Studying Smarter

The key to effective studying isn’t cramming or studying longer (although in some cases, this works well), but studying smarter. There are many ways to make studying more effective but in the end, how effective or successful a method is could differ from person to person. With that being said, I feel that it is important to establish which habits and methods work for you and which don’t.

3 types of people

A study on the spacing effect (Kornell, 2009) was published in Applied Cognitive Psychology which goes on to explain how spacing out study sessions over a longer period of time improves long-term memory. If you have 12 hours to spend on a subject, it’s better to study it for three hours each week for four weeks than to cram all 12 hours into week four. Although psychologists are still unsure as to why this method is effective, one possible reason is that over time, people forget what they have learned in their initial study session and when they come back to the material later, the new study session jogs their memory and they recall what they learned the first time around. This forgetting and retrieving method helps cement the new knowledge in place. In Kornell’s experiment, he asked college students to study a “stack” of 20 digital vocabulary flashcards. The students all studied each word four times but half of the students studied the words in one big stack — they went through all 20 words, then started over. The other half of the students studied the words in four smaller stacks of five cards each. The students who used the one big stack had a longer spacing time between each of the four times they saw a word. The next day, the students were tested again and those in the “big stack” group remembered more of the words (49%) than the students in the “four small stacks” group (36%).

Another thing to consider is the location. Are classrooms actually good environments to study in? Do you prefer to switch locations frequently?  Are you able to study effectively in your room where you feel comfortable having everything there or do you get distracted easily by mess in your room and prefer to study in an environment which is not too familiar? Do you prefer to switch locations frequently?

You can’t buy happiness but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing

Speaking of distractions, are you somebody who is more comfortable studying in their own peaceful solitude or with others as you find it motivating? This could be down to where you would place yourself on an extroversion spectrum. Furthermore, do you like to study with music playing or, if you’re like me, do you find yourself getting distracted from your work as you start to tap your fingers to the beat and analyse the structure, cadences, key, texture, lyrics etc?

*mentally insert constant tapping noise*

Daytime or night time – when do you study? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, silence and tranquillity as well as emptier libraries and higher levels of creativity support the night owls whereas having more energy and the fact that society is structured around being active during the day and sleeping at night supports somebody who is more of an early bird.

Lastly, how you approach studying matters is important. Being in the right mindset is helpful when trying to study smarter but sometimes, you can’t force yourself to study if your mind is set on something entirely different. Once you are ready to study, think positively and avoid catastrophic and absolute thinking (‘broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions’, Fredrickson, 1998).

Pretty accurate

In the end, it takes a lot of trial and error to know which study methods work for you. Having tried for 13 years, I have not yet found an infallible method but look on the bright side (positive thoughts, see?), this will be a work in progress for many years to come…