics slaving away.
Getting started
So, you've decided to go back to school? - or
you've never left, either way you need a way to maximize your study and
minimize the drama.Here are some tips which should help you make the most of
your time.
1. Make the space
So, first things first - the space. Whether you're a full time student
or just taking a couple of classes, the first thing you need is a quiet,
comfortable space with minimal distractions - if you don't have a separate
room, use a corner of your bedroom, or the kitchen. I wrote most of my
dissertation at a kitchen table because that's where it was most comfortable to
work (and believe me, there wasn't a whole lot of cooking coming out of the
kitchen at that time). Your workspace is more than a place to study, you need
to make sure that when you enter that space, you know exactly what comes next -
work, and only work. Don't use the space to catch up on your bills or phone
calls unless you have no other alternative. That way it prepares your brain to
expect and focus on only one task.
2. Make the time
Switch off your phone, block the time off in your day planner, call your
best friend to tell them that from 3-5p you will be studying today - you need
to train other people as well as yourself (and the act of telling someone you
plan to do something also increases the chances you'll follow through &
let's face it, sometime we need all the help we can get). This is your time to
do this task, if you're trying to write a paper and it's just not flowing, take
a 5 minute break, take a walk, stretch, eat something, but go back and sit
there until your time is up for that day.
3. Have everything you need
There is no better excuse to short circuit a study session than a broken
pencil - make sure there is no good reason for you to leave your space. You
need plenty of paper, pens, pencils and whatever other stationary you'll need.
If you don't have a desk, put your stuff together in one of those tote boxes
and give it a specific place to live. That way it's always there when you need
it.
4. Keep organized
One of the most difficult aspects of a self study program is pacing. Use
whatever works best for you - a planner, desktop, pda - anything that you
always have on you and look at regularly. Write down assignment due dates, break
down projects into sections and plot out what you need to do each day, make
task lists and tick them off, but keep on top of stuff. When you are stressed
your brain is in survival mode, not writing a term paper mode and you just
don't think as clearly. Anticipate deadlines, approach projects in small chucks
- and don't forget to reward yourself for a job well done!
5. Determine your learning style
How do you learn best - by hearing information? by
reading information? Most of use have one of these as a dominant style, find
which one suits you better, or combine them. Some people are primarily tactile
(they learn by feeling the shape, texture, weight of the object) or kinesthetic
(these people need to move around when studying so using tapes while you're at
the gym may be a good strategy for this learning style. While you should focus
on your dominant learning style,the best way to encode information and make
sure it stays there is to use a combination of strategies. Read the
keywords/phrases out loud to yourself, consider taping lectures so you can just
listen & ask questions in class, later make notes from your tapes..
6. Keep it interesting
Do whatever it takes, if you like colors, color
code, if you're crafty, make yourself a desk organizer, get a cool notebook or
binder - or get a pen you really love to write with. Being in a space which is
organized and attractive is likely to make you want to stay there longer - and
the more effort you put into something the more you are likely to get out, so
put some time into creating your space, your organization system and your mind
set so you only have to do it once. Much of our times wasting comes from
interruptions, procrastination, misplaced objects and not having the correct
tools at hand. Get these out of the way at the beginning and you'll find that
you maximize your productivity and minimize your study time - and that's good,
'cos it means more me time.
Got the place, got the space - now what?
There are 3 basic elements to a successful study plan:- organization,
planning/time management and effective study techniques. So, what exactly are
good study techniques? We often assume, especially if people are beyond high
school, that people have learned good study techniques or they wouldn't have
got this far, but the fact is that many people, even those with advanced
degrees don't really know how to study.
To be effective you need to know yourself - are you a night owl? great
study at night; an early bird, perhaps 5am is your time. Be aware of the times
you feel most and least energetic and try to schedule study time during these
hours. Some people like to study in bath - and if the laundromat at 6am works
for you, you'll have clean laundry too. You are going to be the most valuable
tuning and tweaking tool. Just make that space work for you.
What is intimidating for many people about studying is that they don't
know how to approach it and are put off by high volume. When approached
systematically, there is virtually no material that cannot be broken down and
learned over a period of time. Remember too, this is a process of conditioning
your brain and strengthening associational links between neurons - yup, you
actually lay down a physical trace when you learn something, you physically
alter the brain - and the more you repeat the learning, the bigger the path
gets and the easier it it to find and negotiate, but Rome was not built in a
day - you have to put in the time, but frequent, regular practice makes almost
anything conquerable - remember how hard it was to learn to drive a stick
shift?
The nuts and bolts
·
Break your study time into ½ hour
blocks, study for 25 minutes, rest for 5 minutes, increase the break time by 5
minutes for each additional 25 minutes, so at the end of the next 25 minutes,
take a 10 minute break, after the next 25 minutes take 15 minutes. You probably
shouldn’t have to spend more than 1 ½ to 2 hours a day on homework/studying,
3-4 at the graduate level. If you feel that you are doing more than this talk
with your teacher or re-examine and tweak your learning plan - it's not set in
stone, it's an organic, flexible guiding system..
·
When studying, highlight the key
points in a different color
·
Keep an organizer – one organizer where you
write all your school assignments, notes, appointments etc.
·
Decide on your filing system. Carry one binder, or notebook
with different sections. Get one that has pockets in between the sections so
you can put papers you haven’t filed yet in there. Carry your organizer in one
of the pockets and you will have everything in one place.
·
Color code things for different
priorities e.g.: red for all tasks you need to do today, green for things you
need to do this week and blue for things due in more than a week.
Mind maps
So, how do you approach the intimidating 300 page textbook? just how do
you break the information down? The best place to start is usually your index
or table of contents as this provides you with the initial skeletal structure
for your material. It may help to use a large piece of paper so that you can
connect different sections. This not only gives you an overview (literally),
which helps in tying information together and structures your thinking, but as
you develop your topic, you'll begin to see links between aspects you didn't
notice before.
Another benefit of this method- it's called
associational or deep learning, is that the brain encodes the information
better. Just like the paths we talked about earlier, the more connections and
meaningful associations (and it can be meaningful only to you) you make to the
material, the better it is encoded, retained and retrieved. Mind maps are a
technique described below that uses this method.
·
Begin in the center with your topic
·
Write down everything you know about
that topic branching off from the center
·
Review your notes
·
In a different color add in facts you
missed
·
Try to link each fact with another
one e.g.: Renaissance means rebirth, so what was it a rebirth from? The dark
ages, what happened? The industrial revolution and the invention of the
printing press significantly changes social, economic and political factors.
How did they do this? Information was translated into the vernacular or common
language so all people could understand. Previously it was all in Latin and
generally only priests or the very wealthy could read, this limited the
exchange of ideas and information (one of the reasons that the period before
this was known as the dark ages), with more access to information, people began
questioning what they had been told by the church (as they could now read the
bible themselves), this led to a shift in social structure from the feudal land
system. This also influenced politics as the church lost much power as people began
to realize that ’buying forgiveness’ was not necessary, despite what they had
been told by the church. Two of the best illustrations of the Renaissance
spirit of inquiry and search for knowledge are Leonardo Da Vinci and
Michaelangelo (from here go on and fill in what you know about each of them).
·
Each branch should contain a central
fact, key word or short sentence, which links to the next one and the next one.
That way, each piece of information will trigger other pieces of information.
This makes it much easier to learn large chunks of information.
·
Try to use different colors for
different themes or topics
·
Put the mind maps on pieces of card
stock which you can tack up on the wall so that you can see them, that way you
will constantly reinforce your learning.
·
You can also write the summary words
on 3x5 index cards, so that you can carry them with you and review them when
you need to.
Mnemonics
This is another technique which helps you remember large chucks of
information. Both mind maps and mnemonics are often useful for subjects like
History or Social Science where you often have to learn large amounts of information.
For example, if you were trying to learn the information above, you could try
something like this:
Renaissance means rebirth
Renaissance followed ‘the dark ages’
Industrial revolution & printing press
Vernacular increased availability of knowledge
Increased focus on science and technology
Clashes with corrupt church
Change from feudal land system
Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo
Take the first letter of a key word or phrase and try to make it into a
word. The stranger the word the more likely you are to remember. So, for the
above information you could make the word CCLIVRR (clever)
Clashes with a corrupt church
Changes in the feudal land system
Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo
Increased focus on science and technology
Vernacular, or common language used leading to increase of knowledge
Renaissance means rebirth
Renaissance followed the ‘dark ages’
·
Using this method, like with mind
maps you only have to remember a small piece of information, and then each
piece of information helps you link to another piece.
·
Using either of these techniques will
also help you to see the overall picture of a subject. People who pay a lot of
attention to detail, often miss the overall sense of a situation, so using
these study methods should help you in that area too.
·
These techniques should also help you
with planning and organization as there is a specific method to follow. You can
break down almost any block of information this way.
·
You can also use the mind map in
reverse where you use it to create something – like the plot for a movie. Just
follow the same steps, putting everything you think of down, even if you don’t
think you will use it. This method often helps people be more creative as it
works much more similarly to the way our brain works.
·
If have a project, you can use this
system to help organize your thoughts and prevent getting overwhelmed by
information.
·
Put your topic in the center
·
Break down the sections of your paper
– if it’s a scientific paper you probably need a section for hypothesis,
observation, discussion, conclusion etc, for social science you might break it
up into an introduction, description of the event or people, what happened,
what was the impact, how did this change things etc.
·
Put down the key words you associate
with each section and then branch off from these. Link similar concepts with
color so that your paper flows well.
·
Other activities that can help to
build your attention, concentration and memory are crosswords, word searches,
memory games or Suduko etc. Even doing one of these things a day consistently
will improve your memory and attention.
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