Are You Using the Most Effective Methods of Studying?
If you are involved in any form of learning you need to know the most efficient ways to comprehend, revise and recall the material you are studying. Students of all ages have their favourite techniques for doing this, but you might be surprised to know that the two most popular methods of “learning” are in fact extremely inefficient.
A recent article in Scientific American Mind (Sept/October 2013) contained an article that highlighted ten commonly used learning techniques and commented on their suitability. You can rely on the accuracy of their results because the testing was robust and each technique examined had to meet the following conditions:
Each method of study had to be:
- Useful in a range of learning conditions (student alone, student in a group)
- Of assistance to learners of various ages, abilities and levels of prior knowledge
- Tested in a classroom or other real-world situation
- Able to be used to master a variety of subjects
- Of benefit no matter what kind of test or examination is used
Summarised below are the best two ways to learn and two of the most common ways that fare badly under the microscope of the authors. Maybe these results will change the way you learn your particular subject(s)!
The Two Clear Winners
1. Self-Testing
Learning Technique: Practise tests done on your own (flash cards, end of chapter review questions, simple cover up of answers)
When it works: It is suitable for all ages and all kinds of factual information including learning vocabulary, spellings, etc. The beneficial results can last for months or even years.
Is it Practical: It is definitely a very genuine method of learning. It takes up just a small amount of time and involves no training.
Rating: High utility
2. Distributed Practice
Learning Technique: In contrast to “cramming”, split reviews apart by several days or even weeks.
When it works: It is suitable for all ages and has proved extremely effective for foreign vocab, word definitions and skills as far apart as maths, music and surgery.
Is it Practical: Yes, but you may need to break up the reviews yourself as they are often grouped together in conventional learning material.
Rating: High utility
What Definitely Does Not Work
1. Highlighting
This technique involves highlighting or otherwise marking the learning material in some way. It is simple, quick and a very common practice, but does little to improve performance. In fact, it has been shown to reduce the ability to draw inferences from the material being studied.
2. Re-Reading
Re-reading study material is one of the most common practices of students trying to learn it. But the evidence that rereading strengthens comprehension is very sparse. Most of the benefit is gained from the second reading with little value thereafter.
The original article was entitled “What Works, What Doesn’t” by John Dunlosky, Katherine A. Rawson, Elizabeth J. Marsh, Mitchell J. Nathan and Daniel T. Willingham.
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