How to Study More Efficiently & Effectively
Let’s say you play a musical instrument – or perhaps you’re on a sports team. In either case, you wouldn’t head into a recital or a championship game by just “looking over” your sheet music (or your playbook) for an hour or two the night before.
Rather, you’d practice, review, and rehearse – over and over – the precise notes and plays you needed to perform. And after all that preparation, your game-day confidence wouldn’t be based on a flimsy feeling, but on reliable feedback: a deep grasp of the material and a strong belief that you put in the hours and were ready for the challenge.
Right?
Well, we think preparing for a test should be no different. However, most students go into exams by re-reading information they already know and glossing over more important material in a cursory fashion. Sure, some may cram for a few hours the night before (or in the period just before their test), but very few approach these academic tasks with the resolve they demonstrate in other arenas of their lives.
Then, when results are back, students are surprised – in fact, they often repeat the same steps for the next exam, continuing the cycle without any change in the results.
The good news is that there is another way. You may be pleased to learn that there are research-based strategies for studying for exams. When implemented, these study strategies will yield better results and ensure your time investment in studying is more effective and efficient.
Don’t Study What You Know
Studying what you don’t know is hard. No one wants to admit a lack of knowledge – we would rather be experts than learners. But when studying for a test, you must avoid the pitfall of studying the material you are already good at.
For instance, if studying makes you feel confident in your understanding, that means you’re likely reviewing information that you’re already familiar with. This wastes time and yields a false sense of confidence in your anticipated exam results.
If you have a study guide, look over your study guide and rate the information from 1 (“I don’t know it”) to 5 (“I know it well enough to teach it to others”). Rate all vocabulary words, facts, theorems, formulas, concepts, and key ideas.
Be honest; if you think you’re a five, quiz yourself and see how well you are able to explain the concept (without looking at your notes!). Any level of hesitation or mistakes means that you’re not a 5.
Once you have identified the material you actually need to study, start with what you rated 1s and 2s. Your aim is not to know everything to a level-5 understanding, but to at least a level 3.
If a study guide isn’t available, review the chapters that are going to be on the test and outline the concepts, vocabulary words, facts, theorems and key ideas. Not everything may be on a test, so it is best to ask your teacher or professor what will be primary focuses, or else gauge from your lecture notes regarding which concepts the instructor has spent the most time on.
Use the Four Rs
When preparing for a test, it can be tempting to simply “look over” your notes. However, a test measures how well you are able to recall the information from memory – and use the information to answer different types of questions. So reviewing your notes passively may not be enough to cement information in your memory.
In order to store it in your long-term memory, it is best to use the four Rs: review, reteach, rehearse and repeat.
Review: Start by reviewing your notes or rereading select chapters. You may want to take your notes or readings from the chapter and summarize the information on an index card. The goal here is to condense the information to the essential and most important information.
Reteach: Your instructor presents information in a way that they prefer to present information, but this way may not always align with your learning preferences. Once you have reviewed your notes and readings, select key concepts and attempt to reteach or re-explain to yourself. You can talk aloud, ask someone else to be the “student” (like a sibling or stuffed animal), or record yourself and watch the video. Aim to reteach without using complex language – and bonus points if you deploy concrete examples.
Rehearse: Waiting until the test to determine how well you know the information is risky; it’s best to rehearse and quiz yourself to see how well you know the information. Whether its finding three unassigned math problems and doing them without your notes to practice problem-solving, or flipping through your flashcards systematically, it is important to test yourself before the real test. As they say in sportsball, “practice how you play!”
Repeat: The frequency of your study sessions may depend on the material. Avoid using the same amount of effort and time to study for all your tests - instead, vary the degree and frequency of your efforts based on how well you know the material already.
Explain Often & Variously
Similar to reteaching information to better understand it, you enhance retention by a large degree if you practice explaining it in different ways. Whether using pop culture references or drawing on connections to other subject areas, the more ways you reexamine and repackage material, the more effectively it encodes in your long-term memory.
Schedule Your Studying
Studying for a test shouldn’t happen sporadically when you feel like studying. Such an approach runs the risk of delaying till the last minute, creating unnecessary anxiety and leaving you ultimately unprepared.
Instead, it’s best to schedule your studying in your preferred journal, agenda book, or calendar app. Here’s a quick and dirty method:
Determine your test date and put it in your calendar. If you are using an app or digital calendar like Google Calendar, you can make your final exam schedule its own color to more readily distinguish it from other events.
Then determine how much time you can dedicate to studying before your test – as well as when you can reasonably be expected to conduct study sessions.
Allocate anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour for each study session; avoid longer sessions, as there are diminishing returns due to the human brain’s inability to remain focused. Your exclusive aim should remain to identify the information you need to study, then reviewing, reteaching and rehearsing that information.
You may have other projects or assignments due around the same time, so make sure not to dilute your study sessions with unrelated coursework, or you’ll arrive on test day less prepared than you set out to be!
Keep in mind when you are scheduling your study sessions to anticipate other commitments, and avoid setting unreasonable expectations – after all, you don’t want to leave yourself discouraged right before a big exam! And remember, shorter, more productive spurts are superior to longer, less productive “cram sessions.”
Rest & Relax
Lastly, studying is a labor-intensive process for your brain. It can be exhausting to remain focused while completing practice problems or recalling detailed facts and figures. So it’s important to incorporate breaks into your study sessions: in fact, rest periods after study sessions are when your brain works hardest to translate, encode, and structure the learning material in efficient ways.
For every 30-minute session, aim to take a 5-minute break that involves stepping away from screens and doing something active. If you have completed several 30-minute study sessions, you may want to take a longer 15- to 30-minute break.
Studying for a final exam is a significant undertaking, comparable to preparing for a major recital or stepping onto the field for a crucial playoff game. Just as you strive to excel in those situations, it‘s essential to ensure that your preparation matches the level of performance you desire in academic work.
With the approaches delineated above, your preparation will align with your desired performance, setting the stage for success in your exams.
Enlist a Tutor to Help Streamline Your Process
At North Avenue Education, our study skills tutors are here to support you as you prepare – and build up your toolkit with test-taking strategies, habits, and skills that will help you overcome any exam (or obstacle) ahead of you. Contact us today to get started.
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