Study How You Study

by Shaleisha Nicole Maza

Online education has replaced the traditional “learning from school” scheme in lieu of the pandemic. With an entirely different environment, students face unprecedented challenges as they adjust to new habits. Many may also be in the process of discovering their preferred learning style to fit the needs of the school year. Students may have tried studying habits such as studying for long periods of time, massed or blocked practice, reading and rereading a text, highlighting important concepts and reviewing them, and rewriting lecture notes. Unbeknownst to many, these are also some of the ineffective study methods that take up time and are an illusion of mastery (Kang, 2019).

Effective learning comprises two important elements: comprehension and memorization. It is important to comprehend the material one is studying before actually memorizing it. (Jubbal, K., 2020). It is also essential for one to be engaged in intense learning techniques. This means focusing on studying less with greater intensity rather than studying for longer periods of time but not absorbing anything. This learning style is called Active Learning, or more commonly known as Active Recall, and is defined as “educational methods in which students are involved in higherorder thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). The term therefore primarily reflects what is going on in a student’s mind, whether or not the body (or the mouth) is physically active” (Neal, 2010 as cited in Active Learning Strategies, n.d.). In other words, it involves retrieving information from memory through testing one’s self at every stage of the revision process. The basic elements of this learning technique include talking and listening, reading, writing, and reflecting, comprising the components under the different study methods.

Each individual has a different learning style varying from four groups: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading & writing. This is why it is essential to understand how one works more effectively before shifting to a new learning style. However, there are a variety of techniques to cater to every unique learner:

1. The Feynman Technique

The idea of this technique is to explain things simply. This is done by writing the topic on top of the paper and what the individual knows about its content as the body of the text. The aim is to write the information down as concisely as possible, as if one is explaining the topic to a 5-year-old. After which, the student goes over the content repeatedly and checks for mistakes, errors, or complex language.

2. Mind Mapping

This technique helps organize one’s thoughts and visually sort out information, as well as to identify the relationships between these concepts similar to a map.

3. Spaced Repetition

From the name itself, it means to study repetitively in intervals after the lecture or learning a new topic. This study technique focuses on preserving information for longer periods of time.

DAY 1 Learn the material in class

DAY 2 Revisit and review

DAY 3 Revisit and review

AFTER 1 WEEK Revisit and review

AFTER 2 WEEKS Revisit and review

4. Practice Tests

Despite this being an underrated technique, this helps students with their academics by applying what they studied to retain information and correct their mistakes before the actual exam. Also, practice tests give a glimpse of the content and similar questions of the actual exam. Before a quiz, try to find practice tests in textbooks or online.