How to Study
Try to relate what you are learning to your personal experience.  Talk about what you are studying with your friends,  parents and teachers.  Consider peer tutoring - teaching fellow students.  It may sound like a big commitment which benefits someone else, but we learn best what we have to teach.  Discussing difficult concepts with others often provides details which you can use as 'anchors' to help you remember them better.  The more time you spend concentrating on the subject, the better will be your recall.  That's ACTIVE studying.

"But I studied my notes, my tests, last year's exam and the textbook!!" 

Classic passive study technique - “reading my notes” or “reading the text”
What’s wrong with that?

1.  Takes too long (or not, if you have lousy notes).
2.  You spend as much time on trivia as on key information, on what you already know as what you don’t know.
3.  You are using someone else’s organization and language, which may be meaningless to you - “in one ear and out the other”.
4.  You aren’t doing what the test will demand - on the test you will have recall and write, not read!
5.  You don’t find out what you really know until you write the test, when it’s too late to do anything about it!
6.  You’ll probably put yourself to sleep.

Active studying:

1. Is multi-sensory - see it, say it , hear it, touch it, write it.
2.  Is regular and frequent - repetition is needed to move material from short term to long term memory.
3.  Requires thinking to select, organize and condense high value information so it can be mastered.
4.  Active study produces products which can be used over and over at odd moments
5.  Active studying makes use of the way the human memory works.

Memory Characteristics

Written language has led us to neglect our long term memory.
Meaningless information is difficult to memorize.
We remember the beginning and end of a list better.
We remember lists better if we know how many items are in the list.
We remember better things that are linked or associated.

Active Study Techniques

Methods of Study

1. Cover and test method

This method is good for spelling, definitions, vocabulary lists, etc.

a) Read the material

b) Cover the material; either say it or write it.

c) Check to see which facts you omitted.

d) Cover and repeat.
 

2. Studying with a partner

This technique involves asking a friend, brother, sister, or parent to question you from your notes.  This can be effective only if you have a complete set of notes and if you can stay on topic.  It can reinforce what you leave already learned and help to get the facts sorted into a logical sequence.
This technique will not be effective if you use it as a first step in studying.  It is important that you have already tried one of the other study methods by yourself first.
 

3. Recite aloud

Just as reading aloud improves your concentration, reciting aloud will enable you to learn faster.  For example, if you are trying to memorize something, repeat it several times aloud.  Your mind will have to concentrate to recall, and you will be listening to what you are saying.
 

4. Overlearning

Most students can easily recite the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty", and yet they find it difficult to remember facts learned in class the day before.  Why is this so?  As a child, you recited it so many times after learning it that it became impossible to forget.  This is called overlearning.  If you frequently review material after learning it thoroughly in study, you will overlearn and never forget!
 

5. Study Notes

Put the main heading at the top of the page.  In the margin put the sub-heading (or word to be defined).  Beside it, put the facts or (or definition) in point form.  Finally cover the points and test yourself as you look only at what is in the margin.
 
 

6. Be a Teacher -- Test Yourself

One of the most effective study methods is to prepare and then answer your own questions.
a) Study your notes well.
b) Prepare questions which you think the teacher could ask on the test.  Get these questions f rom tests, f rom questions you make up, from homework questions.
c) Without looking at your notes, answer the questions.
d) Use you notes to "mark" you test.
e) Correct your errors.
f) If you have a friend in the same course, do each other's tests.

You will be surprised at the number of questions you made up that are the same as those on the real test! Remember: This technique works only after you have spent some time in actual study.
 

7. SQ4R Study Method

SURVEY

Preview the book and chapters.  Look at the table of contents, index, chapters, headings, graphs, tables, diagrams, and questions at the end of a particular chapter.  Get an overall view of the book or chapter or selection.

QUESTION

Change chapter and sectional headings to questions. Write out questions, and see if you can answer any.

READ

Keep the questions in mind as you read and attempt to answer them.

RECALL

Think about what you just read, and see if you can recall the important points.

WRITE

Jot down the major ideas and clues you may wish to remember.  Write the answers to the questions.

REVIEW

Examine your answers, correct or fill in more detail.  Observe any errors or weak spots.  Return to the material and re-write if necessary.  Have you understood the material, can you delineate the general and main ideas, and supporting details?  Do you have a good idea of the sequence and the concepts?  Do you feel you now have understood and can recall the answers to the questions, and the central ideas?  It may be necessary to repeat some of the steps.
The chart below demonstrates the importance of timing and scheduling review. Answer the questions below the graph to see a bit about what review does for you.
ChartObject Retention of Information

If you do not review, how much will you remember 7 days later?  ______ %

If you review a day after you learn it, how much will you remember 7 days later?  ______ %

If you review on day 8 as well, how much will you remember 7 days after that?  ______ %

Studies show that if you review something only 10 minutes after you learn it, you enhance the learning (and therefore the remembering) even more!