1. Space It Out (Spaced Practice)
- Like music, sports, theater, etc. – regular practice.
- 5 hours spread over 2 weeks is better than 5 hours all at once.
- Think of a topic you read about a few chapters back. What were the main ideas?
5 Strategies to supercharge your studying & learning
2. Test Yourself (Retrieval Practice)
- Do practice tests or create your own.
- Flash cards.
- Write out what you’ve learned from memory.
3. Seek Meaning & Connection (Elaboration)
- Be the teacher & explain it to someone - How does this work and why?
- Connect ideas together - How are they similar or different?
- Think about how what you just read connects to something you already know.
4. Mix It Up (Interleaving)
- Switch topics/ideas in one study session.
- Go back over ideas in a different order.
- Work different kinds of problems instead of the same ones over and over in a row.
5. Enhance Your Memory (Dual Coding; Mnemonics)
- Chunk it up & find patterns – use rhymes, songs, stories, acronyms.
- “Surprise Seeing” – create an exciting, surprising, ridiculous moving image.
- There are other strategies for remembering numbers, dates, languages, etc.
References
Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel. 2014. Make It Stick:
The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Carey, Benedict. 2014. How We Learn:
The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens. New York: Random House.
Doyle, Terry, and Todd Zakrajsek. 2013. The New Science of Learning:
How to Learn in Harmony with Your Brain. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Dunlosky, John, Katherine A. Rawso, Elizabeth J. Marsh, et al. 2013. “Improving Students’ Learning with Effective Learning Techniques:
Promising Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1):4-58.
The Learning Scientists https://www.learningscientists.org/