Michael Young was a young ambitious man. Like most of us, he wanted to contribute to this world. As a counsellor at a drug abuse clinic, Michael developed a passion for healthcare so he decided to become a doctor.

Michael approached Columbus State University to ask about their pre-medical program. There, the administrators were amused with Michael’s queries because the university didn’t really have a pre-medical program. People from Columbus State simply didn’t go to medical school.

This setback wasn’t too daunting for Michael, so he persisted and finally convinced the school to put together a modified pre-medical program for him. Instead of doing introductory biology, Michael filled up his prerequisite credits by taking fishing classes. With a decent MCAT score and GPA, Michael was admitted into Georgia Regents medical school.

Learning Difficulties

When Michael got to Georgia Regents, he found out that he wasn’t prepared for medical school. Michael soon started to struggle and eventually got his first D on a test. His rocky start to medical school almost led him to quit and it was all because he wasn’t studying effectively.

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t putting in the hours. Michael was using the techniques he had been using for all of his life; he was rereading the material and highlighting everything, but it didn’t seem to help him anymore. Studying 16 hours a day wasn’t enough, so Michael decided to learn how to learn. Michael’s quest to better himself led him to Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel’s website.

Learning How To Study Effectively

The website belonged to two Psychology Professors at Washington University. They had dedicated their lives to figuring out how effective learners studied. Their research suggested that to study effectively you have to make Learning difficult, which wasn’t looking too appealing to Michael, but he decided to embrace the science. Michael used the decades of research conducted by these men and implemented it to his schedule.

Astonishingly, the science proved to be correct and Michael quickly improved his grades. He went from the bottom of his class, right to the top and now he’s a practicing physician.

Recently the two men behind Michael’s success, released a book called: Making It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. In it, contains three decades of research and all the secrets that led to Michael Young’s astonishing success.

Here’s decades of learning science distilled down for you. Use this as a guide and learn what Michael Young discovered to change your life around.

Insights From Learning Research

1. The illusion of mastery is real. You need to be accurate in your judgement about whether you have truly learned something. Students who don’t quiz themselves tend to overestimate how well they have learned the material.
2. Decades of learning science researchers have discovered:
   • Some types of difficulties during learning actually help to make what you’ve learned “stickier”.  You remember more when you let your mind struggle with the material.
   • If learning is easy, it’s because it has been superficial and the material will soon be forgotten.
   • Intelligence is heritable, but not entirely. When you start practicing “effortful learning”, it changes your brain, making new connections and this increases your intellectual ability.
   • If you tend to look at the solutions to a question too quickly, then stop! You learn better when you grapple with new problems before you look at the answers.
   • Setbacks are an essential part of learning – it provides us with the essential feedback needed to adjust our learning strategies and achieve mastery.

How To Study Effectively – According To Science

In Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, the authors prescribed students with a guide on how to study effectively. 

Testing

Self testing or retrieval practice is about retrieving knowledge and skills from memory. It’s a more effective strategy than simply re-reading content. When you read something, periodically ask yourself questions and figure out the key ideas.

Profs. Roediger and McDaniel, prescribe students to set aside time every week to quiz themselves on the current work and material covered in the past. Once you quiz yourself, check the answers and make sure you are understanding the material.

In a study done by Roediger and Karpicke in 2006, it was found that rereading notes is more effective in the short term, but the benefits are lost as time passes. Those who test themselves after a study session retain the information much more effectively than students who just passively study notes.

For more on this study you can visit this link: Roediger and Karpicke 2006

Spaced Practice

You need to space out retrieval practice. Space practice by allowing some time to pass. Research has found that spaced practice is far more potent than cramming. It produces stronger learning and memory. Study the information and leave increasingly large gaps between practice sessions. Review the material within a day, then let it set for several days or a week before you look at it again.

Interleaving

Interleave the study of two or more topics so that you’re alternating between them. Interleaving two or more subjects during practice provides a form of spacing. It also improves your ability to discriminate different types of problems and select the right answers. Interleaving helps learners beyond rote memorisation and it allows them to reach to a higher level of conceptual learning.

In a study done by Rohrer and Taylor in 2007, it was found that cramming is more effective during practice, but the benefits diminish during testing time. Those who interleave practice retain the information much more effectively than students who just study topics in large blocks.

For more on this study you can visit this link: Rohrer and Taylor 2007

Embrace Difficulties

Testing, spaced practice and interleaving are much harder than rereading notes. During practice sessions, you’ll tend to be frustrated by the results you’re seeing but decades of research has suggested that these techniques are necessary for optimal learning.

Creating some kinds of difficulties during the learning process helps students strengthen learning and memory. The most successful students are those who take ownership of their own learning and follow simple and disciplined strategies to learn the content.

Healthy learning is difficult, you’ll experience setbacks but a setback is not failure, it’s a sign of effort.  

Remember, learning is difficult, so embrace it and let your mind grow and you’ll soon discover nothing is limitless.

The post How To Study Effectively – According To Science appeared first on Course Ranker.