Last week on Instagram, I received a follow from user @psychvantage. A user who describes themselves as a digital content creator who encourages you to “use psychology to your advantage!” And me being me, how could I resist following back this apparent, up-and-coming psychology enthusiast!
@psychvantage’s post on the SQ4R method inspired the content in this post. The Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Relate, and Review, SQ4R process is a study and reading strategy designed to help process and retain written information. I won’t detail this specific method considering @psychvantage will soon be posting more study techniques in detail. Be sure to follow @PsychVantage on Instagram for helpful psychology tips! However, I will discuss some popular techniques that might help you better manage your time and improve your study skills if you’re a student at any level or someone intersted in how science might improve your life.
7 Tips for Effective Time Management
Take Useful Notes – Keep your course notes separate and organized, and make sure they’re accurate. If you take handwritten notes, you can try separate notebooks or clearly marked sections in a binder. If you take electronic notes, create separate folders for each course. Add and remove pages as necessary or add comments to your electronic notes.
Try different organizational techniques. One approach is to organize the material in outline form. Use Roman numerals for main points and alpha-characters for supporting points, etc. I also supply my students with outlines for each chapter. However, your instructor may be less generous! You can also create a concept map to help you organize your subject material. You might create analogies (i.e., comparing the retrieval from long-term memory to finding a book in the library) or explore possible mnemonics to help you remember the information.
Be sure to take some time to clean up your notes after class. Once you are confident that your material is accurate and well organized, it is time to commit it to memory. Read over your notes. Make sure you’re not reading faster than you’re understanding. You’ll want to make sure your information is accurate. Academic learning usually requires considerable effort (Bruning et al., 2004). If there’s something you don’t understand, review it. Now is the time for you to be an active learner.
Create a quiet study space that’s conducive to learning. Not your bed! You want to study, not nap. Choose an area that’s clutter and distraction-free—no TV or cell phone. If you’re like me and having a space that’s too quiet distracts you (strange, I know), you can listen to music. Streaming apps such as Spotify have excellent study playlists. Ask that others respect your quiet time.
Set specific, realistic goals. Be clear about what you’re going to study when you’re going to study, and for how long. Instead of thinking, “Between 7-8 pm, I’m going to study psychology. Choose which sections you’re going to read and gauge how long it takes before your interest starts to wane. Take breaks in between.
Figure out which study methods work best for you. Whether it’s the SQ4R or another study technique, find out what works best for you. Finding the best study techniques will take some practice, but you’ve got this!
Reward yourself. If you have trouble focusing when you study, reward yourself for sticking to your study schedule. Not only is this positive reinforcement, but it’s motivation! Make sure you choose a reward that’s meaningful to you. A long walk, visiting a friend, watching a favorite show. Rewarding yourself can provide instant gratification for a job well done.
I’m Organized, Now What?
Psychologists have conducted thousands and thousands of studies on memory and learning. What is memory and what have we learned about learning from the science of memory?
What is Memory?
Memory is the retention of information or experience over time. Without memory—our repository of accumulated learning—there would be no recollections of past joys or guilt or anger over painful events. We would instead live in the present forever. Each person would be a stranger. Every language would be unfamiliar. We couldn’t learn how to do simple tasks such as dressing ourselves or learn a new recipe without encountering a new challenge every day. You would even be a stranger to yourself. You would lack that continuous sense of self extending from your past to your momentary present.
The 3 Key Phases of Memory
It would help if you thought about memory in terms of 3 activities: Encoding, storage, and retrieval. These three activities are primary strategies in helping you improve your organization and study skills.
1. Encoding– Compare encoding to snapping a picture with your camera. Encoding is mentally taking in information about an event and linking old information to new information. To successfully encode, we must be paying attention.
2. Storage– If encoding is snapping a picture, storage is saving that picture to your camera’s memory card, your cell phone’s photo gallery, or maybe even a photo box if you’re nostalgic.
The science of memory suggests that we have two memory stores: short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).
LTM is thought to be relatively permanent memory stored in large amounts for an extended period of time. STM is memory has a limited capacity. We tend to hold items in our STM store for approximately 30 seconds unless we use strategies such as rehearsal or chunking to hold on to the items.
3. Retrieval-The last phase of memory is like downloading the photos from your camera, your cell phone’s gallery, or taking them out of your storage box. Retrieval is retrieving information for later use. Two types of retrieval are recognition and recall. Recall is retrieving previously learned information, think essay tests. Recognition is recognizing or identifying the learned material, think multiple-choice tests.
Improving Your Study Skills – Tips from the Science of Memory
The following skills take advantage of the things psychologists have learned from the science of memory. There are thousands and thousands of studies investigating learning and memory. Here are some tips you can use to help you improve your study skills.
1. Commit to learning the material. The more time you spend learning the material, the easier it will be to remember it. Engage in distributed practice, the practice of learning the material over several sessions rather than “cramming.”
2. Focus your attention and actively engage with the reading. Highlighting without intent and focus doesn’t help. Focus on the main points in your highlighting. Include this information in your outline or concept map as you’re organizing your notes. Textbooks are typically organized to help you identify key points. Rather than highlighting an entire paragraph, focus on the key points.
3. Rehearse, Interpret, and Practice Retrieval. While learning material initially, it helps to relate it to your life and attend to examples that help you do so. After class, rehearse the material over time to commit to memory.
It’s best to take notes by hand. However, if you find this painstakingly difficult, type your notes. Rewrite, type, or retype your notes. Some students find this exercise to be a good form of rehearsal.
Tell other people about what you’ve learned. Apply what you’ve learned to real-life situations. Find examples.
Many textbooks offer practice tests. Take the practice tests. Make up your own test questions or write out your key terms’ definitions without using your text. Be sure to check your answers.
4. Flashcards – Believe it or not, flashcards are still a very effective study tool. The key is to use them correctly.
Using flashcards correctly requires that you do not stop studying items because you’re familiar with them. Keep testing yourself. Research suggests that although repeated study does not necessarily affect exam performance, repeated testing does. The use of flashcards is a form of repeated testing, not simply studying.
Rather than using a textbook or technical term when making your flashcards, write down the definitions and descriptions in your own words. If an illustration of a term seems overly familiar, challenge yourself by reconstructing it or thinking of an applied scenario for it.
5. Don’t wait until right before an exam to review your material.
6. Sleep on it! If you are seriously trying to improve your memory and develop effective study habits, remember that the brain is a physical organ. Take care of your brain by resting, eating well, and getting a sufficient amount of sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep before a test helps to consolidate memories.
Consider this:
Memories are extraordinary and connect us to more than just the past. Some memories are quickly forgotten, and others we feel will last a lifetime. Some memories we can’t wait to share and others we hope to forget – such a delicate, complex process
Be sure to listen to my podcast Psychologically Speaking, available wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.
A podcast for anyone interested in understanding how psychology applies to everyday life!
