Study Smarter, Not Longer – Blog 7 of 7: Go to bed!

Getting enough sleep is a challenge for many people and particularly college students.  There are always things going on and multiple fun reasons to stay up.  Add to that the pressure of earning good grades which causes stress as well as the temptation to stay up all night studying before an exam.

Your brain needs sleep to give the information you are learning time to consolidate in your long-term memory.   What happens when you study all night before an exam is that the information stays in your short-term memory and then you cannot retrieve it during the exam.

Of course, the other problem with being tired is that you cannot concentrate in class and you do not record the information you need to learn in the first place!

Here are two tips:

1.       Try to keep on a regular schedule.  Go to bed and get up at about the same time – at least during the week.

2.       If there is something you are struggling with learning (after you have achieved understanding!) try reviewing it right before you go to sleep. 

3.       Naps are good, but the best length of time for a nap is about 20 minutes.   If you put on your PJs and get under the covers, you have gone back to bed!  You do not want to get into a deep sleep, then you just wake up groggy and feel worse.

One more blog this year – how to react to your semester grades, both good and bad grades!

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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.

Study Smarter, Not Longer: Blog 6 of 7 – Space Learning Out Over Time

While you do not necessarily have to put in hours and hours of extended study time in one sitting (unless of course you are writing a major paper or reading a complex textbook chapter) you do have to consistently study starting from the first day you receive information.  One of the prime keys to learning is that you need to spread the study strategies from the first five blogs over time.   If you just review for hours right before an exam using the same strategies, you are not giving the information time to get securely into your long-term memory.  On the other hand, if your studying is spread out, each time you work with the information you are getting it more and more securely stored.  Here are some easy ways to accomplish this:

·       Review your new lecture notes after each class with the addition of self-testing.  Do a quick review of the previous lecture so you see the big picture.

·       In addition to reading your assignments, either take separate notes or annotate the material.

·       At an additional study session make one or more study guides from the material.

·       Once a week review all of the material you need to learn.

·       One week or more before an exam (depending on the amount of material), do an overview of the material to be tested and break it into meaningful chunks.   Study the first part on the first day, the second part on the second with a review of the first, the third part on the third day with a review of one and two, and so on until all sections have been covered.  Then continue to review until the exam.

·       Attend all professor-led review sessions as well as any Supplemental Instruction sessions available.

The point is that studying needs to be constant, not condensed into the night prior to the exam!  That leads to the next, and final, part – the importance of sleep! 

*****
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, barnesandnoble.com and wordassociation.com.   Click on the upper right link.