The Single Most Important Study Strategy You Will Ever Hear

College, Learning, Productivity 1 Comment

Please thank Cal Newport for this guest post. I will be writing up a post at his blog, Study Hacks, very soon. Cal is also a successful author, with two books entitled: How to Become a Straight A Student, and How to Win at College.

Studying

A Surprising Discovery

To research my second book I devised a simple plan. I would choose 50 students, all of whom had high GPAs, from a variety of schools and majors. Each student would besubjected to a tedious interview that extracts every last littledetail about their study habits.

My assumption was that each student would have his or her own custom-built toolbox of tactics. I would pick and present those that seemed most interesting.

But my assumption was wrong.

As I began to collect and review my interview material I kept stumbling across pieces of advice or strategies that appeared again and again. Even more unexpected, many of these repeat offenders were strategies I too had devised as part of my own academic turn around. I soon developed an astonishing theory: When it comes to making straight A’s, there seem to be a collection of universal laws— common strategies that almost any student who sets out to improve his or her performance will ultimately stumble upon. Like the laws of nature, they are fundamental.

One of the most prevalent of these straight-A laws, and arguably the most important, is the following:

The Quiz-and-Recall Method

Most students study using rote review. The method is simple. Collect all of your notes from both lecture and reading assignments, then read them silently to yourself, again and again, as many times as you can tolerate before you become overwhelmed by fatigue.

Conscientious students start a day or two in advance and are able to review everything several times. Less conscientious students wait until the night before — and are often still rote reviewing up to the literal last minute before the test. Indeed, the word “cram” can be defined as: “rapid rote reviewing.”

The straight-A students I interviewed did not do rote review.

In fact, they despised rote review because they could correctly identify its inefficiency. As any cognitive scientist will tell you, silent reading is a terrible way to retain material. Your mind wanders and the material is retained at an abysmally low rate.

Here is what straight-A students do instead:

  1. They collapsed their notes into clusters which I call big ideas. It doesn’t really matter how they decide this grouping, it’s enough that clusters are somewhat consistent.
  2. They assigned a one-sentence prompt for each big idea. For example: How do Gibbon’s ideas contrast with the scholars of the early 20th century?
  3. For each prompt, they attempt to lecture out loud, as if talking to an imaginary class, the main points from the corresponding big idea. They do this without looking at their notes. If they are successful, they move on. If they had trouble, they put a checkmark next to the big idea.
  4. After the first pass, they take a break, and then repeat, only focusing on the big ideas that got checkmarks. After this run-through, they repeat again, focusing only on the big ideas that still gave them trouble in the second pass. And so on.
  5. This continues until they finish a pass with no checkmarks.

I call this the quiz-and-recall method. And it’s incredibly effective.

Two things to notice:

First, for some reason, lecturing out loud makes concepts stick in your mind. Once you explain an idea, it has a way of intertwining itself in your neural pathways, and refusing to let go. Once is enough— you’re going to remember that material. The same doesn’t hold true for rote review. You can read over a set of notes 10 times and still forget the important ideas by the next morning.

Second, by only focusing, on each pass, on the big ideas that gave you trouble in the previous pass, you’re eliminating wasted time. Ideas you are familiar with get a minimum of time. Tough ideas get the most time. In essence, you minimizing the time required to learn every last idea.

It’s Like Magic

Students who trust the quiz-and-recall method report that its effectiveness is almost eerie. A common experience for me, using this technique, is to sit down for an essay exam and find myself able to remember, almost word for word, arguments from lecture that I ingrained using q-and-r. Needless to say, the resulting essays (and grades) were strong.

This is a simple change. But it’s devastatingly effective. If you change just one thing about how you study, consider making the crucial switch from rote review to quiz-and-recall.

This controversial topic of the various methods of study has caused me to create the following poll. Answer it anyway you see fit:


Online study guides and exam practice material for MB2-422 exam preparation is easily available on the internet online education websites, which helps you in achieving good grades in your exam. NO0-002 and 642-891 preparation guides are also among top study guides which are consulted by students for their exam preparation.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Student Productivity Week - The Beginning

Student Productivity Week 2 Comments

For the past few weeks Gideon Addington and I have been working hard to produce a week of the best posts about Student Productivity. Everything from textbooks, to resources, and online applications will be covered in detail with one post a day alternating on our blogs. Stay tuned for a lot of great tips in the coming week as we delve into the future of university student’s ideas about productivity, procrastination and time management… as well as some great facebook time-savers.

Day One:

Beyond Wikipedia - 20 References You Can’t Do Without

Day Two:

Books on the Web

Day Three:

The Full System - Note Taking, Scheduling, and Studying

Day Four:

The 10 Best Facebook Apps for Students and 3 to Avoid

Day Five:

6 Facebook Apps for Students (and everyone else!)

Popularity: 67% [?]

7 + 3 Ways to Boost your GPA

Learning, Procrastination 3 Comments

Reading

GPA or Grade Point Average, is the one deciding factor that compares the quality of your work with your classmates and ranks you accordingly. The higher your GPA the better. But sometimes it is much harder to increase this simple number than it first seems. Thankfully, there are some simple steps you can take to boost your GPA. Pick the Brain has provided a few tips on this very topic, but I have found a few more that prove very useful.

John Wesley’s original 7 tips include:

  1. Go to class - You would be surprised how often this is not followed. When you get to university you will learn that nothing is compulsory, and none of your lecturer’s will care if you go to their courses or not, so it is extremely difficult to stay focused and motizated.
  2. Sit in the Front Row - Not my favourite place to sit in a class, but it will get you involved, and make it easier to learn more.
  3. Take Notes by Hand - I am a massive supporter of this idea. I don’t think that you learn as easily just by following through printed notes. Actually writing the information down engages a different part of your brain, meaning that you are thinking about the concept and memorizing it at the same time.
  4. Do a weekly review - I have never tried this, but I suspect that it would work well. Most of the time you do this automatically however, whenever you are studying for an exam or preparing an assignment.
  5. Go to office hours - Again, I have never tried this, because I do not think that intruding on a lecturer in their time is of any benefit. If you have any questions, just ask them during your classes or directly afterwards.
  6. Find smart people to work with - Working through questions, and analysing key concepts can be a great way to fully understand the topic you are studying. It is for this reason that I encourage everyone to get a mentor. Someone older who can help you out, but have a smart fellow student in your same course can often be just as good.
  7. Avoid all-nighters - All-nighters are not the most pleasant experience, but most of you will do at least one of two in the next few years. Sometimes they are unavoidable, but I would try to eliminate them as much as possible.

My three additional thoughts on how to increase your GPA are of a different thought process, but are still highly valuable.

  1. Take easier courses - Make sure they are related to your major, but taking a few easy courses is a great way to boost your GPA. You just have to make certain that you will score extremely highly in all the assignments and exams. Remember, most courses are weighed the same, so a quick, simple course can be a great way to increase your GPA.
  2. Focus on the important assessment - It can be very irritating, but it is often the case that some of the least important assignments in terms of marks can be the hardest and take the most amount of time. Try to focus on the assignments and exams that will have the biggest impact on your overall grade.
  3. Remove distractions - Acquiring a high GPA can mean a lot of study. This is a very hard thing to do for many people, so you must help yourself out as much as possible. A good way to do this is to remove all distractions from your study area - TVs, computer games, mobile phones…

Having a high GPA can mean a lot when you are trying to get your first major job, or if you are trying for scholarships and academic awards. Often it is not easy to increase this number by a lot, but it is worth a try!

It’s very difficult to keep yourself focused when studying for an online degree through an online education course. You can consult from encyclopedias and dictionaries i.e. german english dictionary or the online french english dictionary to take help in your studies. Always choose the best online courses offered by a reputable institution like the University of Maryland.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Sniffles, Sneezes, and Sickness

Productivity 1 Comment

Tissue Box

When you leave home for the first time, and start going to university, there is one thing which you can never be prepared for - the number of colds and illnesses you will get in your first year. It will seem that every week you willl have another kind of flu. You will catch anything from coughs, the sniffles, sour throats, stomach bugs, and everything in between. While this obviously has the actual symptoms, it can also have a big impact on your academic results.

You cannot choose when you will catch a cold, so they could come at the worst possible times. I know that I have caught a cold during Mid-Semester exams, final exams, the day before an assignment is due, and dozens of other times throughout the year. It is for this reason that you need to have a fully stocked supply of antidotes, lozenges, and various other drugs.

This is a small list of all the things that you will use, plus some that you should use:

  • Vitamin C Tables
  • Throat Lozenges
  • Pain Killers
  • Bandages
  • Various Different Kinds of Head Cold Tablets

I hate illnesses and colds! This is definetly a scenario when the saying ‘A prevention is better than a cure’ applies. Try to eat healthy, excercise, and stay out of the cold. Hopefully if you follow all of these tips you will be able to stay healthy throughout your university life.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Productivity vs Passion

Productivity No Comments

Tomatoes

Cal Newport has posted a very insightful post recently titled Productivity is Overrated. While many people will argue against this idea, Cal does have some interesting arguments:

  • Being productive does not make you accomplished.
  • It does, however, make being accomplished less stressful.

This leads to the idea that accomplishing your goals is not about productivity at all, but is driven by determination and passion. It may take a little longer in the end, but if you are focused on your hopes and dreams than you do not need to be organized or very productive to reach them.

Having watched many documentaries on some of the greatest minds of the Twentieth Century, I have noticed that they majority of them do not follow many of the productivity tips shared here - they are messing, and unorganized. But what makes achieve all of their goals is a driving passion that consumes them.

Remember that productivity is not the most important thing in accomplishing your goals, but it could easily halve the time it takes for you to reach them.

[And for anyone who was wondering, the picture of the tomatoes symbolizes organization]

Popularity: 2% [?]

NoteSake.com

Tools No Comments

NoteSake


There are a multitude of online student tools available that can help you organize your university life. A very new website that is sure to become extremely popular amongst college students is NoteSake. Just some of its features include:

  • Collaborate with Groups
  • Pass Notes to People
  • Access Notes from any Computer
  • Organize Notes by Title, Date or any Custom Tag

This truly is a compilation of all your university work, and will definetly become many student’s homepages.

Having all of your information about your work in a single place is a very important, and will help when exams come along. No longer do you have to search through a tattered note pad or through a huge bunch of loose leaf paper. It is all there right in front of you. This can increase your productivity dramatically, but make sure you do not get distracted!

Popularity: 3% [?]

The 4 Things you Actually Need at College

Saving Money 2 Comments

Stapler

College and Finance has created a quite extensive list of 18 Overlooked Things that Everyone Should Bring to College. As a current college student I can tell you that you of the 18 objects listed, there are only 4 that you will actually use. The list mentiones a huge number of things that are either irrelevant, or just so obscure that you may only use them once or twice. The 18 objects are:

  1. Ear Plugs
  2. Flip Flops (THONGS)
  3. Toiletries
  4. Powerboards
  5. Cleaning Supplies
  6. Duct Tape
  7. Hammer
  8. Screwdriver
  9. Stapler
  10. Door Hanger
  11. Storage Containers
  12. Bottle Opener
  13. USB Drive
  14. Pliers
  15. Extra Sheets
  16. Vitamins
  17. Air Freshener
  18. Microwave

Of these items, I can honestly say the only things I have needed are:

  1. #2 Flip Flops (In Australia we call them thongs and wear them everywhere). I must admit that I have worn my thongs everyday that I have been at university. I wear them to the shower, to lectures, to shopping centres, to parties… everywhere. They are essential, and must be brought.
  2. #4 Powerboards - Just in case your room does not have enough powerpoints. Remember, in this day and age there are a lot of things that need electricity - computers, phone chargers…
  3. #9 Stapler - A stapler is kind of important for stapling assignments and notes together, just so everything is neat and tidy. People seem to prefer that assignments get stapled rather than binded or just loose.
  4. #12 Bottle Opener - For obvious reasons

The rest of the items in the list may be useful, but they are definetly not essential. The thing to point out is that your room may be very small, so the less stuff you bring with you, the bigger it will feel. Filling it up with hammers, and screwdrivers, and microwaves is really not needed.

Popularity: 3% [?]

11 Lifehack Student Tips

Productivity No Comments

Happy Student

As many of you may realize, one of my favourite blogs on this topic is Lifehack.org. This is because of the huge number of high quality posts they can continually produce each and every day. And once again they have done it. Thanks to Dustin Wax, we know have 11 more tips for having a great semester:

  1. Get organized
  2. Know your professor
  3. Find a mentor
  4. Visit the writing center
  5. Join something
  6. Speak up
  7. Read for pleasure
  8. Start something
  9. Set goals
  10. Fail
  11. Find balance

Perhaps the most important one in my opinion is number #3. A mentor is just someone who is older and wiser than you in a particular field. This can be anything from an older student to a professor or even someone out in the field. I personally have a lot of older students who help me with problems or concepts whenever I get stuck. Most people are ready and willing to help you out, but you have ask.

A note on point 6 - although it is very beneficial to answer questions because it helps you and gives the lecturer feedback, do not constantly be the person to answer all the questions. Remember to allow others to provide feedback as well. It can be quite irritating for your fellow students if one person is always answering everything.

Setting goals is another very important facet of anyone’s life, not just for university. I have written a previous post about setting goals, and I recommend to everyone that they do it.

Following these tips can help you improve your GPA, but they will also make you feel less stressed, and more capable of continuing along the difficult path that you have chosen. Studying for several years at a time is never easy, but it does not have to be as hard as people make it out to be.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Study Tips - Setting Goals

Productivity 1 Comment

Setting Goals

Trying to stay focused and motizated about your study can often be difficult, but one of the easiest ways is to set some goals. Think of why you joined the course in the first place - career plans, your interest in the topic, and what you want to get our of your course.

Write down all of your goals and stick them to your wall. This can be very inspirational and motivating in your times of need. If you ever feel a bit discouraged, simply look at your goals, and remember how you felt at the time you wrote it.

Achieving these goals is another matter altogether, but you cannot even attempt to accomplish them if you do not know what they are.

There are several easy steps that you can follow if you are having problems with goal setting:

  • Identify your hopes and dreams, but keep them possible
  • Take 10 minutes every day to imagine how terrific it will feel when your goals are actually realized [LifeHack
  • Set both short, medium and long term goals
  • Commit yourself to reaching those goals

Focusing all your efforts on trying to accomplish a series of goals is very beneficial for your mindset, and is a great way to improve your grades through study. 

Popularity: 3% [?]

Surviving at University - 11 Tips for Success

Productivity 1 Comment

Oxford

Starting at a new university is a daunting time for any student, but there are ways to avoid any problems. eyeRblog has provided 9 (actually 8…) tips for this, but I could think of 3 more. There is only one way for these ideas to work, and that is to try them. University can be the best time of your life, but it can also be extremely difficult. If you thought High School was hard, then you will be shocked by the size and difficulty of university style assignments and exams.

The easiest way to settle in is to distract yourself from all of your worries and concerns. Make new friends, sort out your timetable and living conditions. The following tips are a great place to start, thanks to eyeRblog:

  1. The first week defines the rest of the year

  2. Organize study groups

  3. Study for tests

  4. Get involved

  5. If you don’t like your roommate, switch

  6. Go to sporting events

  7. Figure out housing for next year

  8. Don’t buy books until you need them

I agree with a lot of these points, especially number 4 and 6. The easiest way to feel at home is to get involved in everything around you - cultural events, sporting teams, study groups, and social gatherings. Simply watching these things does give you an opportunity to distract yourself from your concerns and it gives you something to talk about to your new friends, but imagine the additional benefits of actually being involved.

#8 is also another great idea that I have spoken about before. This can save you a lot of money.

There are some additional pointers to be considered though, which can make life even easier.

  1. Go to the orientation events - Most universities have a lot of lectures and gatherings in the first few weeks to help you fit in. I admit that I did not go to all of mine, but I would’ve had an easier time starting my study if I had.

  2. Take a walk around your campus - This is another thing I wish I had’ve done. On my way to a new class recently I found an entire art museum that I never new about. Quite a big find, but if you know where everything is from the beginning you will have a much easier time.

  3. Choose easy subjects - The first semester is always the hardest. This is because you are not used to university exams and assignments, so having an easy first semester will seem hard at first just due to the nature of your course. This is hard to understand, but you will always improve from this point.

It is always hard to start a new life in a new place, but following these tips you can manage it with little trouble.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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