Learning How To
Learn Better:
Developing
Effective Study
Skills
How Do I Prepare Better?
• Step 1: Know how you best learn.
• Step 2: Evaluate what you’re doing.
• Step 3: “Play” to your strengths.
• Step 4: Develop a plan of action.
• Step 5: Carry out that plan.
• Step 6: Decide what worked (or didn’t).
• Step 7: Adjust and begin at step 2 again.
http://www.studygs.net/activelearn.htm
Be an Effective Learner
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Understand your learning style
Identify your strengths and use them
Predict mismatch in your learning experience
Anticipate/accept discomfort in some learning situations
Develop skills in non-preferred styles
Seek others with a different styles to develop new skills
Develop excellent thinking skills:
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Organize knowledge and facts
Look for patterns in a new task
Look for connections to find deeper understanding
Try different learning strategies; learn when to apply them
Be self-aware about when you do or don’t understand
Seek to understand
NOTE TAKING
• Use a note-taking system.
– There are many “systems” out there.
– Which system is not as important as using a
predictable, thought-out technique for taking
notes.
– Modify them to suit your needs.
NOTE TAKING
• Do a Google search to find out more
“systems”.
– Here are just a few examples:
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The Cornell Method
The Outline Method
The Mapping Method
The Charting Method
The Sentence Method
The 2-6 Method
SQR3
The Cornell
Note-taking
System
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Record notes with NO
UNCESSARY words.
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Write questions that help
do MORE than just recall
definitions. Ask about
cause/effect,
relationships, etc.
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Recite
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Reflect
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Review
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Summarize
NOTE TAKING
• Use “speedwriting.”
– Mst stdnts cn lrn spdwrtng in svrl mnts. Jst omt
ll or mst vwls.
• Use color-coding techniques.
– Use different colors to record ideas presented
in class and found in the text or readings. For
example, use blue to code major ideas and
green to code links to previously learned
material.
STUDYING
• Schedule a time to study each day or at
least every other day (whether you have
homework or not!)
• Stay organized.
• Review and organize notes as soon after
class as possible.
• Try to review the previous day’s notes
before the next class begins.
STUDYING
• Vary study activities. Do things other than read.
Think of techniques we discussed.
• When you read, get the MOST out of it!
– Read an assignment for 25 minutes. You lose 85% of
your input after the first 25 minutes, so reading longer
can be a waste of time.
– Read summary/section headings before you begin.
– Underline, highlight, jot down main points.
– After twenty-five minutes, take a break.
– After your break, review all marked material.
– Repeat until you’ve finished reading and you do a final
review (after a break).
STUDYING
• After studying, be sure you can restate or
explain the material in your own words,
with your own examples.
• Mark anything you do not understand and
look for answers (textbook, websites,
classmates, or teacher).
• Make flashcards of important terms,
concepts, vocabulary. Define everything in
your own words.
STUDYING
• Try to intentionally “remember” things
different ways. It’s like filing a sheet of
paper in one place in a file drawer OR
making copies and filing it under several
headings.
– Use the room you’re studying to “hook” onto.
Associate information with an object or
location. As you study, be consistent. On the
test you can visualize your room to help recall.
– Make mind maps.
Mind Maps
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Shows “structure” of subject
Shows links between things
Has “raw facts” like normal notes
Easy to remember.
Quick to review
Shows the relative importance of individual
points
• Shows how facts relate to each other.
• More compact than “notes”
To make a mind map
• Start with a word or idea and find an image that
represents it.
• Subtopics branch off main center.
• Use single words or simple phrases
• Start with an image that represents the main
concept.
• Use images whenever possible
• Size of “branches” should show importance
• Put different concepts on different branches
• Use color to separate / distinguish ideas
• Use colors for branches and terms
• Use cross-linkage to show how one part affects
another
STUDYING
• Use mnemonics or memory
aids:
–Acrostics
–Acronyms
–Keywords
–Roman room
STUDYING
• ACROSTICS
– Use the first letter of each word to make a
sentence.
• My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine
Pizzas.
• Mercury, Venus Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
STUDYING
• ACRONYMN
– The first letter of each word forms a new one.
FBI
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
NASA
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SCUBA
• Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
STUDYING
• KEYWORDS
– Think of a word that reminds you of the
concept you’re trying to remember and then
find an image or sentence that combines the
two to represent the meaning.
– For example: The Spanish word, dormir
means to sleep. To remember that one could
say, "Norm sleeps in the dorm.”
STUDYING
• ROMAN ROOM
– This technique works well with long lists. Think
of a room you know well. Imagine moving
from left to right, selecting different objects and
pieces of furniture. Important information is
then attached to a specific piece.
– For example, in order to remember the first ten
states to ratify the Constitution…
• Delaware could be connected to a Dell computer
• Pennsylvania, could be connected to a pencil to the
right of the computer
• And so on…
STUDYING
• Try to have a positive attitude.
• Find something useful or good
• How you feel about facts directly impacts
how well you can recall them.
• Learning is more effective and efficient
when the learner is relaxed
• Use humor. Access to learning is easier in
the future when it is connected to
something funny.
STUDYING
• Enhance your memory. You remember:
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about 10 percent of what you read.
about 20 percent of what you hear.
about 30 percent of what you see.
about 50 percent of what you hear and see together.
about 70 percent of what you say
(**if you think as you are saying it).
– about 90 percent of what you do.
• Plan to reward yourself for a job well-done.
How To Review
(See Handout)
Forgetting is most rapid right after
learning. Review helps combat this.
Relearning is easier if it is done quickly.
Don't wait until it's all gone. You have to start
over at the beginning.
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Learn the material.
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Review early!
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Space out review sessions.
TAKING TESTS
• Stress hormones can block
retrieval of information stored
in the brain.
• Learners in a state of fear or
stress have a harder time
learning
• When you're calm, your
memory returns.
Combating Test Anxiety
BEFORE the test
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Know what you have to be able to DO.
– Ask teacher
– Use the teacher’s secret list
• BLOOMS TAXONOMY
Blooms Taxonomy
Complexity
Very basic
Basic
Somewhat
Complex
Complex
More Complex
Very Complex
Level
Processes
Involved
Sample Products
1. Knowledge
remember, name, list,
memorize, repeat, define
facts, stories, lists,
definitions, formulas
2. Comprehension
understand, describe,
restate, explain, summarize,
identify
diagrams, puzzles,
stories, reports,
word problems
use, perform, apply, solve,
demonstrate, construct
maps, models,
formulas, art, word
problems, dialogues
take apart, classify, sort,
categorize, compare,
contrast
graphs, charts,
surveys, stories,
objects, models
5. Synthesis
create, compose, design,
develop, combine, plan
stories, articles,
poems, experiments,
hypotheses
6. Evaluation
judge, evaluate, rate, decide,
assess, criticize, defend
polls, panels, letters,
reviews, surveys,
simulations
3. Application
4. Analysis
Combating Test Anxiety
BEFORE the test
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Study. Be as prepared as you can be.
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Make up a one-page summary sheet of
material you’ve learned. This will help
you focus on what you really need to
know.
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Don't stay up all night studying.
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Bring everything you need to the exam
(pencils, calculators, etc.)
Combating Test Anxiety
DURING the test
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Read over the whole exam before
beginning to write anything.
Choose the easiest thing on the test and
do that first. Then do the next easiest
thing…
Stay in motion. If you get stuck, skip it
and come back.
Show your work. This may prove you
didn’t “cheat.”
Combating Test Anxiety
DURING the test
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Go for partial credit even if you’re not
100% sure.
Make your work legible.
If you don’t understand the instructions,
ask!
Don’t let yourself panic! Stay calm.
Breathe. Close your eyes. Roll your
neck. Relax.
Combating Test Anxiety
DURING the test
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Go back and check your work, if there’s
time.
Hand in your paper when time is called.
(Nothing makes an instructor/proctor more homicidal
than having to wrestle you to the floor to get your
paper!)