Student Role

How to study

Learning, takes place all at once, with large chunks of information grasped in intuitive leaps, rather than in the gradual accretion of isolated facts, small steps or habit patterns gained through practice. 

Organizing:

  • The perspective is the organizing principle. Perfectionism for learners is a well-ordered and -designed space with each object in its place and appealingly so.
  • With an instinctive sense of balance and completeness. They can tell when something is out of alignment, or not truly horizontal or vertical.

Learning Strategies:

  • Focus on the learning objectives of the class.  Meet with the teacher to understand and apply these to your situation.
  • Request advanced organizers to help you relate to new material with what you already know.
  • Look for opportunities to work with, manipulate and/or engage new material.
    • Hands-on approach manipulating forms or objects
    • Using visual clues or landmarks rather than (verbal) sequential steps
  • Seek out independent and open-ended studies, problem-based learning, case studies, or ways you can be more active with the material to be learned and have alternative strategies of assessment or demonstrating learning
  • When trying to remember things, close your eyes to get a picture or image of the information to facilitate recall or use flash cards with limited information so that you can picture details and concepts
  • Once a concept is grasped, practice applying the information to new situations or progressive stepped learning in place of routine drill and practice that will challenge your attention span
  • Look for alternative sources of visual material when you study videos, overheads and PowerPoint demonstrations, graphs, maps, and media programs

Study Material:

Ask your instructor for study material. Which of the following does he/she recommend you study?

  • Key terms, definitions, important people, and examples
  • Enumerations (lists of items)
  • Points emphasized by instructor (or media presentation)
  • Questions at end of text chapters
  • In many cases it is best to read a manageable section straight through for general content. Then, read it a second time for detail and notes. Don't read a section over and over again just to be reading.

StudyMethods:

  • Find out what type of test is going to be given.
  • Check the syllabus
  • Call or email your instructor and ask 
  • Do the following in this order:
  • Determine exactly what material the test will cover - which tapes, chapters, study guide sections, previous tests, etc. If you're not sure, call or email your instructor and ASK!
  • Collect materials. This includes all of the above as well as your notes and any materials your instructor has given you.
  • Organize materials. Group all materials for each chapter or section together.
  • Predict test questions.
  • Condense your materials to key concepts, definitions, dates, important details, lists.
  • Develop mnemonics or memory tricks to memorize your condensed material. See section on mnemonics.
  • Set a study schedule to memorize and review your material.