Study Smarter, not Harder

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Study Habits for Success

• Study Smarter, not Harder
• Academic Success Center
• 729-5389

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How We Learn by William Glasser

• 10 of what we read
• 20 of what we hear
• 30 of what we see
• 50 of what we both see and hear
• 70 of what is discussed with others
• 80 of what we experience personally
• 95 of what we teach someone else

Within 24 hours, 90 of the material is lost.
What the Average Person Remembers

• 90 of what they do
• 70 of what they say
• 50 of what they see and hear
• 30 of what they see
• 26 of what they hear
• 10 of what they read

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Learning

• Sensory Input
• Attention
• Decoding
• Processing
• Includes Storage
• and/or
• Retrieval processes
• Memory (short/long)
• Physical Output

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• Perceptual Preferences--auditory, visual,
  tactual, kinesthetic, haptic--are based on the
  human senses.

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Learning Styles Checklist
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Learning Styles
Auditory You are skilled at remembering the
spoken word, so depending on your
dialect, focus on lecture courses or group
discussions. You are distracted by loud noise but
also by silence, so incorporate
subtle background noise while you study.
Visual You pay attention to your surroundings, so
make them user
friendly. Customize a study area for
yourself. Use timelines and charts for
remembering data. Incorporate pictures or
descriptive oration of topics you are studying.
Haptic, Tactile, Kinesthetic You like to role
play class material with topics such as speech
literature. Use a computer to take notes in class
or hand draw some of your note materials. Incorpor
ate movement into your learning by tapping your
pencil, shaking your foot, or twirling a pen when
you are introduced to a new topic.
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Steps to Take

• Determine your information processing strength
• Take a Learning Styles Inventory
• (http//vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?qu
  estionnaire)

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Three Perceptual Preferences for Learning

• Visual
• Auditory
• Tactile/Kinesthetic/Haptic
• Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into
  practice.
• Anton Chekhov

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Learning Style Inventories

• How Do I Learn Best? The VARK QuestionnaireThere
  are several different levels of inventories at
  this site with one specific questionnaire geared
  towards young adults and teenagers (available at
  the Academic Success Center)
• http//www.vark-learn.com/english/page.
  asp?pquestionnaire

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The Vark Categories

• The acronym VARK stands for Visual, Aural,
  Read/Write, and Kinesthetic sensory modalities
  that are used for learning information. (Fleming
  and Mills 1992)

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for
  categorizing levels of abstraction of questions
  that commonly occur in education settings.
• provides a useful structure to determine the
  levels of educational activities
• groups learning experiences in a hierarchy from
  lowest to the highest mental processes

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Critical Thinking Skills
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Critical Thinking Skills
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Organizational Tools
Tools and Techniques to gain control and get more
done
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This is Nonrenewable

• There are only 168 hours a week to spend on
  activities
• Time cant be saved
• Take control of time--dont waste it foolishly--
  when youre out of time, youre out of it.
• Even if you are on the right track, youll get
  run over if you just sit there.
• Will Rogers

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Organizational Tools Techniques

• Get it down on paper
• Make up a to-do list-- list all the things you
  have to do and all the things you want to do over
  the next 24 hours
• A to-do list is a crucial step to organizing
  your life
• Use a simple prioritizing system.
• Filter your tasks using the A,B,C daily to-do
  list.

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Organizational Tools Techniques

• Rate each task by priority
• As on your list are those things that are most
  important
• Bs are important, but less important than the
  As They-- can be postponed, if necessary
• Cs do not require immediate attention--Cs are
  often small, easy jobs with no set timeline

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The ABC Daily To-Do List

• Once you have labeled the tasks on your list,
  schedule time for all the As-- The Bs and Cs
  can be done randomly during the day
• Work off your list
• use the list to keep yourself on task, working on
  the As. (Students sometimes have a tendency to
  drop the A tasks and begin doing the Cs because
  they are easier or more fun.)
• cross the tasks off the list as they are
  completed.

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The ABC Daily To-Do List

• Another option
• put each to-do activity on its own 3x5
  index card-- This allows for easy sorting
• Colored index cards would further help
  organize tasks
• At the end of the day evaluate your progress
  (Perhaps tasks that never seem to get done should
  be changed to As or dropped)

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Index Cards

• Can help you take charge of your time
• inexpensive way to keep yourself organized
• remind you of all the things you may forget
  during the day
• add information to free you memories for more
  important things
• learn vocabulary words or math formulas

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Procrastination

• 4 reasons
• Tasks seem difficult or time consuming
• Trouble getting started
• Lack of motivation to do the task
• Fear of failing

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Stop Procrastinating

• Plan aheadmake a schedule for long term projects
• Study difficult or boring subjects first
• Break down large assignments.
• Get organized Get started
• Realize all assignments are not easy
• Ask questions if a task is unclear
• Assume an attitude of confidence

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Keep Your Power

• Remember
• to use one calendar
• to carry it around with you so you can always
  refer to it when scheduling appointments and
  events
• to use a calendar that shows an entire month on a
  page
• that being organized helps you maintain control
  over events in your life

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Open Your Calendar Start Planning

• Remember to
• record all you appointments and scheduled events
  starting with the current month
• get in the habit of recording all appointments or
  events on your calendars immediately
• keep the calendar with you at all times and refer
  to it often

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Planning Backwards

• Use your planner to reserve time for studying,
  tests, and papers
• When a paper is assigned, start with the last
  boxthe day the paper is due
• Make a list of tasks you must do to finish the
  assignment
• Decide what you must do the day before the paper
  is due
• Pace the tasks so that the paper is not rushed
• Work backwards to the date it is assigned
• Go to the Academic Success Center to review the
  paper with a tutor729-5389

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Dost thou love life, then do not squander time,
for thats the stuff life is made of. Benjamin
Franklin
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Taking Tests

• Taking tests is not pleasant
• Defeat test anxiety
• Plan to prepare for tests and deal with test
  anxiety
• Disarm your fears of failing with strategies to
  use before and during a test

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What to Do Before the Test

• Manage review timereview daily, weekly, and
  complete a major review
• Create review toolsstudy list, mind map summary
  sheets, flashcards
• Plan a strategydo a dry run, ask what to expect,
  analyze a copy of an old exam
• Create a test from notes and the book

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Tips for Students - Test Taking

• Remember to
• Do the easy questions first
• Schedule your time (to estimate time, divide the
  available test time by the number of questions)
• Omit difficult questions until last
• Read each question carefully
• Read all options
• Predict the correct answer
• Look for answers in other questions

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More Tips for Taking Tests

• Avoid answers with 100 Percent words
• Statements are usually false whey they contain
  clue words such as
• All, every, none, always, invariably, never,
  best, exactly, worst, only, must
• Statements are usually true when they contain
  clue words such as
• many, most, some, few, often, usually, sometimes,
  seldom, more, equal, less, may, perhaps, generally

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Tips for Test Taking

• Remember to
• Review your work check your answers
• Not overanalyzetry to follow the thinking of the
  test writer rather than pondering over minute
  points
• Read the entire question and all the possible
  answers-- Sometimes the last answer is the best
  even though the other answers might work

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The Most Powerful Test Strategy

• POE (Process of Elimination)
• Eliminate the answers you are certain are
  incorrect
• Usually a multiple-choice question will have
• 1 correct answer,
• 1 that contains 100 Percent words, and
• 1 that is definitely wrong

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An Exercise

• Practice
• Write 2 multiple choice questions which could be
  on a test
• Exchange questions with a study partner when you
  have finished writing your questions
• Answer your partners questions

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Multiple Choice Questions

• Procedure to write your own
• One answer will be correct
• One answer will be obviously wrong or silly
• One answer will be close to the correct answer
  but will contain a word or two to make it wrong
• One answer will be a detail from the passage or
  scenario

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SCORER
Mnemonic device used when taking a test to guide
you through the process. Write SCORER at the top
of each test to remember the steps.
S Schedule appropriate time C Clue word or
phrase can be found in the test questions
(discuss, explain, express) to help find the
answers O Omit difficult items and return if
time allows R Read the questions carefully E
Estimate the length of time to devote to each R
Review test items and answers
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More Thoughts

• Tell yourself to
• Let go of test anxietyyell stop
• Fill your mind with pleasant thoughts
• Visualize success
• Focus
• Praise yourself
• Look at the ceiling
• Breathe
• Relax your muscles
• Remember Our greatest glory is not in never
  failing, but in rising every time we fail.

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Good Study Strategies

• Have a positive attitude
• Study in small chunks of time
• Use a consistent, systematic approach
• Use your information processing strength
• Be Aware of time constraints (planning
  deadlines)
• Stay-on-top-of-things (cueing, organizing,
  etc.)
• Schedule an appointment with a tutor in the
  Academic Success Center

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Better Study Schedule

• Study as soon as possible after your class
• Start assignments while your memory of the
  assignments is still fresh
• Limit your block of study time on one course so
  you can focus
• Take a break and switch to studying another
  course
• Provide time in your planner to do a cumulative
  review
• Organize your notes in question/answer form
• Try to predict the questions on the exam
• Plan a schedule of balanced activitiesfixed
  eating, organizations, classes, church, work
  flexible sleeping, recreation, study,
  relaxation, personal affairs
• Use odd hours during the day for studyinguse the
  free periods between classes
• Trade timedont steal itunexpected events
  happen adjust your schedule immediately

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• Everything comes to him who hustles while he
  waits.
• Thomas A. Edison

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Ways to Handle the Rest of the World

• Agree with roommates, spouses, significant
  others, children, friends about study timemake
  rules that cant be broken
• Get off the phonethe telephone is the ultimate
  interrupterturn off the cell phone
• Learn to say notell everyone that you are busy
  studying for your future
• Hang up a do not disturb sign on your door
• Get ready the night beforeplan your day the
  night before
• Use waiting timecarry index cards with facts,
  definitions, formulas to study while you wait for
  the dentist, friends, etc.
• Spend time with your children firstgive them
  hugs and ask them about their dayexplain to them
  that you need study for 30 minutes and set a
  timerschedule sessions of concentrated study for
  when theyre asleep
• Take time to read--take your book with you as you
  drive your children to soccer games dance
• Plan study breaks with your childrentake 10
  minutes each hour that you study to be with your
  childrenset the timer
• Develop a routinelet your children know what to
  expect
• Enlist other adults for helpask your spouse,
  neighbor, or fellow student to take care of the
  childrentrade childcare
• Read your text book with your toddlerinvolve
  your childmake funny faces, talk in a funny
  voice, invent rhymes, poems, or songs, for
  formulas

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Practice, Practice, Practice.

• Immerse yourself in the material
• See it
• Listen to it
• Say it again
• Use it
• Do it
• Practice often
• Do again (and repeat)
• Review (with ongoing feedback, continuous and
  rewarding)
• Go back to the beginning ?

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Learn from the mistakes of othersyou can
never live long enough to make them all
yourself. John Luther

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SMARTHINKING Online Tutors
www.SMARTHINKING.com
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Thank You!
Academic Success Center E 149 729-5389