Here’s a pop quiz: What foods are best to eat before a high-stakes test? When is the best time to review the toughest material? A growing body of research on the best study techniques offers some answers.
Chiefly, testing yourself repeatedly before an exam teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory. The method is more effective than re-reading a textbook, says Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. If you are facing a test on the digestive system, he says, practice explaining how it works from start to finish, rather than studying a list of its parts….
Best Method: Pretend to be teacher. Prepare to teach class. Go to empty classroom, or configure room as such, and teach the imaginary class using blackboard, whiteboard . .. .Simple.
If one has the desire . . . .
When you learn something new, immediately, or at first opportunity, teach it to someone else! The method we used to teach statistics in the Psychology lab was for the instructor to teach the procedure once, then have a student who had understood the procedure teach it to the class. If some students still had not learned, one more student would explain the procedure. The last to learn would receive individual help.
I have a difficult time reading dry material. My mind frequently wanders, thinking about more interesting subjects. I record myself reading what I am supposed to learn, then play it back and listen…usually while commuting.