1 There are many reasons why students do not make the grade they want on their tests. One reason is, they do not know how to review for or study for a test. The following is a strategy to improve the results on test scores. Try it and let me know if there are other ways to improve study skills!
- Retrieval practice: don’t just re-study – test yourself (and test yourself in the same way that you expect you will be tested).
- Test yourself again and again – not just once per term. This repeated testing will help solidify the meaning of what you’re studying in your brain
- Explain what you’re learning to yourself (or a patient friend). Get up and walk around the room or talk to yourself in the car (people will think you’re on the phone). Lecture yourself on the material you will be tested on.
- Distinctiveness: how is this term you’re learning different from some other idea? How is it similar? Figure out what is unique about the ideas you’re learning about.
- Personal: when you can, apply the ideas to your own life. You’ll remember it better that way.
Warning: Beware of familiarity!! Just
because you have read something before or heard it somewhere before doesn’t
mean you understand it. The only way to know if you understand it is to….test
yourself (start over at step 1 above!).
