Students come in to my classes with varying degrees of study skills. Some students received lots of advice on this topic, others are figuring it out for themselves.
These are tips that I sometimes give to students about how to study. If you already have a system that’s getting the results you want, keep going! If you’re not getting the results you want, consider some of the tips below.
Maximize Opportunities for your brain to engage actively
-
Active Recall study techniques require your brain to retrieve information unaided (without looking at your notes).
-
I’d like to write a longer description here. For now, I can attest that I’ve found these methods much more effective in my own studies than re-reading or transcribing notes or textbook material.
-
I’ve found that the more frequently I practiced active recall, the more effective it was.
-
Some ways to try active recall:
- Immediately Post-lecture:
- Right after lecture, find a quiet place to sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Go back to the beginning of your notes from the lecture
- Close your eyes. Can you predict what the first line in your notes says? This is the “active” part.
- Open your eyes. Were you right?
- If you were right, do the same thing for the next line.
- When you reach a line that you struggle with, repeat the process a few times
- look at the note
- close your eyes
- try to reproduce the note
- repeat
- If it’s still hard to reproduce after several reps:
- mark it as a high priority study item.
- mark it as a question for office hours etc.
- check whether you’re stuck on the line itself, or the prerequisites for that line
- More soon…
- Immediately Post-lecture:
-
With some practice, the feelings of easy-to-recall vs. hard-to-recall get more familiar.
-
Learn more:
-
Tools:
- Mochi flashcards app
- Anki flashcards app
- org-drill
- org-fc
- obsidian-spaced-repetition
Know how to know what you know
-
It’s easy to see a clear explanation, understand the explanation, and assume that you know the thing that was explained. Clear explanations are a double-edged sword - they can give you a false sense of confidence that you know what was explained.
-
Some questions for you:
- How well do you need to know it?
- How can you tell how well you know it now?
-
Some ways to check how well you know it:
- Can you understand a textbook chapter about it?
- Could you explain it to a friend?
- Could you write down the relevant definitions without referring to your notes?
- Could you solve a problem using the concept?
- Could you recognize that a problem involves the concept without being told?
- Can you name the solution steps after seeing the problem?
Teaching is a great way to learn
Try the “Feynman Technique”:
- Explain what you learned to your peers, as if you were responsible for teaching them the material
Learn the Vocabulary
It’s a great time to learn something new. AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.), search engines, and even simple Ctrl+F search weren’t available to learners from just a few generations ago.
To use these tools, you have to be able to describe what you’re looking for. This means learning the topic-specific vocabulary for whatever you want to learn.
This might come naturally to you, but for many students this can feel awkward at first, or even contradictory to one’s identity. My suggestion is to make room. You can be who you already are, and a person who can speak and write with precision.
The vocabulary isn’t there to make the subject harder (though it can seem that way at first). It was invented (by humans much like you) to make it easier to refer to things and to communicate with each other.
Vocabulary items are a great candidate for active recall via flashcards (see above section).
Choose study partners wisely
Other Resources:
- How to be a Straight A student - Cal Newport