By ZHENHONG

Classic passive study technique - “reading my notes” or “reading the text”
What’s wrong with that?
1. Takes too long (or not, if you have lousy notes).
2. You spend as much time on trivia as on key information, on what you already know as what you don’t know.
3. You are using someone else’s organization and language, which may be meaningless to you - “in one ear and out the other”.
4. You aren’t doing what the test will demand - on the test you will have recall and write, not read!
5. You don’t find out what you really know until you write the test, when it’s too late to do anything about it!
6. You’ll probably put yourself to sleep.

Active studying:

1. Is multi-sensory - see it, say it , hear it, touch it, write it.
2. Is regular and frequent - repetition is needed to move material from short term to long term memory.
3. Requires thinking to select, organize and condense high value information so it can be mastered.
4. Active study produces products which can be used over and over at odd moments
5. Active studying makes use of the way the human memory works.

Memory Characteristics

Written language has led us to neglect our long term memory.
Meaningless information is difficult to memorize.
We remember the beginning and end of a list better.
We remember lists better if we know how many items are in the list.
We remember better things that are linked or associated.

Active Study Techniques

.create lists and use mnemonics to memorize them
.write study notes (cheat sheets!)
.create charts
.make jigsaws, pin on labels to study diagrams and maps
.practice skills
.work with a partner!