Set the curve this semester with effective study habits

Illustration by Grace Faver | Washtenaw Voice

By Jordan Scenna
Deputy Editor

As debate over politics and civil freedoms rage, the one thing that most Michiganders can agree on is that summer is too short. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who is a summertime denier. All the pumpkin carvers and skiing enthusiasts are, at this moment, welcomed to keep their two cents to themselves. The brevity of summer break is above contention.

With that being said, fall semester has begun, and some students might need to shake off the cobwebs after a few months living in academic absentia. It’s going to be a long semester full of quizzes, essays, and tests. The uninitiated will soon learn the joys that accompany a weekly discussion board, but whether you are a returning student, or new to the halls of higher learning, starting the semester off strong will help pave the road to achieving your academic goals.

The best way to do this is with solid study habits. Learning about effective study methods and understanding what works best for you could be the difference between the grade you want and the grade you earned.

Finding out what you don’t know

Metacognition is the process of thinking, well, about thinking. It’s realizing what you know and what you don’t, and, most importantly, how to find out the things you don’t know. Confused yet? It’s times like these when consulting an expert is a good option.

Saundra Yancy McGuire is the director emerita of the center for academic success and retired assistant vice chancellor and professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University. She also spent 11 years at Cornell University where she received the Clark Distinguished Teaching Award. In other words, when it comes to learning, she knows what she’s talking about.

In her 2018 book “Teach Yourself How to Learn,” McGuire discusses the importance of metacognition when it comes to learning and provides a framework on how to study effectively. Her book is used by many colleges, such as the University of Washington, and McGill University, which has built a seminar from her work.

Here are some of the methods presented by McGuire.

Illustration by Grace Faver | Washtenaw Voice

Prepare for class: preview material and come up with questions. Attend class and be actively present (take notes, ask questions, engage with students/teachers).
Critical reading: includes any combination of previewing material and coming up with your own questions, then reading supplemented by recitation.
Effective note-taking: take notes by hand to facilitate selectiveness about what material is recorded. You can find a study about the benefits of taking notes by hand here.
Teach: present what you’ve learned to another person. If you don’t have anyone to do this with, pretending to teach to someone is just as effective.
Retrieval practice: don’t just re-read material that you want to remember. Ask yourself a question (a recurring theme) and practice recalling it. Making flash cards is great for this.
Study in pairs or in groups: There are academic, social, and psychological benefits from working in groups as opposed to individual learning.
Compose test-worthy questions and practice testing.

More tools

The one-minute paper: at the end of a lesson try writing a one-minute essay that addresses a variation of two questions.

“What was the most important thing you learned?”

“What important questions remained unanswered?”

Spaced repetition: The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve says we forget 75% of what we learn in the first 24-48 hours after learning it. A way to combat forgetting is to review what you learned (using the above methods) immediately after class, and then space it out. 24 hours later, a week later (or sooner), etc.

Common study practices that don’t work

Toss that highlighter.

Ok, you don’t have to throw it away, but merely highlighting important information is not enough. Highlighting can be helpful if you want to easily find a specific passage, but, according to the University of Rhode Island’s College for Academic Success, highlighting is not effective for retention.

Try note-making instead. Take those highlights and rewrite them in your own words.

Re-reading is a commonly used study method that is minimally effective when it comes to retention and comprehension. Active learning is always a better choice. Try adding a few tips to your repertoire from the list above.

Everyone learns differently and figuring out what works best for you is the first step toward academic stardom.

“When you use metacognition, you become tremendously empowered as a learner because you begin to be able to teach yourself.” – Saundra Yancy McGuire.

Don’t be afraid to struggle, that’s just part of the learning process and metacognition.