Learning as a Process - Part 5 of 7

The goal of the learning process is to get information from your short-term, working memory to your long-term memory.


Short-term/working memory - this is what you are using when you are studying (reading, taking notes, learning your notes, making study guides, etc.)


Long-term memory - This is where you store all that you know and where you get the information when taking an exam.


So the question is ...How does the information go from the short-term to the long-term memory?


And the answer is ...It gets there by using a variety of strategies including self-testing combined with repetition and spacing these strategies out over time.

• Variety means doing different things with the information - reading, taking notes, recitation (restating in your own words from memory), study guides, study cards, practice tests, the list is endless!
• Repetition - You have to revisit the information you want to learn multiple times before it becomes firmly fixed in your long-term memory.
• Spaced out over time - it does not work to go over and over the information in one study period, it needs to be spaced over time.   Sixty minutes of study is very effective in 20 minute increments spread over three days, while 60 minutes the night before the exam is not effective.

So as you can see, getting the knowledge firmly into your long-term memory is a process that takes time and effort!


In the next blog we will look at the end result of this process - successfully taking exams.


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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click on the upper right link.