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Are you learning about study skills? Go to:
Click Here to Read About Balancing Studying and Wellbeing.
Click Here to Read About Balancing Studying and Wellbeing.
Setting academic goals and working hard towards them is great, but your wellbeing is a big priority too. We would argue that your wellbeing should be your highest priority. You won't be able to perform at your best if you are at your worst. With that in mind, remember to strive to find a balance with your study where you also maintain your social, mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health as well. You will find it very difficult to get through school if you do not also look after your wellbeing.
Sometimes we feel pressured to do well; that pressure can come from ourselves or from people around us. A healthy amount of pressure can be motivating. Ideally, it is delivered in a way that feels positive and encouraging. But when that pressure is too much, or we are not able to achieve the desired level of achievement (be that results, hours studied etc.), then that pressure can result in a loss of wellbeing. Be realistic and sustainable in your goals and efforts and long term you will be more likely to succeed in life.
According to Beyond Blue "Young people can support themselves getting through some of the tough times in adolescence by learning and practising useful skills and habits. There’s a wide range of apps out there that can help build these positive approaches by helping young people to:
develop resilience and coping skills
track and manage their mood and thoughts
improve their learning and communication skills
track physical health, including sleep, movement and nutrition." (2021)
Learn about developing these skills through their website with helpful tips and tools.
Just as we don't expect that you will intuitively know solutions to Year 12 Physics problems, we don't expect that you will be able to always know how to navigate wellbeing problems. When you are finding it tough, reach out for help and learn new strategies. Sometimes your friends and family can help, sometimes you need to reach out to school teachers, support teachers or counsellors. Beyond Blue have a great list of tips and tools for when you want to try to manage your wellbeing yourself.
Needing help does not indicate that you are not intelligent, but reaching out for help when you need help does indicate that you are intelligent!
At Smith's Hill High School, if you need help with your wellbeing, please speak to your Year Advisor, a trusted teacher, or you can make a request to see the school counsellor via email (provided to you by the wellbeing team), or use the paper referral form available from Student Services Reception in A Block. This paper referral is also available outside the school counsellor's door (top of A-Block). Talking to a parent, carer or GP is a great strategy for help outside of school as well.
Shortcuts to Studying Effectively (For All Students) = Retrieval Practices + Optimised Organisation
Shortcuts to Studying Effectively (For All Students) = Retrieval Practices + Optimised Organisation
Retrieval Practice is a learning strategy focused on creating routines to see how much, and how well you can remember the subject of your study. Through the act of retrieval, or calling information to mind, our memory for that information is strengthened and forgetting is less likely to occur. This also identifies what you do not know and need to revise.
Retrieval practice is a proven, powerful strategy for improving academic performance.
5x Retrieval Practice Study Techniques
5x Retrieval Practice Study Techniques
Write down everything you can remember about a concept from memory, dig deep, lean into finding the point where you struggle to remember more and keep going -this brings rewards!
Create and use your own test or revision questions; yes, this is hard; it is precisely this effortful style of learning that leads to higher recall and greater flexibility in your understanding. Take is up a level by using Blooms Question Stems to design questions that progress upward from lower thinking levels to higher thinking levels.
Teach someone else the concept... a friend, an adult, even a pet! Prepare yourself, choose a focused concept, and try not to use any notes so that you rely on your memory (retrieval). As you teach, ask questions to check for understanding -if your pet talks back, let someone know. 🤪
Translate your knowledge of a concept into a visual representation. This can include mind maps, Venn diagrams and creating symbols, click here for 20+ visualise thinking strategies. Choose a method, then attempt to visualise and organise the ideas that you are studying without looking at your textbook or notes; after much effort check your notes and correct your work. Extend with Window Test: cut a smallish window in a piece of paper, place it over your visualisation so it only reveals one idea, and test how many connected ideas you can recall.
FlashCards can be used for details or concepts. Write a keyword or question on one side of a card and answer on the opposite. Tips: 1. Don't flip until you answer or really try (+1.30min). 2. Re-order the flashcards every time you use them. 3. Repeat until you get it right +3 times. 4. Details and Concepts; don't just do definitions & details, include concepts, themes etc. Mastered that? (Try 5-Sided FlashCards from Professor Handelsman.
2x Optimised Organisation of Study Strategies
2x Optimised Organisation of Study Strategies
Spaced Practice study sessions mean revising today, in two days, in one week, in three weeks -this massively increases long-term recall. Read more about this below in "Spaced Practice (Distributed) is Powerful".
Interleaving is studying multiple subjects during a study session. Don't cram one subject all night! 'You can have a subject you focus on more, but switch it up a bit. You can interleave between totally different subjects, and you can interleave between different components of one subject. One study found that high school students who used interleaving in maths scored nearly doubled the test scores compared to classmates who studied in single blocks (The Learning Scientists). Don't quickly swap back and forth too much; multitasking is very negative for your learning.
ProTip: Start with 2 Retrieval Practice Study Techniques and plan for Spaced Practice.
ProTip: Start with 2 Retrieval Practice Study Techniques and plan for Spaced Practice.
Choose Your Own Podcast Adventure: What do the researchers say actually works when it comes to studying for assessment tasks - and how to make it work for any brain type:
The Neurodiversity Podcast - Ep.187: Cinthia Nebel (with the book) of The Learning Scientists; better for learners who like a more direct description.
What if you could find a bunch of scientists, all with PhD's in how students learn, and they could explain the science in a way that was easy to understand and put into practice... and they used pictures?...well, meet The Learning Scientists.
Start by listening to the podcast Learning How to Learn, Studying How to Study Then if you want more:
they have a website
they have a YouTube channel
and their FAQ is a powerhouse trouble-shooting session of why and how. Seriously, on their FAQ page, check-out the answer to the question "How can I integrate the 6 study strategies into a study routine or regimen?"
Yes, the SHHS Library has that book Cinthia Nebel is holding "Ace That Test".
Tip: For the podcast episode below, you can skip forwards to about 4min30sec when they properly begin talking about the topic.
The Neurodiversity Podcast - Ep. 207: Gretchen Wegner of the AntiBoringLab; best for learners who are convinced they cannot study, and maybe get bored with studying.
Did you know that the techniques are completely different for first learning something, and studying for recall?
Did you know that each time you study something, you should use a different process for it to work better?
Do you use blue masking tape correctly when studying?
Gretchen is empowering, Gretchen will give you the power to tweak your strategies for even greater performance boosts, and this is true for any learner type.
Start by listening to the podcast Unique Learning Challenges of Neurodivergent Brains.
*The term 'neurodivergent' is a non-judgemental term that includes a wide range of learners. Adjustments may include breaking processes into steps, reducing or increasing complexity, including movement, etc.If you want more from Gretchen:
she has website
she has a free course
she has the Anti-Boring Learning Lab YouTube Channel.
According to retrieval experts Agarwal et al.,
According to retrieval experts Agarwal et al.,
Retrieval practice makes learning effortful and challenging. Because retrieving information requires mental effort, we often think we are doing poorly if we can’t remember something. We may feel like progress is slow, but that’s when our best learning takes place. The more difficult the retrieval practice, the better it is for long-term learning. For instance, recalling an answer to a science question improves learning to a greater extent than looking up the answer in a textbook. And having to actually recall and write down an answer to a flashcard improves learning more than thinking that you know the answer and flipping the card over prematurely. Struggling to learn – through the act of “practising” what you know and recalling information – is much more effective than re-reading, taking notes, or listening to lectures. Slower, effortful retrieval leads to long-term learning. In contrast, fast, easy strategies only lead to short-term learning" (Agarwal et al., 2020).
Does Retrieval Practice Increase Anxiety?
"No, in fact it decreases test anxiety! Students not only become used to the process of retrieval but because learning increases, they become more comfortable with course content and less anxious about upcoming exams. Our surveys of nearly 1,500 middle school and high school students confirm that 72% report a decrease in test anxiety by the end of the school year" (Agarwal et al., 2020).
Retrieval poster by The Learning Scientists. This poster is part of the free to download "Six Strategies for Effective Learning (Studying)". You can listen to a podcast explaining this: Learning How to Learn, Studying How to Study (33min) with Emily Kircher-Morris & Cinthia Nebel.
Spaced Practice is Powerful Study
Spaced Practice is Powerful Study
One of the most impactful learning strategies is "spaced practice" (also known as “distributed practice”), which means spacing out your studying over several days and weeks (Newport, 2007). The poster below from The Learning Scientists describes how to spread your study over separate sessions, not studying in large single blocks of just one subject. The total amount of time spent studying will be the same (or less) than blocking, but you will learn the information more deeply and retain much more for the long term which will raise your level of achievement. The important thing is how you use your study time, not how long you study. Long study sessions lead to a lack of concentration and thus a lack of learning and retention.
Below is a visual guide to Spaced Practice:
Spaced (Distributed) Practice poster by The Learning Scientists. This poster is part of the free to download "Six Strategies for Effective Learning (Studying)". You can listen to a podcast explaining this: Learning How to Learn, Studying How to Study (33min) with Emily Kircher-Morris & Cinthia Nebel.
General Tips on Learning and Studying Effectively
General Tips on Learning and Studying Effectively
Silence Isn’t Always Golden
Silence Isn’t Always Golden
Well, to be honest, research consistently demonstrated that learning and studying in a silent, or fairly quiet space is the most beneficial (Sun et.al., 2024).
It is not always possible to have a silent space, and for some people background noise such as other people talking and general household can be fairly distracting. If you feel like you need to listen to some music to help block out external noises, here is what the research reports as better and worse:
Music with lyrics is the most distracting (ie. reduces studying effectiveness),
Music with no lyrics is distracting, but less than music with lyrics,
High-volume & high-intensity music is worse compared to music with low-volume & low-intensity (Sun et. al., 2024).
So if you need to use music, aim for low-intensity music with no lyrics, and listen at a low volume. Ambient music like Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" works a treat for me.
Problems Are Your Friend
Problems Are Your Friend
Working and re-working problems is important for technical courses (e.g., math, economics). Be able to explain the steps of the problems and why they work.
In technical courses, it is usually more important to work on solving problems rather than reading the text (Newport, 2007). In class, write down in detail the practice problems demonstrated by the teacher. Annotate each step as much as possible to see if you can explain every part.
When preparing for tests, put together a large list of problems from the course materials and lectures. Work the problems and explain the steps and why they work (Carrier, 2003).
Reconsider Multitasking
Reconsider Multitasking
A significant amount of research indicates that multi-tasking negatively affects results (Junco, 2012). Eliminate distractions during your study sessions. Flicking between study, social media, messaging, and movies fatigues your brain. The research is clear that multi-tasking increases the amount of time needed to learn the material and decreases the quality of the learning (Junco, 2012).
Switch Up Your Setting
Switch Up Your Setting
Know when and where you study best. Do you work best early in the morning in your room, or do you work best after a walk or a run? You probably won't work best very late at night.
Learning Styles is a Myth!
Learning Styles is a Myth!
Since the 1980's there has been a theory of Learning Styles asserting that people learn best through their preferred mode (Visual, Auditory, Reading, Kinesthetic (movement)). This has been disproved countless times but the idea persists (Baker, nd). People can indeed have a preferred style of receiving information, but it does not mean that people learn better through a preferred mode. Indeed if it takes a little more effort to learn something, like Retrieval Practice as a study technique, the effort leads to learning effectively and mixing up the mode of learning leads to better learning.
Reflect on Your Study Time Each Day
Reflect on Your Study Time Each Day
After each study session ask yourself the following questions:
How do I feel now that the study time is over? What motivated/didn’t motivate me during my study time? How can improve the chances of feeling good about studying next time?
What distracted me during study time? How did I manage my time/stay organised? What will I do better next time?
How did today’s study time help me become a better learner? What thinking tools or active study strategies did I practice during my study time? What tools will I use next time? (Cash, 2016)
The Problem with that Highlighter...
The Problem with that Highlighter...
Reading and highlighting are an important initial part of learning, but understanding information more deeply and retaining it in memory requires actively engaging in the material (Edwards, 2014). Reading and highlighting has very little effect as a study technique.
Managing Changes to Your Study Practices
Managing Changes to Your Study Practices
Learning how to use new study techniques is something that can be quick and easy, it can also be challenging and require reflection and planning to develop the new skill. A "Learning Sprint" is a process for managing the process and stages of learning a new skill. This involves setting goals, planning and reflecting. To download a worksheet that breaks down the process, choose one of the following links:
Explore the links below for additional supporting material to improve your study skills:
Learn about why and how to set great goals
Learn strategies to plan study and exam revision.
Learn metacognitive strategies to reflectively prepare for exams.
Learn strategies to cope better with the whole exam experience.
Learn strategies to capitalise on exam feedback.
Learn strategies to capitalise on assessment feedback.
Learn strategies for taking notes.
Learn strategies for taking notes.
Learn strategies to support you talking to teachers about your learning.
Additional Resources for Teachers (and Adventurous Students):
Additional Resources for Teachers (and Adventurous Students):
RetrievalPracticeGuide.pdfCilck to download or visit the retrievalpractice.org website.
References
Agarwal, P.K., Roediger, H.L., McDaniel, M.A., and McDermott, K.B. (2020). How to Use Retrieval Practice to Improve Learning. Retrieved 1/09/2023, from http://pdf.retrievalpractice.org/RetrievalPracticeGuide.pdf.Beyond Blue (2021). Carrier, L. M. (2003). College students’ choices of study strategies. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96(1), 54-56.Cash, R. M. (2016). 10 Important Study Habits. Retrieved 19/05/2021, from https://www.nrichconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/10-Important-Study-Habits.pdfCraik, F. I., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104(3), 268.Davis, S. G., & Gray, E. S. (2007). Going beyond test-taking strategies: Building self-regulated students and teachers. Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 1(1), 31-47.Edwards, A. J., Weinstein, C. E., Goetz, E. T., & Alexander, P. A. (2014). Learning and study strategies: Issues in assessment, instruction, and evaluation. Elsevier.Jarret, C., (2018). Learning by teaching others is extremely effective – a new study tested a key reason why. The British Psychological Society. Accessed 10 May 2021. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/05/04/learning-by-teaching-others-is-extremely-effective-a-new-study-tested-a-key-reason-why/Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2012). No A 4 U: The relationship between multitasking and academic performance. Computers & Education, 59(2), 505-514.Mackenzie, A. M. (1994). Examination preparation, anxiety and examination performance in a group of adult students. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 13(5), 373-388.McGuire, S.Y. & McGuire, S. (2016). Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate in Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation. Stylus Publishing, LLC.Newport, C. (2006). How to become a straight-a student: the unconventional strategies real college students use to score high while studying less. Three Rivers Press.Paul, K. (1996). Study smarter, not harder. Self Counsel Press.Robinson, A. (1993). What smart students know: maximum grades, optimum learning, minimum time. Crown trade paperbacks.Sun, Y., Sun, C., Li, C., Shao, X., Liu, Q., & Liu, H. (2024). Impact of background music on reading comprehension: influence of lyrics language and study habits. Frontiers in psychology, 15, 1363562. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1363562Wissman, K. T., Rawson, K. A., & Pyc, M. A. (2012). How and when do students use flashcards? Memory, 20, 568-579.This work is copied and adapted from The Learning Center, University of North Carolina. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Learning Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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