Category: Study Skills

Posted on

Attn: Loading Too Much On? Here’s a Theory of How to Fix It

By Maya Estes

Do you ever feel like you are taking too much on? Responsibilities are piling up and you cannot for the life of you get on top of everything? You, my friend, are not the only one. At one point in time, everyone has been in your place; they have said ‘yes’ one too many times and now they have so many things on their plate that they are overwhelmed. It is not always saying yes though. Life is full of numerous distractions; it is amazing the world is still turning with the many ways you can avoid all of life’s responsibilities. There is never going to be a tried and true way of eliminating all these stressors, but there are some ways to help reduce them and focus on what is important.

Posted on

Memory Consolidation is a Great Excuse to Sleep

By Kelsey Klein

Imagine this: you’re a freshman in college who just graduated from high school. Each year of your high school career, you were able to get by with taking a quick glimpse of your notes before a quiz or exam. Even though you didn’t put much effort forth when it came to studying, you still managed to get a relatively good grades in all of your classes (shocking). Although you know that you will have tougher teachers and harder classes when you get to college, you think you will be able to get by just fine with the way you study now. When your first test rolls around and you use the same techniques as you did in high school, but you get the test back and your grade is not good, oh boy are you surprised. 

If anyone ever told you that once you get out of college and your teachers will be relatively relaxed, they are not wrong. However, just because they are laid back does not mean you can slack off. It also does not mean that they will go easy when it comes to their tests. Even though people may have been lucky to get a teacher who is very chill, people still tend to freak out when a quiz or test comes sneaking up. Skimming your notes a couple minutes before the exam or quiz won’t cut it. Even hoping that studying quickly before you go to bed is wishful thinking that something will stick with you. Although it is not ideal, college is much different than high school, which means that you need to find new studying techniques that will help you excel when tests and quizzes come around. 

Posted on

Seeing Without Seeing? Imagine That!

By Kate Aukes

Welcome to college! The next four (or more) years may be some of the most interesting and fun of your life, but a good work-fun balance is important. You will likely find yourself spending some time working on your study strategies as you settle into a new routine and a new school. When it comes to studying the material that you’ve learned and remembering it when test-day arrives, visual imagery will likely be at play. This type of imagery can be very helpful to your performance on exams and your overall studying method. When I started college, my study habits tended to be lacking, and that reflected in some of my grades. As a senior, I can look back and see that my habits have improved greatly over the years and my grades have followed suit. My hope is that this post can help you learn from my mistakes and do well in your first year of college!

Posted on

Recall issues? Learn about Interference

Interference may be why you did poorly on your test

By Miranda Molleck

“Did you fail your first college exam? Its okay! Just breathe and keep reading.”

College can sure be rough. You have classes to attend, homework (papers, presentations, assignments), groups presentations, plus studying. You have to balance a lot. Its no wonder students run into interference issues.

“Oh, what is interference? Keep reading my post to find out. There are ways to help reduce the likelihood of interference.”

Posted on

Memory in Action

By James Marrs

It is no surprise that the human element often lacks explicit memory in which individuals don’t understand. Most researchers have proved that people can remember around seven items or words, give or take a couple. Most recent studies have indicated that number has decreased over time, to around four items, or words, on average. I question if the timeline of events is a role that affects this variable or if the general rule has always been around four items that we remember. An example of the timeline approach I mentioned is as more distractions raise, then the possibility of items remembered are less. Our society has moved at a very rapid rate of technological advances which has its benefits and risks. Working memory has often been referred to as short term memory, where you pick up pieces to a puzzle, from what you have learned, in hopes to use the information in the near future. Often, working memory requires individuals to be focused and goal oriented to move in a direction of progress, a lack of maintaining focus would cause higher levels of frustration which would be very intolerable, if persistent. By this, I refer to using our memories with action or other variables such as word chunking. This creates better opportunities for humans to remember important information. It is also necessary to learn using the hands-on traits of learning to restore memory.

Continue reading “Memory in Action”

Posted on

Better Organization May Raise Your GPA…. Who knew??

By Ariel Campbell

It’s a week before your first college finals week. You’re past due for a break from school, and you’re barely hanging on for the final stretch of what seems like the fastest semester ever. While studying, you think to yourself, “how in the world am I going to be ready for all of my finals??” As hard as it may seem to keep track of the endless papers and presentations that come at the end of the semester, your organization is the first step. And you may be thinking, “why should I care about being organized?” Trust me, at this point of the semester, that’s what we’re all thinking. Your organization may actually have more to do with your success than you might have thought before.

Continue reading “Better Organization May Raise Your GPA…. Who knew??”

Posted on

Is the Load Too Much to Bare?

By Sarah C. McSparin

You feel as though everything is piling up and you’ll never get it all done. Join the club! Your not alone; there are thousands of students and employees with a mountain of responsibilities that seem too overwhelming. Not to mention the countless distractions life throws at you, especially cell phones. You wish there was some formula for completing all the tasks your assigned. Unfortunately there is not but by gaining knowledge about your ability to pay attention you can learn some tips and tricks to help you focus your attention on the things you want while ignoring the things that are distracting.

Continue reading “Is the Load Too Much to Bare?”

Posted on

A Reasoning Behind An Excuse You Always Use: “In One Ear, Out The Other”

By Taylor Peterson

Finally, out of high school: no more being stuck in the same building for 7 hours every day! Only a few classes every day- how awesome does that sound? Incoming students may think that with only 2 or 3 classes every day instead of 7, it will be so much easier to pay attention the entire class than it was in high school. After the first few weeks you realize, it is just as hard, if not harder. There are still days that you may nod off in class, or days you just stare at the board and have no idea what is going on.

The days that you just listen to the teacher lecture and stare at the board are always the days you may look back at the notes and say, “Was I even in class this day?”. The depth of processing theory explains this feeling you may have every Monday morning or Wednesday after lunch. The information was shallowly encoded into your memory, making it hard to recall ever seeing it before or understanding the content. Continue reading “A Reasoning Behind An Excuse You Always Use: “In One Ear, Out The Other””

Posted on

Take A Study Break, Why Don’t You?!

By Dymond Hunley 

What are you doing? In college studying for tests or maybe even finals. Let me Guess?! You’ve been cramming information for the last several hours. Let me guess again… You’re tired and ready to crash. Well let me be the one to tell you that you should not study for several hours constantly without taking a break. Time management is your best friend and procrastination is your worst enemy. When I started as a freshman that was one of my biggest flaws and sometimes still is.

Continue reading “Take A Study Break, Why Don’t You?!”