How to Study Effectively – Based on Research by Dr. Marty Lobdell

On a regular day, an AISG high school student spends approximately five and a half hours in classes at school. This figure excludes any lunchtime or afterschool meetings/community services that a vast majority of students attend as well as the amount of homework that they will do per night. Based on these factors, it’s safe to say that most AISG high school students spend at least eight hours devoted to studying per day.

Time spent studying at school can’t be helped, but what if I told you that there are ways to study effectively at home that could cut down your study time and also help you retain more information? The following information is taken and summarized from Professor Dr. Marty Lobdell—a former psychology professor at Pierce College—who gave a lecture titled “Study Less Study Smart” in 2011.

Now, let’s get into the tips!

Tip #1: Break your studying into chunked sessions.

At first glance, this may appear to be a waste of time. Stopping and starting in the middle of studying seems like a sure way to get distracted or lose your motivation.

However, the reason for this first tip is that the average student has an attention span of about 25-30 minutes. After this time, an average student’s efficiency usually diminishes relatively quickly, which means that the age-old advice “study more” is not really effective at all. Dr. Lobdell recommends breaking your study sessions into 20-30 minute chunks, and after that take 5 minute breaks where you do something relaxing or fun.

Once your studies are done for the entire day, make sure to give yourself a real, tangible reward for completing it. This could range anywhere from snacking on your favourite food, watching an episode (or more!) of your favourite TV show, or chatting with your friends on social media. Dr. Lobdell states in the lecture that “reinforcement of positive things builds good study habits”, and additionally, you’re also training yourself to study. As you keep using this method, you may find that your attention span has grown and you can thus study for longer periods of time, since you know that you’ll have time to take a break and that there’s a reward waiting for you at the end of it.

Tip #2: Create a dedicated study space.

Personally, I know some people who could study effectively practically anywhere. A good friend of mine finds it easy to study in places that others may find difficult to concentrate in, such as a busy restaurant, a packed library, or on a bed. However, it is acknowledged by practically any educational professional that having an area used only for studying will help with your concentration. This is because our environment largely determines our behaviour. If you study in a place where you’re conditioned to do other things such as sleeping, playing video games or hanging out with friends, it’s going to be difficult to focus on your work.

Dr. Lobdell explains that the best place to do work is in an area specifically used for studying, so the context of the situation helps you to get into your studies. This could be a library (AISG or public), a corner of a quiet coffee shop, or your desk at home. Do whatever works for you!

Tip #3: Study actively.

When learning new material, said material can be summed up by placing it into two basic categories: Facts or Concepts. The main difference between facts and concepts is that concepts are generally rather abstract while facts are something known to be true. It’s been debated which of these two are more important, but the general consensus is that concepts are more important than facts. Why? Well, if you truly understand a concept—the inner workings of an idea—then it’s most likely going to stay with you forever. Meanwhile, facts can drift away over time, especially if it’s something you don’t use in your everyday life.

According to Dr. Lobdell, the best way to learn these concepts is to put them in your own words—test yourself, and learn actively. A great example that Dr. Lobdell gives during the lecture is how to effectively highlight. Usually, one would highlight things that are important or things they don’t know. However, most students tend to not highlight something that they know…or at least, think they know.

Turns out, you may not actually know it. You might’ve just recognised it. The brain is very good at recognising things. You can recognise someone’s face even if you haven’t seen them in years. However, in order for the brain to recognise something, you need an initial trigger. In a test/exam situation, there are usually no triggers. Thus, simply recognising a key word or important fact and skimming over it is not a good way to study. Instead, Dr. Lobdell encourages us to recollect information. To make sure you can recall something from memory, you need to make sure to study actively. Quiz yourself. Look through your notes immediately after class and add to them. Ask your teacher or classmate about a concept you don’t understand. Studying actively is one of the best ways to learn and remember information.

Tip #4: Use your textbooks effectively.

During the lecture, Dr. Lobdell mentions the SQ3R method, which stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. It was first introduced by Francis P. Robinson in 1946 in his book Effective Study. The process goes like this:

1. Survey: Survey (or skim) the chapter of your textbook before actually delving into the reading, especially going to the end and looking at the review questions and/or vocabulary. Make note of headings, sub-headings, important figures, graphs, etc. This step should only take a maximum of five minutes, and provides an outline of the chapter as well as “priming” your brain to pick out important information when you actually do the reading.
2. Question: Ask questions about the content of what you’re going to be reading before you begin. Motivate yourself to seek answers to these questions while actually reading, thus developing a wider understand of the idea. Example questions could be, “What is this chapter about?” or “Are there any larger ideas being communicated?”
3. Read: This step is very straightforward. After surveying the chapter and asking yourself a few questions, begin to read.
4. Recite: After reading the chapter of your textbook that you’re studying, try to retrieve from memory the information you just learned as if you’re explaining it to someone else. Try explaining things in your own words, identify major points, and address answers to the questions (in the “Q” step) that you made. 
5. Review: This is the final step of the SQ3R method. This process can be dragged out for as long as one wishes, but generally, go through all the important information you just learned. For example, if you took notes, reread and add to them if needed, or write out some more questions if you have any. 

Tip #5: Use mnemonics when studying facts.

The final major tip that Dr. Lobdell talked about was the method of using mnemonics when studying facts. Facts are more difficult to tie actual meaning to, unlike concepts (as previously discussed), and as a result, many students prefer using simple, mechanical memorisation to learn them. However, a more effective (and more fun!) way to remember facts is to use mnemonics.

Simply put, mnemonics are systems (such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations) which assist in remembering something. In his lecture, Dr. Lobdell goes over three specific types of mnemonics. The three are:

• Acronyms (Roy G. Biv – Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet – to remember the color spectrum)
• Coined Sayings (“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”)
• Image Associations (associating images with something you’re currently studying)

Dr. Lobdell notes that the third type of mnemonic, image association, is the best and most effective. Why? Well, let’s use image association in remembering the shape of stratovolcanoes. Stratovolcanoes are pointed mountains that tend to explode violently during eruptions. Now that we know what they are, how will we remember their shape? Well, the prefix “strato” is close sounding to “straight o”. Using this phrase, we can envision a line of o‘s marching straight up the side of the volcano, thus showing it’s pointed shape. A visual representation of this example is shown below: 

This image association doesn’t have to be overly complicated, and is unique to the individual creating it. You can create any type of image for any type of association as you want, as long as it makes sense to you.

With final exams coming up soon, I wish everyone success with improving their study methods.

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