How to Study:A Brief Guide

(This abbreviated version by Dave Mulkey, full version here)

OUTLINE and INDEX:

Introduction
Manage your time
Take notes in class & rewrite them at home
Study hard subjects first & study in a quiet place
Read texts actively & slowly, before & after class
Do your homework
Study for exams
Take Exams
Do research & write essays
Do I really have to do all this?
Are there other websites that give study hints?

1. Introduction

Everyone has a different "learning style". (A good introduction to the topic of learning styles is Claxton & Murrell 1987. For more on different learning styles, see Keirsey Temperament and Character Web Site, William Perry's Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development, Holland 1966, Kolb 1984, Sternberg 1999.)

Consequently, everyone has a different "studying style". But the way that you are studying right now might not be the best for you. How would you know? Easy: If your grades aren't what you'd like them to be, then you probably need to change how you study!

Here are some suggestions on how to study effectively. Given that everyone's learning style is different, some of my suggestions may not work for you, at least not without some individual modifications. Nevertheless, I urge you to try them

2. Manage Your Time

School is a full-time job. And managing your time is important. How much time should you devote to studying? A recent survey in the Chronicle of Higher Education suggested that students are not studying enough. So, how much is enough? If you spend 25 hours per week in classes, that leaves 15 hours that you should be spending studying at home (or in the library).

You should spread that out over the week. Suppose you decide to study Sunday through Thursday evenings, taking Fridays and Saturdays off (from studying, that is). Dividing that 15 hours by those 5 days gives you 3 hours of studying per night. If you that's too much, plan on studying on the weekend.

For some tips on managing your time during exams, see below.

For some tips on managing your time when doing projects, see below.

3. Take Notes in Class & Rewrite Them at Home

Outline and Index:

Take Notes
Take Complete Notes
Use Abbreviations
Neatness Doesn't Count
Ask Questions & Make Comments
Copy Your Notes at Home
Don't Take Notes on a Computer
Don't Rely on the Instructor's Lecture Notes

3.1. Take Notes

Good studying at home begins with good notes taken in class. Just as everyone has a different learning style, different teachers have different teaching styles (and often these clash with the students' learning styles!): Some teachers lecture, some lead discussions, some "facilitate" individual work (as in a lab), etc. Consequently, different classroom settings will require different note-taking techniques. But the suggestions here are general enough to work in most situations.

3.2. Take Complete Notes

The key idea of taking good notes in class is to write down as much as possible. There are several reasons to take notes that are as complete as possible:

It will force you to pay attention to what's going on in class.
It will keep you awake (!)
There will be less that you'll have to remember.

Should you concentrate on taking notes or should you concentrate on understanding what you are learning? Paradoxically, I'd err on the side of taking notes, not understanding! Understanding can come later, when you review your notes. But if you have incomplete notes, it will be hard for you to learn what you didn't take notes on.

3.3. Use Abbreviations

This is an example of "speed writing" : if u cn rd ths, u cn lrn spdwrtg

The key idea in abbreviating is to use abbreviations that will make sense to you. You can put an abbreviation key in the margin of your notebook for any abbreviations that you make up on the spot.

3.4. Neatness Doesn't Count

Yet another key idea of note-taking is that you don't have to be neat; you only have to be legible enough to be able to read your notes a few hours (or, at most, a few days) later. Draw circles and arrows to highlight important points.

3.5. Ask Questions & Make Comments

If you have a question or something comes to mind as you're taking notes, you have two choices: You can contribute to the class discussion by asking your question or making your comment. Or you can jot your question or comment down in your notes.

One technique that I use to be able to distinguish my own questions or comments from the rest of the notes is to put them in the margin and/or to surround them with big, bold square brackets [like this.]

By the way, if you have a question, especially if you need clarification of something that the teacher said or wrote (possibly because it was inaudible or illegible), ask it! Do not be embarrassed about asking it!

3.6. Copy Your Notes at Home

This section is titled "Take Notes in Class & Rewrite Them at Home"; the title was not "Take Notes in Class & Study Them at Home". Of course you should study your class notes at home; but just (re-)reading them is too passive. One of the themes of this guide is that studying must be active. It is all too easy when just reading passively to have your mind wander or even to fall asleep:

Notes are often incomplete or sketchy; just reading such notes won't help. And a few days or months after you take them, they may very well be illegible or incomprehensible. I suggest that you study your notes by re-writing them. For each class, buy a separate notebook from the one you take your notes in. I recommend a "composition" or spiral notebook, not a looseleaf notebook, for your "permanent" (i.e., re-written) notes. Then, as soon as possible after class (preferably that evening or the next), copy your notes into your permanent notebook.

3.7. Don't Take Notes on a Computer

By the way, I do not recommend taking class notes on a laptop computer. Unless you are a very good typist, you won't succeed. Worse, you may be distracted by e-mail, chatting, or web-surfing.
(For an interesting debate on this topic, see Adams 2006.)

3.8. Don't Rely on the Instructor's Lecture Notes

Some instructors provide their own set of lecture notes, as photocopies. These can be useful, but you should not rely on them. If all you do with them is read them, they are useless, because you are using them passively. Take your own notes, and compare them to the instructor's notes later.

4. Study Hard Subjects First & Study in a Quiet Place

Study hard subjects first. Each night (or day) when studying or doing your homework, do those subjects first for which you need to be alert and energetic. Leave the easier, or more fun, subjects to later.

Study in a quiet place, with as few distractions as possible. Do not listen to music or TV: It is virtually impossible to do two things at once if one of them is studying.

5. Read Texts Actively & Slowly, before & after Class

5.1. Read Actively, Not Passively

By 'text', I mean whatever you have to read: It might be a text book, a work of fiction, a poem, an essay, an article from a journal or magazine, or even a class handout. With one major exception, you should not read passively. That is, don't just read the text straight through without thinking about what you're reading.

If you read without thinking, I guarantee that your mind will eventually wander off, your eyes will eventually glaze over, and you will fall asleep--it's a form of self-hypnosis.

5.2. Read Slowly.

The first step in reading actively is to read s-l-o-w-l-y. Stop occasionally and ask yourself questions. This is called reflection. It forces you to think about what you are reading, which helps your brain make connections and improves memory.

For more information on slow reading, see:

Fletcher, Lancelot R. (1994), "Slow Reading Lists (and the Meaning of Slow Reading)"
- Note: If you scroll down about halfway on the above link, you'll reach the section called "What Do I Mean by "Slow Reading"?".
Daly, Robert (2003), "Slow Reading: Why it Matters, How to Do It, How to Teach It"
Waters, Lindsay (2007), "Time for Reading", Chronicle of Higher Education 53(23) (9 February): B6-B8.

5.3. Reading with a Pen

There are some other tricks for active reading. One, of course, is to highlight important or interesting passages. There are several ways to do this. The worst is to use a yellow highlighting marker (or hot pink, or whatever color you like). The main problem with this is that you will tend to find almost every sentence to be important or interesting.

A better approach is to take notes when you are reading. This involves more parts of your brain and improves memory, as well as providing a summary that is easy to review later. Using a pen and paper for notes is especially useful when reading on the computer screen (e.g. web-sites).

6. Do Your Homework

It should go without saying that you should do your homework and do it on time.

Science and math courses (and some others, such as foreign-language courses) often require you to do homework exercises or problem sets. I strongly recommend that you do not simply do the problems and hand them in. Rather, do them on scrap paper, check them over, and then copy them neatly. Turn in the neat copy (and, of course, be sure that your name is on it!). You may even want to duplicate your work in case the teacher loses it (unlikely) or doesn't give it back in time to use it for studying for an exam (this should only happen in rare circumstances, usually just before an exam (when the teacher has a lot of things to do), but it is not unheard of).

And don't just write down answers. Write down the problem and the complete solution showing how you arrived at your answer.

7. Studying for Exams

7.1. Manage Your Time

Earlier, I discussed managing your time. When you have exams, time management becomes even more crucial. Begin studying about 1 week before the exam. Spend at least an hour each night (or day) studying for the exam in the manner described below. Try to spend the entire night (and/or day) before the exam studying for it.

7.2. Make a Study Outline

Use your recopied class notes, together with your highlighted text and notebook, to make an outline of the material. Try to put as much as possible onto the front sides of only 1 or 2 sheets of paper (like those plasticized crib sheets that are often sold in college bookstores). Then do all your studying from these.

7.3. Write Sample Essays & Do Sample Problems With Friends

It's like training for a sport - practice the things you need to do during competition, so the right behaviors come automatically and easily.

For subjects in which you will be expected to write essays, either "psych out" the teacher and make up some plausible essay questions, or get copies of old exams that have real essay questions on them. Then write sample essays.

For subjects in which you will have to solve problems (e.g. math), solve lots of sample problems from your text or from other texts.

How will you know if your answers are correct and your essays are good? The best way is to form a study group of 2 or more fellow students: Solve the same problems and compare answers. Write essays and let the others read them and ask you questions.

7.4. Stop Studying When You Feel Confident

How do you know when you've studied enough? It's not when you're tired of studying! And it's not when you've gone through the material one time! You should stop only when you get to the point that you feel confident and ready for whatever will be on the exam--when you're actually eager to see the exam to find out if you guessed its contents correctly.

8. Taking Exams

First, read the entire exam all the way through.

For an essay question, do a "mind dump": Write down, on scrap paper, brief reminders (keywords) of everything that you remember about the topic of the question. Then develop an outline of your answer. Then write the essay. (With luck, much of the essay can be "copied from memory" from the sample essays you wrote when studying.)

For an exam with problems to solve or proofs to write, do the easy ones first.

If you have time at the end, review your answers carefully and make corrections.

And, when all of your exams are over, take heed...:-)

9. Doing Research & Writing Essays.

Outline:

Choose topic carefully
Do research
Make an outline
Write, using your outline
Edit
Manage your time
Some Interesting Online Articles on Writing

From For Better or For Worse:

9.1. Choose Topic Carefully

Choose your topic wisely. Avoid the two extremes of a topic that is so broad or well-known that there are too many sources of information and a topic that is so narrow or little-known that there is a paucity of information. If you are having trouble choosing a topic, talk to your teacher.

9.2. Do Research

Once you have a topic and have found appropriate resource materials, read them slowly and actively, and be sure to keep a notebook. I won't repeat the details of those suggestions here, with one exception: Be sure to carefully record your sources and the page numbers of any quotations, so that you can include them in your final report.

9.3. Make an Outline

This stage may require several iterations. You should make an outline and sort your notes into categories that correspond to the main sections of your outline. But which of these should you do first? It doesn't matter. You may have a clear outline in mind, in which case, sorting your notes will be relatively straightforward (though you may find that some notes don't quite fit or that some suggest a section that you hadn't initially thought of). Or you may need to sort your notes first, to see which ones go together, and then create an outline based on the categories you discover during the sorting process.

How do you make an outline? The suggestions that follow work for almost anything you have to write. First, write down a handful of main themes that you want to discuss (these will be the categories that you sorted your notes into); describe each using only a few keywords. Decide in what order you want to write about them, and then--on a blank piece of paper--put each at the head of a column, something like this:

intro topic1 topic2 topic3 conclusion

These will be the main sections of your paper. In addition, you should always have an introductory section and a conclusion or summary section.

Next, in each column, write down the main ideas that you want to include, again ordering them and using just a few keywords. These will be your subsections. Under each of these, put the identifying numbers of the items in your notes that you want to include in each subsection. (You may find that you will need to repeat this process recursively for subsubsections, etc. If so, do this when you're ready to write that subsection, not at the beginning. This kind of process is called "top-down design and stepwise refinement".)

9.4. Write, Using Your Outline

Once you've got your outline, start writing, using your outline and notes as a guide. Don't spend too much time editing what you write at this stage. Just write. (I should note that some people prefer "free writing" , in which you don't spend any time preparing an outline before you write. If that works for you, go for it.) By the way, it's always helpful for keeping track of where you are in your outline, both to you as writer and to your reader, to give each section and subsection a name, as I have done in this document.

9.5. Edit

After you've written your first draft, re-read what you wrote, using the method of slow and active reading, and revise (or "edit") what you wrote. Then ask a friend to read it and give you feedback. Then revise again, and prepare the final version.

9.6. Manage Your Time

9.7. Some Interesting Online Articles on Writing:

Vonnegut, Kurt (1982), "How to Write with Style"
Abstract:
- Find a subject you care about.
- Do not ramble.
- Keep it simple.
- Have the guts to cut.
- Sound like yourself.
- Say what you mean to say.
- Pity the readers.
Gray, Tara (2005), "Publish and Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar", Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List #661

10. Do I Really Have to Do All This?

Right about now, you're probably asking yourself whether you really have to do all of this. It seems like an awful lot of work.

Well, of course, you don't have to do all of it at once. Try various of these suggestions to see what works for you. Try some variations that may better fit your learning style or personal circumstances. But, in the long run, there's no quick and easy road to studying. It is hard work and should take a lot of time.

So, do you really have to do all of this? Yes (or things very much like them)--if you want to really learn the material (and get good grades).

Finally, for what it's worth, here are some comments from students and others who have tried some of these methods:

"... this is the way you taught me to study years ago and it finally paid off last year!" (a college sophomore who went from high-school grades in the 70s to a 3.00 average in college)
"Thank you for the guide. It has some great tips! I'm surprised that I use some of the techniques myself. (E.g., I abbrev. and cndnse my notes.) I have one suggestion, though: when reviewing for a test/exam, only study what you aren't familiar with. It reduces studying time and is helpful if you're a last minute person like me. :) Well, that may not work for you, but who knows?"
"... encourage some study groups! Not 5 in a group, 'cause that will be a crowd, but study environment is as important as studying itself; change of environments is sometimes good to make you study better. Thank you for your helpful hints, and it does help me to notice some of my weaknesses in studying."
"I'd like to pass along a bit of technique that worked well for me in just about all my courses. Thinking about the subject matter--often catalyzed by discussion with others--before delving into it was my key to success. After giving it some thought, I wrote out a series of logical, fundamental questions which I sought to answer that would clarify the subject matter. You know, make it perspicuous. I read/listened/watched with those questions in mind, noting as well other points an author/instructor was attempting to make. If my questions (which were fundamental to a clear understanding) went unanswered, I would seek the answers through other written, visual, or aural materials. Visiting an instructor during office hours or asking the question in class was often most helpful. Once I had the basics well in mind, building on them was easy and fun. Studying and learning in this way also helped me to prepare for exams. Clearly, if I could think of a question, there was a good chance one writing an exam might think of it too. The technique is not a panacea for all study-related problems; however, it does set forth a system to build upon in an individualized way. I also suggest a visit to the children's section of the library when revisiting or attempting to master the basics of certain things. Books written at that level, though often oversimplified, present ideas and concepts in a clear and easily understandable form usually lacking in primers written for adults. There's no substitute for laying a good foundation on which to build additional knowledge." -- Marc L. Ames
"I would like to thank you for the effort made doing this guide.... But there is one thing I would like to suggest for ... future "upgrades" of this text: I think you have to mention that it is important to be in good physical condition as well, I mean: sleep 8 hours a day, eat well, .... What I would like to point is that, in my opinion, it would be good to tell students that they have to be in their best condition to study/take an exam/work." --Diego Fernández Fernández, E.U.I.T.I.O student (Computer Engineering), Oviedo (SPAIN).
"I would like to thank you very much for the "How to Study" document I discovered on the net. It is very informative, and it will help me with my day to day activities. I only wish I had it while I was in high school!" --Joseph Di Lillo, Team Lead--SAP Service Desk.
"Thanks so much for the great study guide. I am a high school counselor, and we have been teaching a freshmen study skills class for two years.... Your ideas have really inspired me, and there are many of the same theories that we have been presenting, but in a new way! Thanks for the great tips!" --Trinity Walsh, Guidance Counselor, Elder High School, Cincinnati, OH.