| During class |
| • |
Decide to be attentive and observant. |
| • |
Engage as many senses as possible
when receiving information. During a
lecture, look at the speaker. Listen
attentively. Take notes to help you
remember. These simple strategies help
you make full use of your visual, auditory,
and tactile senses. |
| • |
Choose a notetaking system that fits
your learning style and stick with it. |
| • |
Ask questions, as needed, to aid understanding.
Keep in mind: you won't be able to remember
what you don't understand. |
| • |
Leave blank spaces in your notes.
When you review, you can add details
and summaries. |
Avoid these common
notetaking errors |
| 1. |
Attempting to write a word-for-word
transcription of the lecture. |
| 2. |
Using no organizational pattern. |
| 3. |
Failing to show importance of ideas. |
| 4. |
Writing too much. |
| 5. |
Writing too little. |
After class |
| • |
Review your notes immediately after
class. |
| • |
Rewrite and reorganize your notes. |
| • |
Highlight the most important ideas. |
| • |
Write a summary paragraph of the main
ideas. |
| • |
Identify any concepts that are still
confusing. |
| • |
Review your notes right before the
next class. |
| Reading |
| • |
Before you read a section, survey
it to get an overview of its content.
|
| • |
Have a purpose for reading. Know what
you are supposed to learn from an assignment.
Assess your prior knowledge about the
topic before reading. Read one section
at a time and then go back to underline
or mark the most important ideas. |
| • |
Always have a pen/pencil in your hand
so you can annotate the text. Set aside
your highlighters--save for review,
not for initial reading. Write important
words or phrases in the margins of the
text so you can easily refer to them
later. Look for definitions, examples,
names/dates/events, and lists of characteristics.
|
| • |
Be careful not to overmark because
it serves no useful purpose and wastes
both reading and review time. If you
feel the need to mark a whole paragraph
or whole page, then you probably need
to list these ideas on a separate paper
or notecard. |
| • |
Review immediately after reading.
Recite the most important information
to help you remember. Add annotations,
especially brief summaries, in your
own words. |
If you tend to
get tired or lose focus |
| • |
Use your desk only for studying, not
napping. |
| • |
Set an alarm to signal you at reasonable
intervals to stay focused. |
| • |
Take a five-minute fresh-air break. |
| • |
Stay involved with your reading--take
notes, ask questions, talk aloud. |
| • |
Make sure you're getting enough sleep
to begin with. |
| • |
Read at your optimal time of day.
For example, night-owls shouldn't try
to read complex material right after
lunch. |
| • |
Combine reading with physical activity.
Take notes. Walk around--just be careful
not to get so absorbed that you run
into walls! |
|
Simple truths about memory |
| • |
It is normal to forget. Actually,
forgetting is essential. If we never
forgot anything, our minds would be
filled with so much useless information
that we wouldn't be able to think! |
| • |
You can probably remember more and
retain more for a longer period of time
than you think you can. |
| • |
A few memory aids that many students
have found useful may work for you.
The best memory techniques may be those
that you create or adapt for yourself
and that correspond to your learning
style. |
Facts about short-term memory |
| • |
It's fragile. Unless you rehearse
information in short-term memory, it
will disappear. |
| • |
It has limited capacity. You can hold
approximately severn "chunks"
of information before you overtax your
short-term memory and previous information
will be "dumped" to make room
for the new info. |
| • |
It can be tricked. You may be able
to trick short-term memory into holding
more details by "chunking":
making each memory chunk represent more
than one piece of information. This
is why mnemonic devices work for many
people. |
Facts about long-term memory |
| • |
It appears to have no limits. For
example, you can probably recall the
name of your first-grade teacher even
though you haven't thought of him/her
in a long time. We can also remember
vivid or shocking information without
much practice. |
| • |
It's built through association. The
more you know about a topic, the easier
it is to learn more, because you have
more ways to make associations between
new ideas and what you already know. |
| • |
It can be tricked. Memory research
suggests that long-term memory can be
remarkably creative. . .and deceptive.
Once we are convinced we know something,
we may fill in the gaps without realizing
how much we've invented. |
| • |
It can fail. Interference can crowd
out memories, making them difficult
to retrieve. For example, when taking
a full academic load the sheer volume
of material may cause interference among
the subjects. Memory decay may occur
when the ideas are not kept active through
regular use. For example, you may have
made A's in Algebra in high school,
but if you aren't using it you may lose
it. |
How to memorize |
| • |
Decide to remember. Resist being a
passive learner. Make a conscious, deliberate
decision to remember. |
| • |
Pay close attention. Concentrate on
one thing at a time. |
| • |
Combine review with physical activity.
Each sense that you use while studying
provides another pathway for information
to reach your brain. |
| • |
Involve yourself in the subject. Look
for personal connections. Ask yourself
questions. (Have I seen this concept
before? Do I like or dislike the ideas?
What are some practical applications
of the concept? Are there other ways
to explain the concept?) Expand the
number of associations you make with
the information. Reorganize the information. |
| • |
Use your text annotations to prepare
for tests. Cover the actual text. Read
your annotations and talk through them.
Think about the overlap between your
text annotations and your lecture notes.
|
| • |
Create memory prompts. Use organizational
maps and charts to review and study
the information. Outline complex material.
Make charts, diagrams, and information
maps that show relationships between
ideas or steps in a process. |
| • |
Use mnemonics. Mnemonics are strategies
that expand visual or auditory associations
and help you learn. They involve linking
something you want to remember to images,
letters, or words that you already know.
For example, ROY G. BIV for the colors
of the rainbow or "Thirty days
hath September…" for the number
of days in each month. |
| • |
Use props. Create a set of flash cards
and carry them with you. Rehearse while
waiting for an appointment. Create audiotapes
of ideas you want to memorize and review
while driving or doing chores. |
| • |
Construct a "cram card".
Write key points on a small card. Don't
overload with detail. Rehearse by reading
aloud and filling in details in your
own words. |
| • |
Strive for overlearning. When you
think you know the material, put it
aside for a little while; then return
to it, test yourself, and continue to
study a little more. Overlearning improves
the integration and endurance of your
learning. |
| • |
Exploit situational cues. Study in
the same place every time. During a
test, sit in the seat you normally sit
for class. |
