1. Building study skills
Begin by asking students to define study skills

2. How do YOU study?
Take a few moments to consider the following questions:
Where do you study?
How do you study?
Are these methods effective?
How might studying for a college course differ from your previous learning experiences?
Take a few moments to discuss these questions with the class. Get a general idea of how the majority of them study. Ask about how they would define effective studying.

3. Six Questions to Build Better Study Skills
Why?
Where?
What?
When?
How long?
How?
Mention that these are the six things we will focus on today during the presentation and will go into much more detail for each one.

4. Future knowledge? Because you have to?
WHY do you study?
Future knowledge? Because you have to?
Sometimes studying for school can seem like a daunting task so you need the proper motivation to get through it. Write down the reasons you have for studying. Try to connect these to your larger life goals. It will help you see WHY you should persevere and keep studying even when it seems boring or overwhelming (or help motivate you when you want to watch American Idol instead!)

5. WHERE do you study?
The environment in which you study can affect your concentration and your ability to retain information.
Which of these two environments do you think is more conducive for effective studying? Why?
Find a place where distractions are limited; this may mean you also need to turn off your phone and avoid facebook!
Create a space that is for studying only. That way you will train yourself to be prepared to study whenever you enter that space.
The link to the Virginia Tech Counseling Center at the bottom provides a study environment analysis so that you can compare up to three places where you might consider studying!

6. WHAT do you study? Your notes Your book A review
Remember back to the note-taking session. Some of your study time in the weeks prior to an exam should be based on taking good notes. Take notes of your textbook. Then when test time comes around, you can focus on your notes and use your book only to look up more detailed information rather than re-reading the whole chapter.
A lot of instructors will provide a test review. Make sure that you are familiar with everything on the review since it’s a good bet that the instructor will pull exam questions from the info on the review.
Your book is also a great source for studying—but remember this time should be spent reviewing NOT reading. Make sure you’ve completed all readings well before the week of the exam.

7. WHEN do you study? Time management is KEY!
How can you apply the lesson in this comic to your own study habits?
Do not wait until the day or two before a test to begin studying OR (even worse) to begin your reading. You should spread your studying over the course of a semester and try to study a little each week. Don’t try to cram everything in the night before the exam.

8. HOW LONG do you study? How long do you study at a time?
Several hour marathons? Ten minute chunks? All night?
How much time should you spend studying per class each week?
Ask: how much time SHOULD you spend studying each week?
Most of your learning in college should take place OUTSIDE of the classroom. That means you should be studying more often than you meet for class. Ideally you should spend about two hours per week per credit hour over the course of the semester. This will prevent you from having to cram all night before an exam.
Research suggests that you should study in 30 minutes chunks of time with 1-2 minute breaks in between rather than in long stretches of time.

9. HOW do you study? Set reasonable goals.
Adapt how you study to the course material and your personal style.
Come up with a system that works for you!
Goals: Rather than tell yourself that you will studying all on Saturday, set more specific individual goals when you sit down to work. For example, you might say, “I will finish five practice calculus problems before I take a break” or “I will read four chapters of this novel.”
If you plan on something too big, you will set yourself up for failure. If you break the tasks down into smaller components, you will become more motivated as you complete each task.
Different types of exams will call for different studying styles. For example, in an algebra exam, you will focus more on application rather than memorization (although you might need to remember a few formulas). If you know you will be presented with a multiple choice exam that just asks that you recall facts, you might use a different approach to studying.

10. Change it or use it to learn it.
HOW do you study?
Two Kinds of Processing:
Shallow
Deep
Two Major Methods:
Self-testing
Chunking
Change it or use it to learn it.
The main idea behind effective studying methods is communicated through this motto. Ask: What do you think that means?
Discuss how rote memorization is an ineffective method and adapting or applying the information will increase retention. Changing it can mean putting it into your own words, etc. Using it can mean working through math problems or applying a theory to a certain case.

11. Processing Information
Deep processing is associated with long-lasting and stronger memories.
Shallow processing:
Repetition
Mnemonics
Deep processing:
Rehearsal
Application
Question
Conceptualize
Repetition: repeat information over and over to memorize it or copying it over and over
Memory tricks: First letter techniques (my dear aunt sally) Imagery: creating a vivid mental picture
Rehearsal: try to explain something to another person, rehearse how you would answer a question if someone were to ask you
Application: using the information you are learning (for example, coming up with a real world example of how to use fractions
Question: creating your own self-test
Conceptualizing: draw material like with a mind-map

12. Self-Testing Play a game Create a song Summarize Role-play Apply
Different Methods:
Play a game
Create a song
Summarize
Role-play
Apply
Question
Visualize
Teach
Here are some ideas for how you might self-test (all forms of deep processing!!):
Play a game: if you need to memorize lots of facts or terms, you might create a trivia or matching game
Create a song: Songs are powerful tools for aiding in memorization. How many of you remember “Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?” Or how many of you can recall interesing facts based on songs?
Summarize: Changing things into your own words can help you to check your understanding and remember it. After reading a chapter or secion, try to restate what you’ve just read. If you can’t do so without referring to the text, you might want to re-read.
Role-playing: can work for several different subjects. Take on the role of a grocer and customers as you work through math problems. Or maybe you need to remember a certain philosopher’s beliefs. Pretend you are that philosopher and have a friend act like someone interested in your ideas.
Teach: one of the best ways to understand and retain information it to teach it. Set up a study group where each person is responsible for a certain section, then teach each other.
Apply: Try to apply what you’ve learned to every day life. If you’re working on fractions, think about how much of your family’s Christmas pie you want: one half or one third!
Question: Create you own test questions and practice answering them without using your book or notes. This will work well with math. Have a tutor double-check to make sure you’re on the right path.
Visualize: draw or make charts. Notes aren’t just for writing words; sometimes a visual cue can help you to better retain the info.

13. Make your task manageable.
Chunking
Make your task manageable.
Break information down into digestible chunks.
Break chapters into subheadings, then summarize.
Break math reviews into different lessons and math problems into steps.
You’re probably wondering how you’re going to go about processing an entire chapter of a biology book or get ready for a midterm math test which covers several lessons. Well, you don’t swallow your food whole (and neither do baby birds). Instead you take smaller, manageable bites, right? You should do the same with large amounts of information.

14. Where do you need the most study help?
Where? What? Why? When? How long? How?
Where does this student need the most study help? Where? Perhaps studying in bed is not the best idea. When? Did she stay up too late? We might assume it’s the night before the test since she’s trying to stay up all night. How long? An all night session would probably cause burn-out!
Give students a few minutes to think about their study habits, and ask them to share where they need to make the most changes.

15. Drop by the Learning Center for Additional Information on Study Skills
Main Campus
Room A350