Newest On Studying For Tests.

I'm sure you remember your days in school.  You used to highlight important material in your books and notes, you studied all your notes till you knew them inside and out. Then you took the test and didn't do as well as you thought you would.  Quite soon, Daniel Willingham, a psychologist will be publishing a book on what he considers the best ways to study for a test.  

According to his new book, most students study incorrectly when they prepare for tests.  He says we are doing it all wrong.  In fact, most of the traditional ways we learned are wrong.

To begin with, he feels the traditional methods used in class are bad to begin with because the lecture style class makes some assumptions that may not be correct.  The style thinks that students know how to establish priorities and they know how to schedule, they can read independently,  they are willing to work rather than procrastinating, and they can memorize material.  

Students are not born with these skills and most are not taught them in school.  In fact, by the time they reach high school, teachers assume they know how to do study. When it comes to preparing for a test, the number one method used by students is to read over you notes.  It makes you feel prepared because you have gained a comfortable familiarity with the notes but you haven't really learned it.  

A much better way is to create questions  that require you to remember the material since this is closer to the way your brain works.  You also provide the answers but the answers have to be separate so you don't look at them. These questions could be set up as flash cards with answers on the back or as a practice test. This is one of the best ways to prepare for a test.

He points out that if you are unable to remember it, it means you didn't learn it in the first place. Fortunately, there are things one can do during a test to help coax the material out.  Since memories are organized by theme, it is possible to do a brain dump such as listing all the animals you can remember in 30 seconds and then give a nudge with a word such as Australian animals which helps your brain narrow the choices. You can do this by listing everything you know on the topic and then using the question to help remember and narrow down the choices.

On Monday, I'll share what he has to say about reading difficult text and textbooks.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.