Tis the Season for . . . Final Exams
Psychology Today blog: Head of the Class
by Dana S. Dunn, Ph.D.
December 7, 2009
It's never too late to develop basic study skills
About now, most college students are preparing for their final exams (for many first year college students, this will be their maiden voyage to the land of comprehensive testing). Preparation can mean actually studying, engaging in denial about studying, displaying free form panic, or just giving up and taking exams "cold." Not surprisingly, I recommend studying. Besides those students who will shortly take final exams, quite a few casual readers who have visions of continuing education courses, graduate school, or job retraining dancing in their heads might also benefit from some suggestions about how to study more effectively.
If it has done nothing else, academic psychology has always had a lot to say about learning and how to learn. The problem is that too few students heed the recommendations routinely made in text books (especially introductory ones) or shared by their instructors. Scoffing at such counsel is the intellectual equivalent of adopting Scrooge's "Bah! Humbug!" as a philosophy of learning. Don't do it. Here we go.
Spread out your studying. To quote Moe of the Three Stooges, "Spread out!" Psychologists often use the clunky phrase "distributed versus massed practice" to characterize this advice. Simply put, intense cramming, especially a day or two before the test, is foolish; in fact, it may be one of the chief reasons students loathe studying. Instead, study across time at regular intervals rather than at the end of the semester.
Set up a schedule. Ideally, students should spend time reading and studying course material steadily across a semester. Establishing a routine, really, a study schedule is best. It's probably too late for this term, right? Not so fast: You can still create a study schedule between now and the exam. Don't spend more than an hour or two at a time studying one subject. Take a short break or study a different subject for a while before returning to the earlier material.
Study where you will be left alone. Ironically, perhaps, college libraries are often the social centers on many campuses; students go there to catch up on everything but studying. You need to find a quite, remote place (not your room with its Wii system, television, and enticing bed) where you can hunker down and focus on your work without distraction. Empty classrooms or students lounges that are off the beaten path are often good choices.
Read. In an earlier blog, I noted that many students never crack open the books assigned in their classes. You cannot hope to learn if you don't study the appropriate material. So, get the books and read them (and set up a reading schedule so that you read what you need before class-or that final exam).
Put away that yellow marker. When I was a first semester freshman I highlighted sections of my psychology text as a way to study. When I began to review for the first course exam, I realized that I had underlined virtually all of the text in the chapters we'd covered. I learned then that underlining needed to be done judiciously--just highlight the main ideas in each chapter, please--otherwise the exercise is a waste of time unless you plan to reread each and every chapter (which might not hurt, but that is not what we might call studying per se). Less underlining is always more.
Forget memorizing--try deeper processing. Rote learning may sometimes have worked for you in high school--it certainly helped me memorize the musculature of the cat for a biology practicum once upon a time back in high school--but it is not an effective strategy for college-level work. As you read or review course material, think about what it actually means and create connections between it and what you already know or want (need) to still learn. Such deeper processing of information will help you retain new information for a longer time. You should also mentally make course material personally relevant and meaningful by linking it to your everyday life and past experiences.
There is no shame in overlearning course material. Just because you may already know some course material doesn't mean you shouldn't keep studying it as an exam date approaches. Practice--even over-practice--really does make perfect. So, continuing to review and rehearse something after you have already mastered it can still lead to improved retention. What have you go to lose?
And in this merry season of finals, one more bit of advice:
Don't self-handicap. In other words, don't sabotage your exam performance by creating an excuse or opportunity for failure. Prior to taking a final, all too many students are tempted to party the night away. Such stress release (coupled with the next day's hangover) can serve as a convenient excuse for mediocre or poor performance ("Dude, I didn't bomb the final because I'm not smart or because I didn't study, I was just too wasted"). Self-handicapping comes in many familiar forms: alcohol, procrastination, drugs, over-commitment-you name the distraction. So, save the Christmas cheer for later, after your finals are over.
Like the December holidays, finals will come and pass quickly. One of the best ways to settle down for a long winter's nap is being content with the knowledge you studied your hardest and did the best you could. And that is no humbug.
Dana S. Dunn, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Moravian College, a liberal arts college in Bethlehem, PA. He is the author or editor of many books, including Research Methods for Social Psychology, The Practical Researcher: A Student Guide to Conducting Psychological Research, and Short Guide to Writing about Psychology (2nd Edition).
Psychology Today blog: Head of the Class
by Dana S. Dunn, Ph.D.
December 7, 2009
It's never too late to develop basic study skills
About now, most college students are preparing for their final exams (for many first year college students, this will be their maiden voyage to the land of comprehensive testing). Preparation can mean actually studying, engaging in denial about studying, displaying free form panic, or just giving up and taking exams "cold." Not surprisingly, I recommend studying. Besides those students who will shortly take final exams, quite a few casual readers who have visions of continuing education courses, graduate school, or job retraining dancing in their heads might also benefit from some suggestions about how to study more effectively.
If it has done nothing else, academic psychology has always had a lot to say about learning and how to learn. The problem is that too few students heed the recommendations routinely made in text books (especially introductory ones) or shared by their instructors. Scoffing at such counsel is the intellectual equivalent of adopting Scrooge's "Bah! Humbug!" as a philosophy of learning. Don't do it. Here we go.
Spread out your studying. To quote Moe of the Three Stooges, "Spread out!" Psychologists often use the clunky phrase "distributed versus massed practice" to characterize this advice. Simply put, intense cramming, especially a day or two before the test, is foolish; in fact, it may be one of the chief reasons students loathe studying. Instead, study across time at regular intervals rather than at the end of the semester.
Set up a schedule. Ideally, students should spend time reading and studying course material steadily across a semester. Establishing a routine, really, a study schedule is best. It's probably too late for this term, right? Not so fast: You can still create a study schedule between now and the exam. Don't spend more than an hour or two at a time studying one subject. Take a short break or study a different subject for a while before returning to the earlier material.
Study where you will be left alone. Ironically, perhaps, college libraries are often the social centers on many campuses; students go there to catch up on everything but studying. You need to find a quite, remote place (not your room with its Wii system, television, and enticing bed) where you can hunker down and focus on your work without distraction. Empty classrooms or students lounges that are off the beaten path are often good choices.
Read. In an earlier blog, I noted that many students never crack open the books assigned in their classes. You cannot hope to learn if you don't study the appropriate material. So, get the books and read them (and set up a reading schedule so that you read what you need before class-or that final exam).
Put away that yellow marker. When I was a first semester freshman I highlighted sections of my psychology text as a way to study. When I began to review for the first course exam, I realized that I had underlined virtually all of the text in the chapters we'd covered. I learned then that underlining needed to be done judiciously--just highlight the main ideas in each chapter, please--otherwise the exercise is a waste of time unless you plan to reread each and every chapter (which might not hurt, but that is not what we might call studying per se). Less underlining is always more.
Forget memorizing--try deeper processing. Rote learning may sometimes have worked for you in high school--it certainly helped me memorize the musculature of the cat for a biology practicum once upon a time back in high school--but it is not an effective strategy for college-level work. As you read or review course material, think about what it actually means and create connections between it and what you already know or want (need) to still learn. Such deeper processing of information will help you retain new information for a longer time. You should also mentally make course material personally relevant and meaningful by linking it to your everyday life and past experiences.
There is no shame in overlearning course material. Just because you may already know some course material doesn't mean you shouldn't keep studying it as an exam date approaches. Practice--even over-practice--really does make perfect. So, continuing to review and rehearse something after you have already mastered it can still lead to improved retention. What have you go to lose?
And in this merry season of finals, one more bit of advice:
Don't self-handicap. In other words, don't sabotage your exam performance by creating an excuse or opportunity for failure. Prior to taking a final, all too many students are tempted to party the night away. Such stress release (coupled with the next day's hangover) can serve as a convenient excuse for mediocre or poor performance ("Dude, I didn't bomb the final because I'm not smart or because I didn't study, I was just too wasted"). Self-handicapping comes in many familiar forms: alcohol, procrastination, drugs, over-commitment-you name the distraction. So, save the Christmas cheer for later, after your finals are over.
Like the December holidays, finals will come and pass quickly. One of the best ways to settle down for a long winter's nap is being content with the knowledge you studied your hardest and did the best you could. And that is no humbug.
Dana S. Dunn, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at Moravian College, a liberal arts college in Bethlehem, PA. He is the author or editor of many books, including Research Methods for Social Psychology, The Practical Researcher: A Student Guide to Conducting Psychological Research, and Short Guide to Writing about Psychology (2nd Edition).
