SKILLS & LEARNING
RESOURCES AND ADVICE FOR STUDENTS Taking a step back is often the best step forward. Whether individuals are studying Nutrition & Dietetics or are already working, those who are able to take some time to re-evaluate their approach and improve it are often the most productive.
Naomi Oxberry RD Naomi graduated from the University of Nottingham as a Registered Dietitian and currently works across the National Health Service and the private sector. She has a Masters from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
REFERENCES Please visit: nhdmag.com/ references.html
When struggling at university, it is important to try to pinpoint exactly what it is that you are finding hard, in order to be able to find a solution. Perhaps you are struggling with the volume of work needed? Perhaps it is the content? Or maybe it is something unrelated to the degree and you are struggling with the university lifestyle. After asking students what they are most likely to struggle with, here I offer some advice on how to tackle key questions. “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT LEARNING”
Learning is very individual, but there is some science to it. Research suggests the best way is to actively test yourself, known as active recall. Retrieving information from memory, relative to passively rereading notes, boosts learning.1 It improves retention of information,2 slows forgetting3 and facilitates the
use of information in new situations.4 Although there are lots of ways to learn, active recall has been shown to be the best. When coupled with ‘spaced repetition’, the efficacy of active recall is amplified. Spaced repetition is where one actively recalls the topic in question regularly and over time. Ideally, active recall of a specific subject would be progressively more spaced out. Ali Abdaal has developed a great way to do this.5 He suggests making a spreadsheet and documenting when you go over learning material. He then recommends giving yourself a generic mark for how well you know that section. For example, if you go through your obesity questions and know everything, you can give yourself 5/5. If, however, you didn’t feel like you did as well as you would like, you can score lower (see Table 1). Using a spreadsheet like the one shown in Table 1 means that you can see
Table 1: Example spreadsheet and score card for learning Week starting
Subject
Score
Subject
Score
14.12.2020
Renal Disease
3
Obesity
5
Paediatrics
2
Metabolics
1
21.12.2020
Paediatrics
5
Metabolics
3
Renal Disease
5
Arthritis
4
Next Week
Paediatrics
TBA
Metabolics
TBA
Arthritis
TBA
Obesity
TBA
50
www.NHDmag.com March 2021 - Issue 161
Subject
Score
Subject
Score
