Study Prof

Ironing a nice fold into a shirt or some pants requires heat, pressure, and repetition. First you get the iron hot, then, applying steady pressure, you go over that crease again and again until the fold is pressed into the fabric.

Could you get the fold ironed in without the heat and pressure? Sure, but it would take forever.

Getting memories ironed into our brains is a similar process. Going over the memory again and again will eventually work, but we can make the process much faster and more effective by using the mental equivalent of heat and pressure–what psychologists refer to as elaboration.

Some ways you can use elaboration…

• Ask yourself questions about what you are learning. Where have I heard this before? What does it remind me of? Is this true? How will this be tested?
• Turn verbal information into visual information by drawing a picture, chart or diagram.
• Turn visual information into verbal information by describing what you see.
• Relate the information to something you already know. That Mussolini character reminds me a lot of my hockey coach. (All of these are integrated directly into my note taking system as discussed on the free study skills video and in my ebook).
• Act it out. For example, put on a play about cellular mitosis using tube socks in the starring roles. (I suggest you shut and lock your door before doing this since it tends to cause roommates to give you funny looks and hide their socks.)
• Set it to music. My daughter’s kindergarten teacher used this to great effect, teaching her students a song to help them recall the spelling of every color they learned (the downside is that my daughter now hums under her breath when asked to spell “yellow.”) I’ve had friends who used this method to memorize extremely complex processes, though, so don’t discount it.

Here’s how I use this to really learn complex texts I’m reading…Please log in or sign up to read the rest of this content. Find out more.

Here’s a quick game that you can teach your kids to help them learn to apply mnemonics and also build a foundation for later study skills.  Kids may not be too keen on studying, but if it’s fun they’ll do it all day long. My kids and I usually play this while driving.

Three Story

One person is the storyteller. Their job is to tell a (very short) story that uses three words provided by the other participants. Any three words will do; we like to use nouns or verbs, the stranger the better. For example, “gorilla, ball gown, light saber.”

The storyteller tells a short story (usually under two minutes long) using all three words. (more…)

The Cliff’s Notes website has a very extensive list of online study aids for students in high school and college.

Did you know that reading over your notes repeatedly is one of the LEAST effective ways to study?  Psychology research has demonstrated repeatedly that you remember much more effectively when you work with information rather than just reviewing information.

Solution: Teach your study materials to a partner.  Look briefly at a main heading in the notes, then try to teach the rest of that section (from memory) to your friend.  Go slowly.  Explain carefully.  Devise illustrations and examples to help make your point.  This method is much more effective than just rereading your notes!

Wouldn’t it be nice if next semester was super-simple and actually required much less work than this semester?  What if you could make that happen while still taking all the classes you need?

Many of you are now starting your winter vacations, traditionally a time for students to decompress and forget all about THE HELL THAT WAS FINALS.  But most good study skills boil down to NOW-is-better-than-later.

A tiny bit of study during the holidays can save you HOURS a week next semester (and beyond)!  Do a quick assessment of your classes this past semester.  Which ones had content that you’ll be expected to know in the future?  Examples…

• You took the first semester of Calculus this semester and the second semester is this coming spring
• You took Statistics and will be applying those concepts throughout your future career
• Your Paleo-ethnobotany course was mostly useless, except for those two weeks you spent on palynology

Anything you studied last semester that might come up again you should take home with you and study over the break.  It is fresher in your mind now than it will ever be again!  This is prime time to study it.  Just reviewing it for thirty-minutes or so once a week will help move that info into your permanent long term memory!  Do it while driving too and from relatives’ houses or while waiting in line at the mall.

Next semester, when everyone else is playing catch-up at the beginning of that second semester of Biochem, trying to relearn all the stuff they’ve forgotten from the first semester, you’ll already know it all!  No studying for you!

Do a little now and you’ll avoid doing a lot later!

From the series Better Test Performance the Navy SEALs Way.

In a recently televised interview, a Navy SEALs representative listed four key mental techniques taught to SEAL candidates. The second of those techniques was mental rehearsal.  Here’s how you can apply this to help increase your own test performance.

That gray organ betwixt your ears is a virtual time machine that can be used for helping or harming your test performance.  As a highschool teacher I noticed that some of my students–eager and able to answer questions during class discussions–were bombing miserably on my tests.

I began researching test anxiety to try and find a solution to their problem, and soon discovered some rock-solid techniques for reducing that stress that was hindering their performance.  One powerful tool I uncovered was mental rehearsal, that is, carefully and clearly envisioning a successful performance before the event.

Here’s how… (more…)

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

The elite SEALs teams–the U.S. Navy’s Special Ops forces–have discovered how to make their trainees more successful at completing the mythically tough training and actually become Navy SEALs.  In fact, they now teach trainees stress control techniques that may be responsible for helping to boost the number of successful passing candidates from one fourth of each class to one third of each class.

Amazingly, these techniques are very similar to what I’ve been teaching my students for years.  No magic here.  What I teach comes directly out of good psychological research, and the SEALs have been doing their homework!

According to a recent History Channel documentary on brain science, SEAL trainees are now taught four key stress control techniques that allow them to perform better even during the grinding SEAL Hell Week.

The four keys?  Goal Setting, Mental Rehearsal, Self Talk, and Arousal Control.  I normally teach these techniques in my GRE prep course to help students cope with test anxiety and in my College Capable seminar as a way to conquer daunting study schedules.

Check back tomorrow as we look at how the SEALs use goal setting to overcome stress and how you can use it to excel during finals!

From the Series “Better Test Performance The Navy SEALs Way”
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.

Do you have enough mental muscle to get the grades you want or to score as high as you would like on the SAT or GRE?  I’ve pointed out several times that peak mental performance depends more on technique than on sheer power, however, there is no doubt that having a beefy brain does make things easier.

Good news!  Neurological research has demonstrated that the brain responds to mental exercise much like a muscle.  The more you work it, the stronger it gets.  I’m not just referring to IQ; the brain itself actually grows physically in response to training.

Vincenzo Malacarne, an 18th Century Italian scientist first discovered this when he trained birds to do a series of complex tricks.  Later he dissected the birds’s brains and found increased folding in the brains of the trained birds.  The modern technological breakthroughs in brain scans have shown similar variations in human brains in response to learning.

This is great news.  It means that, just as our bodies respond to exercise by becoming stronger and healthier, so do our noggins.  So break out those books and start pumping info!  You can get smarter!

Can you imagine how much time you could save if you could spend one hour studying and remember nine times as much as you normally would?  How much trouble could you get into with all that extra time?

Research has shown how to do just that by ditching the old read-the-notes-repeatedly study method.

Here’s how!

Small, easy changes in your daily habits can lead to huge payoffs academically.  Small strokes fell great oaks, as the saying goes. To expand on the metaphor, trying to cut down a great oak tree in a single day will wear you out!  It takes a tremendous amount of energy, and you’ll be sore and blistered for days.

On the other hand, if you pick up that axe every morning and spend thirty minutes or so chopping at the oak, the task is easy, invigorating, and effective.  Moreover, your body will strengthen with the regular exercise, rather than wearing out.  That means the next oak will fall even faster.

Consider, a simple habit change such as studying every day on campus between classes instead of waiting until the evening, the weekend, or the week before finals.  This is one of the simplest changes you can make to your current study habits, yet it pays huge dividends. Studying between classes every day…

• leads to less (no?) study nights and weekends
• which leads to lots of free time to do the things you want and
• a better social life (or maybe carpal tunnel syndrome from playing too much xBox).

• It also leads to better comprehension in class
• which leads to needing fewer notes and less study
• as well as better grades on tests.

• It also leads to no need for cramming before the test
• which means no all-nighters and sleep deprivation
• which leads to better grades on tests and
• roommates and friends jealous of your seemingly effortless A’s.

• It also leads to putting the information into long term memory rather than short term memory (which is what you get with cramming).
• That means less study next semester in the second part of the course and
• that means more free time and better grades.

Those are all the benefits from one simple habit change! The trick, of course, is to actually make the habit change.  So make sure to learn how to get rid of bad habits and replace them with good habits.  It’s where easier A’s begin!

Start here to begin developing the habits of an excellent student.

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Cody Blair has spent over a decade helping students and teachers discover the secrets that make learning simple! His ebook, Secrets Smart Students Know, reveals how the best students use powerful study skills, maximize their memory, avoid procrastination, and maximize their focus to achieve fantastic grades with much less work! Click now to find out more about simple methods to maximize your study skills.

© Cody Blair, All Rights Reserved. You may reprint the above article as long as you include the above bio/resource information in full, including the functioning links. Do not make any changes to the article or bio. If you can't include clickable links, please ask permission to reprint.