Quick Learning Strategies for Thanksgiving Break

At my institution we have an entire week off for Thanksgiving Break.   This is a wonderful and much-needed rest, but it is too long to go without studying and reviewing what you have learned up to this point.  Another concern is that there is only one week of classes before finals.  Upon returning to campus there will be little time to relearn material before taking finals.  Here are some quick strategies to keep the information fresh in your mind so that you do back-slide in your learning over break:

• Make a practice test at the beginning of the week and take it on Friday.
• Use recitation – as you are reviewing, practice restating in your own words from memory.
• Make study cards and review for short periods of time throughout the week.
• Quickly review some material immediately before you go to sleep.
• Make mnemonic devices for hard-to-remember material.   For example, take the first letters in a list of items and write a silly sentence with each word beginning with one the letters.
• Sing your notes out loud to your favorite music.

If you have to put in some serious time studying or writing a paper, here are two tips to help you:

• Plan ahead when you will study, tell someone else, and build that into your plan.
• Go somewhere that is more “academic” – your local Library or coffee shop perhaps.

Enjoy the time off and come back to your campus and your classes refreshed and ready for a strong finish!

First Semester Success: Study Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Arden B. Hamer, is now available at wordassociation.com and amazon.com.

Distributed Practice Can Save the Day!

One study strategy – Distributed Practice – can make a big difference in your learning and grades by the end of the semester.  Distributed Practice means that you spread out your studying and do a little each day.  PLEASE NOTE – the initial learning of your lecture notes and the initial reading of your textbooks is not part of this!  Once the initial learning has happened, Distributed Practice means that you review the material 20 minutes almost every day.  Here are some ideas:

1. Put the information you need to learn on index cards and carry them with you.  Every day go through the pack, and then do it again tomorrow.

2. Put the information into a review chart and then use recitation (restate in your own words from memory) to quiz yourself from the chart.

3. Over Thanksgiving Break, spend 20 minutes every day reviewing your class notes.

4. For math, put some problems on the front of index cards and the solution on the back.  Then, every day, pick a few cards, do the problems and check yourself.  If you start to remember them, make new ones!

5. Make some practice tests, set them aside, and test yourself a few days later.  If you have friends in the same class you could take each other’s practice tests and then explain why each answer is right or wrong.

This is a great strategy if there is a class that you are completely uninterested in.  Twenty minutes goes by in no time!

Another helpful idea is to set the timer on your phone for twenty minutes.  That way you are not concentrating on the time, but on the material to be learned.

What is important is the constant repetition spaced out over time.    You will be amazed at how much you can remember!

First Semester Success: Study Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (of Any Semester) of College, by Arden B. Hamer, is now available at wordassociation.com and amazon.com.

 

Mistakes are Great!

Everyone makes mistakes.   Sometimes in education we think we should be perfect all of the time, but that is not possible if the goal is to learn new things, to grow and to improve.  So why are mistakes so great?

* You find out what you know and what you don’t know.

* You find out that what you thought you knew was incorrect and then you have a chance to learn it correctly.

* Mistakes give you a chance to reflect on how you prepared or studied and to make improvements.

* You get to evaluate what you have been doing and make positive changes.   This can involve sports, working in organizations, etc.

* Looking back, you may find that a mistake sent you in an entirely new and better direction.  

When you make a mistake, change how you talk to yourself.  Don’t put yourself down or think negatively about yourself.  Instead turn it around and see what you can learn!  That makes all the difference in the world about how you see yourself and about your motivation and forward progress!

First Semester Success: Study Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (of Any Semester) of College, by Arden B. Hamer, is now available at wordassociation.com and amazon.com.

End-of-semester Crunch

Believe it or not, the end of the semester is approaching.   At my institution we have four weeks of classes left followed by a week of final exams.  In the middle of that time is a week for Thanksgiving Break.    A lot of things are due and a lot of activities are scheduled.  Here are some ideas for handling the end -of-semester overload and stress:

• Look at the time as a whole – map out the final weeks, see what you have due and when.  When are your finals?  How much time do you have off for Thanksgiving?

• Work ahead and have projects done a day or two early.  Problems always happen – you run out of printer ink or money for the copy machine for example!

• Is there a final that is critical to a higher grade in that class or a class that has been challenging all semester?  If so, make a study guide and review that information for about 15 – 20 minutes every day above and beyond your regular studying.

• Make sure you know if each final is cumulative or covers the last unit of the semester.

• Start to prepare for exams now.  Don’t wait for the professor to tell you what will be on the exam.  Study everything.

• Plan some off time to handle the end-of-semester stress.  Plan a movie date or dinner with friends.  Also, look forward to the time off over Thanksgiving and between semesters.   You can work hard for a few weeks if you know some relaxing time will follow!

This is a busy and fun time of the year.  You can enjoy it and still end the semester well with a good time management plan.

First Semester Success: Study Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (of Any Semester) of College, by Arden B. Hamer, is now available at wordassociation.com, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.