Science knows a lot about how to prepare effectively for exams, but students don’t even know about these proven methods. Even those who study in elite educational institutions. Psychologist Daniel Willingham is ready to open the eyes of schoolchildren and students.
Students often underline phrases in text, although studies show that this method does not lead to memorization. Most of them begin to underline fragments during the first reading of the text, when they do not even know which pieces are key.
By the way, re-reading is also not very effective. When a student rereads the text, it seems to him that he is assimilating the material better and better. He may even get the feeling that the material has been explained to him many times. But if you are able to listen to someone else’s explanation, this does not mean that you can repeat it yourself. To effectively assimilate the material, you need not just to read it many times, but to check yourself. Checking can be done using cards, answering control questions at the end of the textbook, or asking a friend to examine you.
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Self-testing has two important advantages. First, unlike simple rereading, it allows you to clearly determine what material is really learned and whether further studies are needed. Second, as many studies show, self-examination itself promotes memory. In this sense, it is more effective than rereading.
Another useful technique is to while reading, pause periodically and consider why, in fact, the following statement in the text is true. We often run through the words with our eyes without thinking about what we read. By stopping every couple of paragraphs and wondering what the point is, we force ourselves to really think and really learn.
And finally, one more recommendation is to distribute the memorization of the material in time, do not try to learn everything the night before the exam. There is a lot of evidence that when we learn material with breaks of several days and even weeks, it is more reliably remembered. Teachers should encourage just such a mode of study, often giving assignments and control questions on topics already covered.