Comments on: The Definitive Guide to Studying

By: Jon Fernandes

Jon Fernandes — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:22:37 +0000

Good advice Ryan, Thanks.

- Jon

By: Ryan Zielonka

Ryan Zielonka — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:26:31 +0000

@Jamie

I try to break my three hours of study into two blocks where I divide the material I’m covering into logical groupings. It helps keep me focused during that time period, and away from switching mental gears too often.

@Eric

Absolutely. As a teaching assistant, I’ve seen students come in with entire pages covered in highlighting. I personally only highlight really poignant passages that I hope to cover in future projects, and instead rely on margin annotations to guide my reading.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:49:08 +0000

Believe it or not, highligting is a skill that needs to be learned too! You would be surprised how many people highlight the whole damn book because they have no idea what is important. Reading is mostly a passive activity for these types of people. It doesn’t just happen with the young kids but with college age students too.

Dan John actually wrote a pretty good article on reading things, forget the title though.

By: jamie hale

jamie hale — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:57:51 +0000

“Daily studying is better than cramming it in, obviously, but people tend to remember more when studying it a bit everyday in the long term (at least according to the book I read).” Agreed.

Numerous studies sessions for short periods have also been recommended by some of my associates. For example one of my Exp Psychologist contacts suggests if you have two hrs per day to study, split the sessions up into 2 1hr sessions.

“To better absorb material, introduce novelty by changing your environment.” When writing and conducting research I re-locate on a regular basis (e.g. find outdoors location, library, different locations in my house)

Ultimately, try to find a relaxing environment and don’t worry about being a speed demon. Once you become bored take a break. Keep a few dictionaries handy, and takes notes, or highlight.

jamie hale

By: Stefan

Stefan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:23:59 +0000

Great post, definately going to start applying some of the recc’s here

By: Yash

Yash — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:05:26 +0000

This is really helpful stuff. I’m retaking the MCATs and the thing I’m focusing on with my studying is the efficiency and effectiveness rather than the material itself. These tips will definitely come in handy. Thanks, Ryan.

By: Reader

Reader — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:42:23 +0000

Good stuff as always. Keep it up.

###
Thanks for the typo catch. Looks like WP auto-published an earlier draft, likely a product of my at the time tenuous internet connection.

- Ryan

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:14:35 +0000

I was reading a recent book on cognitive science in the classroom and it did mention how many low achieving students do now know how to study. This may seem kind of dumb to successful students but it isn’t always apparent to those who don’t have the skill. It does need to be taught.

Daily studying is better than cramming it in, obviously, but people tend to remember more when studying it a bit everyday in the long term (at least according to the book I read).

Good stuff here.

By: Alan Aragon

Alan Aragon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:40:10 +0000

Hey Ryan,

This is good stuff, I’ll run with the idea of seeking novel study/work environments. Thanks for the insight.

By: Frances

Frances — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:58:45 +0000

Koalas don’t push the white Colombian.