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1. LRCs Top Ten . . .Study Strategies
3. #2: Take notes in the text use your highlighter cautiously!
If youre going to highlight, make sure you use your highlighter sparingly to identify the really important main ideas.
Best Way?
Write short summaries, questions or comments in the margin of the text.
helps you to engage with the text and gives you a running record of your understanding
Or . . .
Take notes in a separate notebook
Remember you are synthesizing and summarizing, not copying.
4. #3: Review your notes within 24 hours True or False?
Without ongoing review we lose 98% of the total sum of ideas entering the mind within a 4 week period of time.
True!
Review your class notes within 24 hours in order to transfer what youve heard from your short term to long term memory
Take a few minutes each day to skim through your notes, fill in information you missed, and identify questions you have.
5. #4: Study for an exam with the format in mind
Not all exam questions are created equal.
Modify your study strategies to reflect the type of thinking skills required on the exam.
Have a sense of how many questions will be on the exam so that you can allot enough time to each question.
6. #5: Study actively Sound familiar?
You have a Psychology midterm tomorrow, but you feel confident that you know the material.
Youve read all the chapters and reviewed your lecture notes.
You take the exam and it seems as though the questions dont represent the information you were told to study.
What went wrong? . . .
7. So, how do I do that?
Draw diagrams or charts representing relationships between ideas
Work through practice problems and old exam questions
Create a study group and quiz each other
Cover up your notes and talk through a concept as though you were teaching it to someone else.
Make flash cards or study sheets and review them regularly.
8. #6: Form a Study Group Some facts about study groups:
Provide
greater opportunities to question, review, clarify, and discuss.
an audience to read, respond to, and discuss their drafts of their papers.
Encourage a variety of problem-solving strategies.
Help
reduce procrastination
increase motivation
ease anxiety.
9. Okay, I have a study group . . .now what? IMPORTANT! Set an agenda to make sure your study session doesnt become a social session
Practice problem-solving techniques
Practice teaching one another
Test each other
Compare class notes
Have each group member take responsibility for leading a discussion on one part of an assignment
10. #7: Make Your Time Visual Gives you more control over your use of time.
Write due dates on a monthly or semester calendar.
Create a weekly schedule with designated study times.
Make to do lists cross off items when you complete them
Keep your calendar and to do lists in a highly visible spot refer to them regularly
11. #8: Be Conscious of Your Environment and Time of Day Environment
Can mean the difference between productively completing an assignment and staring blankly into space
Consider
level of background noise
level of comfort
types of distractions.
Time of Day
Study your most difficult subjects when you are most alert, whether that be at 7am or 11:30pm.
12. #9: If You Have Trouble Beginning a Paper. . . Just Write! Freewriting
Instead of staring at a blank screen, just start typing whatever comes into your head
Once youve had a chance to purge, begin directing your freewriting to ideas that are relevant to your paper.
What if that doesnt work?
Discuss your ideas with a friend
Ask your friend to just listen and write down what you say so that you have a record of your thoughts to use as the basis for your paper.
13. #10: Get to Know Your Professors and TAs Why?
Theyre experts in the content of the course
Theyve studied this material themselves
Theyre well-positioned to help you develop effective study strategies in that particular course/discipline
The more they know you the more they can help you
Visit office hours BEFORE you begin having problems
Make an appointment at the beginning of the semester so that your professors and TAs know who you are and how they can help you.
14. Do You Want to Know More? Meet with a Learning Instructor to learn more about how to integrate these 10 strategies into your study repertoire:
Call 573-9235 to make an appointment, M-F, 9-5pm.
Come to walk-in hours, M-F, 12-3pm.
Visit our website and download self-helps and learning tools, www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc.