Video with some tips on studyinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2SAcnDoLbp_NU9zUjc3RFQtWG8/view?

usp=sharing
Here are some nootropics I use to help me study:
Secret study cocktail - Take 30 minutes before you start your study grind

2-fma (15-20 mg)

Creatine (4g)

Magnesium Glycinate: (1 200mg pill) (Source Naturals, Magnesium BisGlycinate)

R-Lipoic Acid: (100mg)

Acetyl L-Carnitine: (500mg)

Pramiracetam (350mg)

Noopept - 10mg

Agmatine Sulfate 250mg

Sunifiram 5mg

Memantine 10mg

Uridine 1g

Centrophenoxine 800mg

Centella asiatica extract

Tinospora cordifolia

Codonopsis pilosula

Evolvulus alsinoides

Convolvulus pluricaulis

Bacopa monnieri

Clitoria ternatea

celastrus paniculatus seed oil

Nardostachys jatamansi root powder

ashwagandha

500 1,000 mg of blueberry anthocyanins

A list of online websites to assist you in studying:

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/cktxy/reddit_lets_compile_a_list_of_the_best_onl
ine/
Another similar list: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/free-online-courses-50sites-to-get-educated-for-free/

Everything I want to learn, I make up stories about. My fiancee does something similar - she
simply attaches emotions to whatever.
The point is, if you have an angle which you can access easily, which is somehow bound to
what you want to learn, then you can access that information just as easily!
You're essentially creating shortcuts to the memories and simultaneously strengthening them.
The more different ways you approach the memories, the better - read slides, listen to lectures,
write notes, read wikipedia (and follow those wikilinks!), read your notes, do flash cards, etc.
While you do those things, let your mind wander a bit while still paying attention - the slides are

attractions at an amusement park, why hasn't the prof shaved in five days?, so that's why
Hilbert generalized Euclidean space, doodle some butterflies around your equations, "Trebeck,
what is an anal bum cover?", etc.
This is shittons more fun and works much better than "trying hard".
You only need to do as much as is necessary - once you know the material, you'll know it for
good (at least until the exam :P).
Try some weird shit - you'll quickly realize what works and what doesn't.
How can you tell? Boring stuff doesn't work! The idea is to create hooks into the information when your mind is all "fuck that this sucks because it's fatally boring" it really isn't going to
remember anything during the exam.
This has to do with potentiation, priming, and such, and a real cognitive scientist can tell you
about that much better than I. You see, I only started applying this idea after I learned about it,
so I only half-know how it works. ;)
tl;dr. Don't study "forcefully" - it doesn't do jack. Study "cleverly" by associating target
information with things that are easy to think about.

make a game out of tedious tasks. Create small sub-goals within each task and
make a competition with yourself to see how quickly or otherwise how well you can
achieve the subgoal.
Use vivid imagery in unorthodox ways to liven up the task. Create absurd stories
regarding the topics at hand.
Prime yourself to feel good before you do the tedious task. Go for a quick walk,
get some fresh air, listen to some stimulating music, whatever works for you.
Link something you love to the task at hand. Like the mnemonic systems, create
a mental peg that links a new concept to a concept or stage in a task you enjoy. It will aid
in retention and recall.

If you're studying something new, like a certain math equation, imagine Patrick Star describing
the problem or acting it out somehow, even if it's just him drawing it out on a chalk board... then
let your mind do the rest... will be hard to forget that one.

Use spaced repetition software like supermemo or

anki or mnemosyne. Read reviews and pick 1.
Before you study, imagine your close friends at home or wherever studying at that same
moment. Imagine them trying their hardest. It is now a contest who can outlast who. Whenever
you feel like giving up, think of them still dedicated and ahead of you in the material.

Imagine you have a genius dog like a Husky. Now you have to explain what you just learned in
terms that this genius dog will understand. He is smart enough but you must use simple
analogies that may be dog related. Now you need to draw diagrams for him.
Husky loves diagrams, no matter how pointless. Husky loves diagrams.
Now you have to give the husky hypothetical examples of the subject in question. Provide
situations where it is important and it is best to make it a crazy story.
Husky needs to now hear it in simple english as english is not his first language. After he
understands it in simple english, he is ready for a detailed explanation.

Remember: https://i.imgur.com/Mc8Sl3j.jpg

www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/howtostudy.html

Well-planned, appropriate, contextual humor can help

students ingrain information.

We process words visually, not

phonetically.
When we look at a known word, our brain sees it like a picture, not a group of letters needing to
be processed. Thats the finding from a Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) study
published in the Journal of Neuroscience, which shows the brain learns words quickly by tuning
neurons to respond to a complete word, not parts of it.
Neurons respond differently to real words, such as turf, than to nonsense words, such as
turt, showing that a small area of the brain is holistically tuned to recognise complete words,
says the studys senior author, Maximilian Riesenhuber.

We are not recognising words by quickly spelling them out or identifying parts of words, as
some researchers have suggested. Instead, neurons in a small brain area remember how the
whole word looks using what could be called a visual dictionary, he says.
This small area in the brain, called the visual word form area, is found in the left side of the
visual cortex, opposite from the fusiform face area on the right side, which remembers how faces
look. One area is selective for a whole face, allowing us to quickly recognise people, and the
other is selective for a whole word, which helps us read quickly, Riesenhuber says.
The study asked 25 adult participants to learn a set of 150 nonsense words. Using a specific
fMRI technique, the investigators found that the visual word form area changed as the
participants learned the nonsense words. Before training, the neurons responded to the
nonsense words without whole-word recognition, but this changed after training. This study is
the first of its kind to show how neurons change their tuning with learning words,
demonstrating the brains plasticity, says the studys lead author, Laurie Glezer, PhD.
The findings not only help reveal how the brain processes words, but also provides insights into
how to help people with reading disabilities, says Riesenhuber. For people who cannot learn
words by phonetically spelling them out which is the usual method for teaching reading
learning the whole word as a visual object may be a good strategy.

Below are 35 proven psychological phenomena that affect you and your students every day:
1. State-Dependent Recall
Definition: It is easiest to recall information when you are in a state similar to the one in which
you initially learned the material.
Application: Urge your students to sit in the same room they studied in when they complete
their take-home quiz. Let them listen to music when they complete their mid-term essays if they
usually listen to it when they write.
2. The Fundamental Attribution Error

Definition: The tendency to overemphasize internal explanations for the behavior of others,
while failing to take into account the power of the situation. The student who says, Brian got an
A on his English paper because he is smarter than I am instead of Brian got an A on his
English because he visited the Writing Center before he turned it in suffers from the
Fundamental Attribution Error.
Application: Sometimes students need your help distinguishing between internal and external
factors that affect academic performance.
3. Effort Justification/Change Bias
Definition: After an investment of effort in producing change, remembering ones past
performance as more difficult than it actually was, thereby inflating the perceived value of the
result.
Application: Unfortunately, effort does not always correlate positively with performance.
Students may be angry if they do not receive the grade they expect on an assignment that cost
them a lot of time. In your comments, always mention the work you see even if it misses the
mark.

4. Cognitive Dissonance
Definition: The feeling of psychological discomfort produced by the combined presence of two
thoughts that do not follow from one another, often resulting in the adoption of beliefs that align
with ones actions but contradict the beliefs one held before the action was committed.
Application: F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to
hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. The
world isnt black or white, and neither is the mind. Share this wisdom with your students to
promote critical thinking.
5. Chunking

Definition: A term referring to the process of taking individual units of information (chunks)
and grouping them into larger units. Probably the most common example of chunking occurs in
phone numbers. For example, a phone number sequence of 4-7-1-1-3-2-4 would be chunked into
471-1324. Chunking is often a useful tool when memorizing large amounts of information. By
separating disparate individual elements into larger blocks, information becomes easier to
retain and recall.
Application: A great tool for students who must memorize long series of names, numbers,
pictures, dates, terms, etc.
6. Positive Reinforcement
Definition: Positive reinforcement is a concept first described by psychologist B. F. Skinner in
his theory of operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement is anything added that follows a
behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future. One of the
easiest ways to remember this is to think of something being added to the situation.
Application: Bonus and extra credit assignments are some of the most basic examples of positive
reinforcement. More nuanced techniques might include positive verbal feedback, class
celebrations (but not reward competitions), or opportunities to contribute individually to the
curriculum.

7. Spaced Repetition
Definition: A learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between
subsequent review of previously learned material in order to enhance retention. Proven to be
significantly more effective than massed repetition (i.e. cramming).
Application: One of the most valuable things you can do to help students retain information is to
hold weekly review sessions. Go over not only the main concepts presented in the past five days,
but also touch on concepts covered multiple weeks or months ago.
8. Multi-modal learning

Definition: The more ways in which you learn something (visually, aurally, kinesthetically,
verbally, etc.), the better you remember it. A key advantage of interdisciplinary courses and
programs.
Application: Provide examples of major concepts in different modes. Use texts, videos,
recordings, visual representations, and creative exercises to reinforce the material.
9. Declarative knowledge vs. procedural knowledge
Definition: Knowing what (facts) as opposed to knowing how (procedural knowledge).
Application: In college, it is downright difficult, if not impossible, to train complex cognitive
skills in a single semester; yet look what most problem solving courses in the corporate training
world area couple of hours, eight hours tops. We expect learners to transfer what they have
learned in the classroom to the job, but all they have are a very few simple if/then statements to
take back to the job. Keep in mind that teaching your students what is not the same as
teaching them how.
10. The Method of Loci
Definition: A mnemonic device used in ancient Greek and Roman times wherein items to be
remembered are mentally associated with specific physical locations. Examples include the
various rooms of a house and paths through the forest.
Application: A great tool to help students memorize terms, related concepts, or anything else
that can be placed as an image on a mental map.
11. Interacting images
Definition: An item is much more likely to be remembered if it is imagined as being actively
involved with another item in some way rather than sitting there doing nothing. When items are
intertwined or associated they are said to be interacting and they become a single chunk or
whole in memory.
Application: It is far more difficult to remember concepts and definitions than it is to remember
actions and descriptions. So, use the latter to trigger the former. If you are teaching your law

students about double jeopardy, advise them to imagine someone robbing a bank, going to jail,
then robbing the same bank again, free of conviction.
12. Dual Coding
Definition: The ability to code a stimulus two different ways increases the chance of
remembering that item compared to if the stimulus was only coded one way. For example, say a
person has stored the stimulus concept, dog as both the word dog and as the image of a dog.
When asked to recall the stimulus, the person can retrieve either the word or the image
individually or both, simultaneously. If the word is recalled, the image of the dog is not lost and
can still be retrieved at a later point in time.
Application: Never present students with lists of keywords and definitions without adding
stimuli (or letting them add their own). They will be far more likely to recall the difference
between sedimentary and igneous rocks if they associate the former with baking a layer cake and
the latter with crystallizing caramel. Trust me adding images reduces the effort needed to
remember.
13. The immediate environment
Definition: Multiple studies have shown a dependence on context of ones environment as an aid
to recall specific items and events.
Application: Simply remembering what you were wearing when you learned the 1st amendment
of the Constitution will help you recall the material later. Encourage students to use their
immediate learning environment to build associations and boost memory.
14. Dichotic listening task
Definition: A useful way to study selective attention, this test involves different auditory stimuli
presented directed into different ears over headphones. Participants are instructed to repeat
aloud the words they hear in one ear while a different message is presented in the other ear.
People do not recall the attended message well, and are generally able to report almost nothing
about the content of the unattended message. In fact, a change from English to German goes

unnoticed. Some things, however, such as the participants name being spoken (called the
cocktail effect) and a switch from the voice of one gender to another, are noticed.
Application: It is not every day that students are asked to listen to two different streams of voice
recordings at once, but they are asked regularly to process multiple messages at onceoften to
their own disadvantage. Requiring students to copy notes written on an overhead while you
lecture, for instance, is a ridiculous habit that should have been phased out long ago. How can
any teacher reasonably expect this to be effective?

15. Change Blindness

Definition: A psychological lack of attention unassociated with any defects or deficits. One
famous Harvard study asked subjects to watch a short video of two groups of people (wearing
black and white t-shirts) pass a basketball around. The subjects are told to either count the
number of passes made by one of the teams or to keep count of bounce passes vs. aerial passes.
In different versions of the video, a woman walks through the scene carrying an umbrella or
wearing a full gorilla suit. After watching the video the subjects are asked if they saw anything
out of the ordinary take place. In most groups, 50% of the subjects did not report seeing the
gorilla. The failure to perceive the change is attributed to the failure to attend to it while engaged
in the difficult task of counting the number of passes of the ball.
Application: Unfortunately, human attention is not designed to absorb important facts just
because they are important. When you are highlighting important definitions or differences
between conceptsthings that require considerable attentiondont require your students to be
doing anything else but listening to you speak. Otherwise, that gorilla you deem so pivotal in
World War I will walk on by unnoticed, so to speak.

On the other hand, if you are reviewing familiar materials, multi-tasking is acceptable, since
students have already captured the material at least partially in their long-term memory store.
16. Bottom-up and Top-down processing
Definition: Strategies of information processing and knowledge ordering. The top-down
approach, also known as deductive reasoning, involves starting with the bigger picture and
breaking it down into smaller segments in order to derive a theory. The bottom-up approach,
also known as inductive reasoning, involves beginning with a small segment of information and
growing into a more complex, bigger picture. The former uses known data first to form a
perception; the latter uses incoming data from the environment first to form a perception.
Application: Be aware of the type of processing you are expecting when you assign a project or
ask a question. Different fields require different types of processing: top-down is more prevalent
in the sciences and bottom-up is more prevalent in the humanities. Try to phrase questions in
terms of big picture first, small picture second or small picture first, big picture second.
17. Divided attention
Definition: Divided attention concerns our ability to multitask, i.e. whether we can attend to
more than one task at a time. While the dichotic listening task involves trying to attend to only
one message, in studies of divided attention the task is to attend to more than one source of
information. Early studies have shown two important factors that determine our ability to
multitask: 1) The similarity of the tasks. Allport et al. (1972) asked participants to learn a set of
words while shadowing a spoken message. They found that the words could be learned when
they were presented visually but not when they were presented as spoken words.
However, if messages were sufficiently different then both could be attended to. 2) How well
practiced we are at the task. Spelke et al. (1976) found that, with practice, students could learn to
read a story while writing down a list of words read out loud to them.
Application: Students should not be expected to arrive to class with well-honed multi-tasking
skills, especially after a long vacation or break from studies. Its best for instructors to ease
students into tasks that involve divided attention.

18. Serial vs. parallel processing

Definition: Learning one object at a time, sequentially (serial processing), versus learning all of
them at once (parallel processing).
Application: Cognitive psychology compares the processing of the human mind to the
information processing of computers. Computers operate largely under a serial processing
system, and the human mind has been shown to function more efficiently this way as well.

19. Incidental memory

Definition: Information acquired without intention, often just as memorable as information
acquired with intention. Craik and Tulving demonstrated that it was not the intention to learn
that was critical for later memory, but rather the type of processing engaged at the time of
encoding. Information that was processed meaningfully was well remembered whether or not
there was an intention to retain it.
Application: This is solid evidence that asking your students to study hard simply isnt enough.
You will have to present the information in a memorable way (using emotion, personalization,
or any number of the tips listed here) or urge students to adopt effective memorization
strategies.
20. Working Memory Capacity
Definition: Working (or short term) memory is generally considered to have a limit of about 7
elements, or chunks.
Application: Design your lesson plans around this number, and dont expect your students to
effectively process more terms or concepts than this in a given session.
21. Priming
Definition: An effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus.
For example, if a person reads a list of words including the word table, and is later asked to
complete a word starting with tab, the probability that he or she will answer table is greater than
if they had not been primed.

Application: Larry Ferlazzo uses priming with his students before tests, asking them to spend a
few minutes writing on a topic covered in the quiz.

22. Schema
Definition: A way of organizing current knowledge that provides a framework for future
understanding. Examples of schemata include academic rubrics, social schemas, stereotypes,
social roles, world views, and archetypes. The brain automatically uses schema to process and
understand new information more efficiently.
Application: The brain doesnt remember facts; it remembers connections. In English and
literature instruction, for example, urge students to make connections between the text at hand
and their own lives, the text at hand and other texts theyve read, and the text and the world
around them.
23. Forgetting Curve
Definition: A graph that hypothesizes how information is lost over time when there is no
attempt to retain it. A typical curve shows that humans tend to halve their memory of newly
learned knowledge in a matter of days or weeks unless they consciously review the learned
material.
Application: More cognitive evidence for spaced repetition and weekly reviews of learned
material. Forgetting happens fastdont just review before the test!
24. Episodic vs. Semantic Memory
Definition: Episodic memory is recall for events (or episodes) that happened in the past;
semantic memory is recall for specific facts. These two types of memory occur in different parts
of the brain.
Application: Many people assume that recalling the name of the 13th president should be as easy
as recalling how you learned to ride a bicycle. On the contrary, these types of memory operate

very differently in the brain, and recalling anything that has personal value is much easier than
recalling a random fact. Using episodic memory to enhance semantic memory can be a useful
toolmuch like interacting images and dual coding.
25. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Definition: Psychologists in the 1980s found that attributes like self-restraint, persistence and
self-awareness might actually be better predictors of a persons life trajectory than standard
academic measures. Now a movement is in the works across school districts to promote
emotional literacy in students.
Application: Allow students to sort through their feelings about your class or subject with
assignments that call for self-reflection. Although this technique is mostly geared towards
children whose emotions are not yet fully developed, emotion affects learning at any age.
26. Metacognition
Definition: Cognitive psychologists use the term metacognition to describe our ability to assess
our own skills, knowledge, or learning. That ability affects how well and how long students study
which, of course, affects how much and how deeply they learn. Students with poor
metacognition skills will often shorten their study time prematurely, thinking that they have
mastered course material that they barely know.
Application: Studies show that awareness of ones learning is enough to enhance it. Help
students step back and assess their own habits and skills.
27. Knowledge organization
Definition: The hierarchical method of organizing information and how it maps well onto the
brains memory.
Application: One well-known example of knowledge organization is instructional scaffolding,
wherein guidance is provided to novices until they begin to master the material, at which point
the scaffolding is removed. This process compliments the hierarchical nature of learning.

28. Pattern recognition

Definition: Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a
certain pattern that is characteristic of that set of stimuli. It does not occur instantly, although it
does happen automatically and spontaneously. Pattern recognition is an innate ability of
animals.
Application: Some types of recognition, such as facial recognition and pattern recognition,
require large amounts of brain processing capacity. This is why the ability to make connections
(or recognize patterns) has been linked time and time again to intelligence. The main systems
our brains use to organize information (schemas, heuristics, etc.) rely on patterns. Point out
patterns to your students as often as possible to promote critical thinking skills and heightened
comprehension.
29. Anchoring
Definition: The common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information
offered (the anchor) when making decisions. For example, the initial price offered for a used
car sets the standard for the rest of the negotiations, so that prices lower than the initial price
seem more reasonable even if they are still higher than what the car is really worth.
Application: To prevent this, promote delayed gratification and teach your students that the first
reasonable answer presented is not always the right answer.
30. Choice-supportive bias
Definition: Remembering chosen options as having been better than rejected options.
Application: There is nothing wrong with changing your mind in light of new evidence. Students
reasons for liking or disliking subjects are often based on experiences they can hardly remember
or explain. Urge students to be open to new attitudes and critical of old ones.

31. Context Effect

Definition: The idea that cognition and memory are dependent on context, such that out-ofcontext memories are more difficult to retrieve than in-context memories (e.g. recall time and
accuracy for a work-related memory will be lower at home, and vice versa).
Application: A close relative of state-dependent learning and priming. Providing the right
context for a question or concept can make all the differencemore difference even than
wording, tone of voice, or student mastery.
32. Primacy and Recency Effect
Definition: The finding that memory recall is higher for the first item(s) on a list and the last
item(s) on a list.
Application: Present important concepts at the beginning of a lesson and at the end. Much of
whats in the middle will likely be lost, so you dont want to deliver the main material you plan to
test your students on then.
33. Verbatim Effect
Definition: That the gist of what someone has said is better remembered than the verbatim
wording.
Application: Expecting students to remember the verbatim wording of an answer is asking too
much in most cases. On the other hand, asking students to re-phrase important statements,
events, or concepts in their own words greatly enhances the likelihood that they will recall the
gist of what they need to learn.
34. Tip-of-the-Tongue phenomenon
Definition: When a subject is able to recall parts of an item, or related information, but is
frustratingly unable to recall the whole item. This is thought to be an instance of blocking
where multiple similar memories are being recalled and interfere with each other.
Application: An extremely common phenomenon in any testing environment. Blocking can be
reduced with many of the tricks mentioned above, including context, dual coding, chunking, and
interacting images. Remember that all a student needs to recall a fact is the correct retrieval
cue.

35. Heuristics
Definition: A heuristic is an experience-based technique that helps in problem solving, learning,
and discovery. A heuristic method is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution that is hoped
to be close to the best possible answer, or optimal solution. Heuristics are rules of thumb,
educated guesses, intuitive judgments, or simply common sense. An example is the availability
heuristic, a mental shortcut that occurs when people make judgments about the probability of
events by the ease with which examples come to mind.
Application: As Doug Belshaw of Mozilla writes on his blog, It can actually be damaging to 1)
launch into using educational technologies without thinking them through properly (the how
and not just the what); and 2) attempt to replicate what someone else has done elsewhere
without thinking about the context. Look before you leap, even if the leap seems quick and
effective.

G is generate and test. Quiz yourself and teach others.

O is organize. You can organize with outlines, pictures, color coding,

related material, etc.

A is for avoid illusions of learning. Avoid study methods that rely on
recognition. If you can't remember it at any given time you don't know it.
Learn not memorize or familiarize.

T is for Take Breaks. Make sure you take breaks and sleep. You can't

remember large chunks on information in one sitting. Stand up and come

back to it.
M is match learning and testing conditions. Learn in similar conditions
as when you will take the test. my tip is to chew gum when studying a
certain subject and chew the same flavor of gum during the test. It will help
you remember
E is elaborate. Think deeply about the material and make other
associations with it.
tl;dr Sleep, take breaks, take good notes, learn the material not memorize, and
keep conditions the same during studying and testing

HOW TO STUDY BASED ON HOW MEMORY WORKS

Memory works (to put it simply) in 3 stages: attention, encoding
(storing/associating with other info), and retrieval(remembering)
To optimize the final stage, you have to optimize the first two stages. This means
you have to pay attention to the material, and you have to encode it well. (Which
I'll explain below.) Additionally, if you repeat the process, you reinforce it. By

retrieving something, you start to pay attention to it again, and then you are able
to re-encode it better than before.
To optimize encoding, remember GOAT ME.

G is generate and test. i.e., quiz yourself, or otherwise come up with

the answers on your own without just reading them. Even if you get it wrong,
it helps more than if you just read the answer off the bat, because you're
forcing yourself to think more about it (why was it wrong?). Test yourself in a
way that will resemble what you'll actually have to do during the real test.
(e.g., if you have to write essays on the test, instead of just writing and
memorizing bullet points, actually write an essay multiple times without
cheating, review it, and repeat until you can write it without forgetting any
important points.) Other effective ways of testing yourself are teaching the
material to someone else and talking about it out loud to yourself.
O is organize. This reduces the load on your brain and helps create
reminders just by coloring, position, or associations with nearby material. For
instance, a time line helps remember that event A came before event B in
history, not necessarily because you memorized the dates but because you
organized the info so that event A was written earlier and you happen to
remember that it was written earlier. The position of the information becomes
meaningful. You can organize with outlines, pictures, color coding, related
material, etc. My use of "GOAT ME" can be thought of as organization.
Another fun example (chunking) is as follows. Which of these seems easier to
memorize: "CIAFBIKGBCNNUSABBCUK" or "CIA FBI KGB CNN USA BBC UK"?

A is for avoid illusions of learning. There are two kinds of memory:

familiarity/recognition and recall. Recall is what you want. That's where you
can remember the information on your own, as you might be expected to do
on a test. Recognition is where you can't think of it on your own but if you
see it you suddenly remember it. That's not good. You won't necessarily see
it on your test, so you won't get a blatant reminder of it. Avoid study
methods that rely on recognition. Similarly, a major problem with rereading
material is "fluency". The more you read it, the easier reading it becomes,
and when it feels easier to read, you assume you have learned it. You have

not. You've just become more skilled at reading it. Don't bother highlighting
your textbook in the first go either. You feel like you're picking out the
important parts of the chapter but you can't know what's really important
until you've read the whole thing. And then all you're gonna do anyway is go
back and reread all the highlights, and as we've established, rereading is
useless. If instead you actually organize the highlights and quiz yourself on
them, highlighting may be useful. For a similar reason, rewriting information
is also not very helpful unless you use it as a method of quizzing.
T is take breaks. This is HUGE. If nothing else, walk away with just this
tip. Your memory works best if you study in frequent, short sessions rather
than one long cram session. You don't give your brain a chance to store the
earlier info you studied, so it just slips out of your mind, and you'll have
wasted your time studying it. So study for awhile, go do something else for a
bit, and come back to it, and repeat. One of my students said she taped
information in front of her toilet so whenever she went to pee or something
she could study for just a couple minutes. It sounds strange but it's actually
a great idea (I'd advise, in line with G and A that you tape questions in front
of the toilet and tape answers elsewhere so you can quiz yourself.) Another
important part of this is that you need to sleep to keep that info in your
head. Even if you take regular breaks, an all nighter will do more harm than
good. Your memories are stored more permanently after sleep. This is just
how the brain works. You can even try to work naps into your study sessions.
It's a break + sleep! [EDIT: I do not know how long breaks SHOULD be, but I
believe this varies from person to person. Just try to study over the course of
days instead of hours.]
M is match learning and testing conditions. This is based off the
principle of encoding specificity, which states that, if you want to optimize
memory, then the conditions surrounding encoding (e.g., where you are
when you study, how tired you are when you study, etc.) should be the same
as those surrounding retrieval (e.g., where you are when you're tested, how
tired you are when you're tested, etc.). This is because the conditions
themselves serve as reminders. (Have you ever walked into the kitchen for
something, forgotten why you were there, and as soon as you return to the
other room you suddenly remember why you went to the kitchen?) This

includes your environment and your physiology, serving as reminders. Think

about noise level, size of room, lighting, types of furniture, mood,
intoxication, sitting position, and even the way you work with the material
(remember G and A). Studies show that learning while drunk is best
remembered while drunk again. Learning after exercising, also best
remembered after exercising. The alternative to this is that you should study
under MANY different conditions. This way, the information comes easily to
you regardless of your surrounding conditions. Otherwise, the information
will unfortunately be associated with the specific circumstances you studied
under and will be difficult to remember in any other situation. If you want to
remember this stuff outside of being tested in class, STUDY UNDER MANY
CONDITIONS. Study in a noisy place AND a quiet place, with and without
coffee, etc.
E is elaborate. Think deeply about the material and make other
associations with it. At the most extreme, this can mean truly understanding
the concept, why it works, how it relates to other concepts, and how it's
applied. But on a simpler level, it can be the following: Does it remind you of
something else? Can you make a song out of it? Can you visually imagine it?
How does it apply to you or your life? Instead of taking the material at face
value, do something with it. The reason this is important is because of
reminders. Memory works by having a network of associations. One thing
reminds you of another. If you've thought deeply about it, you've probably
associated it with something else in memory, which can then serve as a
reminder. You can think, "Oh yeah, this is the term that inspired me to draw
that silly stick figure to represent it. And I remember what the drawing
looked like so now I remember what the term means." Additionally, the
quality of the memory will be better if you have elaborated on it. Elaboration
allows for a lot of creativity and individuality among studiers. Choose
whichever method of elaboration works for you. Maybe you enjoy making up
songs, drawing doodles, creating stories, visually imagining it, relating it to
yourself, or just pondering about it. If you're studying history, you might try
to think about it visually, imagine what people would have said or looked like,
watch them in your head doing their historical stuff, or maybe you'd like to
draw a quick doodly comic about a particular event, or maybe you wanna

think about why this even was significant, or how it relates to another
historical event.
If I had to summarize this in fewer points:

Keep similar conditions during studying and testing. This includes

environmental surroundings, mental and physiological state, the way you

think about the material, and so on. But if you want to remember this
outside of class, study in a VARIETY of conditions, so that you don't associate
the material with any particular condition.
Study briefly and frequently, and sleep.
But one other good point I would add is this:

Take notes BEFORE class if possible, and add to them whenever

necessary. Do this by reading the textbook chapters ahead of time (and take
notes; refer to your syllabus to find out which chapter is next, if applicable)
or see if your teacher posts Powerpoints online ahead of time. This way,
you're not just frantically writing notes in class and you'll actually be able to
more fully pay attention to what the teacher is saying (remember: attention
is the first step of the memory process!). You may think you can pay
attention to the professor as you're writing, but you are actually dividing your
attention and hurting your memory.

One of the absolute best ways to do A, T, and E is with group studying. When you
study by yourself, you are likely to just reread your notes or the book, but when
you study with others, you end up describing the material to others, skipping
around, and having others explain things to you. This also helps with E; you end up
teaching something you understand to someone who doesn't, so you have to figure
out how to describe it in your own words or come up with analogies/examples.
Group studying also usually ends up in the occasional off-topic discussion or coffee
break to give you a break from the material. But, because the whole purpose of the
meeting is to study, these breaks are usually pretty short, rather than the 2 hour
break you might end up taking on your own.

Here are a couple of hint/hacks for Salticido's "Elaborate":

1. Prefer associations that have big feelings. It's easier to remember
something funny, arousing, scary, bizarre, etc. I learn better when I associate
stuff with sex, murder, totally awesome daydreams. That works for the
songs, doodles, etc., too.
2. Repetition can be really helpful for learning. So I try to associate my
elaborations with objects or habits.
Here's an example of how these two hacks might work.
I need to learn the five emperors in Chinese mythology.
1. Shaohao. Makes me think of what a messed up dog might say. (Picture
a really funny-looking dog, thick glasses, slobbery, maybe the sides of his
jaw don't quite work, or he's missing half of his tongue... )
2. Zhuanxu. Wikipedia says he's the grandson of the Huang Emperor. I
don't know this word sounds like, but I recognize the 'uan', which makes me
think of Juan. I think of a person I know (or an athlete, etc.) called Juan, and
imagine him so well hung (Huang) that when he walks, his junk drags on the
ground. I'll know that 'Juan' isn't the right answer, and I'm pretty sure I can
remember that it starts with Zh and ends in 'xu'.
Then I put those two together. There's a messed-up dog saying "Shaohao" (trying
to say bow-wow), who's very interested in Juan's giant crotch. Juan is trying to get
away. But that crotch weighs him down, so he's not terribly mobile.
1. Emperor Ku. Ku makes me think of Kung Fu. I imagine Juan/Zhuanxu
trying to do Kung Fu on the dog, but not being able to jump. --2. (aside: ku looks like xu, if a spear sliced its left half off. which ever
sticks first, the 'ends in xu' or the 'ku', I can use to remember the other.)
3. Yao. While Juan/Zhuanxu is trying to jump, the dog bites off his third
leg. He yells, "Yow!!!"
4. Shun. Juan/Zhuanxu and the dog are both shunned by society, and
they wind up having to live together in a shared giant dog house.

So far, I've made the elaboration memorable. Now I need to tie it to an object or
habit, so I can use repetition to make it cement.
So... I tie the story to something I do all the time, or an object I see fairly
frequently:
I imagine that when I swipe to unlock my phone, I'm slicing off Zhuanxu/Juan's
package, a la Fruit Ninja... or that it makes the big messed up dog come out of the
phone, and his slobber might get my home button wet.
And now when I unlock the phone, I remember to take a few seconds to review the
story, and the 5 emperors: Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Ku, Yao, and Shun.

PhD in Psychology, somewhat expert on learning and part-time college professor

here. His advice is great, but I thought it might help to sort out one point. His
suggestion to make your study environment as similiar as possible to the test
environment is called state dependent learning. This is the best thing to do if all you
want is to remember for this class and not remember it after that. If you need to
remember it for a long time, like using it on the job or taking a comprehensive
exam, you will want to study in several different kinds of environments.
Here is a list of study tips I give my students.
Most of them are from the article -- DUNLOSKY, JOHN; RAWSON, KATHERINE A.;
MARSH, ELIZABETH J.;NATHAN, MITCHELL J.; WILLINGHAM, DANIEL T. What

Works, What Doesn't. Scientific American Mind. Sep/Oct2013, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p4753. Sorry I didn't make this a link but I am new here and don't have time to figure
that out right now.
Most Effective Techniques

Practice testing any form that allows you to test yourself, including

using actual or virtual flashcards, doing problems or questions at the end of

textbook chapters, or taking practice tests.
Distributed practice studying material over a number of relatively
short sessions. The best way is to study a section, sleep, then test yourself
on that section
Moderately effective

Elaborative interrogation use why questions to make connections

between new and old material.

Self-explanation provide your own explanations for problems while
learning material
Interleaved practice mixing different kinds of problems or material
in one study session

Least effective

Highlighting and underlining textbooks and other materials

Rereading
Summarization
Keyword mnemonics the use of keywords and mnemonics to help

remind students of course material

Imagery use for text learning creating mental images to remind
students of material

These are awesome tips for studying, and the best thing about them is they do
really hold true regardless of learning style.
However, in response to the OP's question I'd add that a lot of my success in
getting good grades throughout high school and college was getting a feel for each
individual teacher and what they value most, what they consider acceptable effort,
where they'll notice that you went above and beyond the average, and what they
tend to de-emphasize in an assignment. Any time you're using your own words to
give a response- even when asked a basic factual question with "right" and "wrong"
answers- teachers have a lot of leeway and discretion in how they evaluate a given
response and what kind of things they'll consider worthwhile for credit toward a
final grade.
Some teachers may prefer an avalanche of information in response to a question
with any degree of ambiguity, so that you cover all possible bases when giving an
answer. Others may only be looking for their own personally-tailored version of the
correct answer; for these classes it's essential to pay attention not just to the
information but how the teacher phrases this information, so that you can recognize
it or reproduce it on a test. Some teachers may love it when you put in answer in
broader context, giving a little more information than was asked for in order to

demonstrate mastery, while others do not value this at all and you'd be much better
off spending your time otherwise.
This may seem like I'm advocating a sort of "gaming the system" or manipulating
your teachers rather than learning the material, but I really believe this is both
practical and relatively benign advice. Teachers are individuals and just don't all
care equally about the same things. Mastering the topic in question will be the
difference between passing and failing 100% of the time, but knowing my audience
was often the difference between a B+ and an A.
It's fantastic to have a set of guidelines for how you can approach learning in any
class; a sort of baseline to apply before you have any idea about the nuances of
your instructor. But after a few assignments and quizzes, try to get a feel for what it
seems like they value and emphasize the most and the least, and then play to that
for the rest of the course.
To summarize by way of analogy, let's pretend that your class is a game of poker.

I just want to say that this is a great technique for humanities and reading intensive courses.
It simply won't work for courses in physics or math though. You've listed a great technique on
how to take tests, which will help people become great students, but it's not a good way to
permanently retain the material.
You need to keep on studying it after you've graduated and completed your course - something
most will not do. And why do we go to school?
If you have a PhD in sights, it's important you internalize the material. Many TAs who got
through with great grades become a TA their first year in grad school and need to relearn the
material because they forgot it.
Many brilliant students who passed with 3.5+ GPAs in fields step away for a few decades and
completely forget the material.
The rate of memory loss is actually pretty strong. After a few months you've lost over 80% of the
material, which is why transferring it to long term memory is essential.
This isn't always always feasible. Your techniques are also all different techniques. They're not
intended to work in tandem. They may work in tandem, but there is absolutely no requisite that
they do.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with everything you say (as I also took a course in studying
techniques and it was pretty much memory based). I'm just warning anyone who may read my
comment that your comment isn't absolute, and it is a bit scattered. For instance, encoding
probably the de facto method for storing materials into your working memory (not exactly short
term memory, but for most uses, it is).
The real effort is transferring this knowledge to your long term memory, and that's where the
techniques come in.
The most effective is elaboration. You need to be very careful to suggest that different material
requires different techniques. You've got the basic outline of the course down pat, and you've
even memorized it and explained it using the techniques you learned, but you missed some of
the nuances (which get missed by these techniques). Though, one thing I will absolutely support
and not question is the efficacy of breaks; breaks help with everything. I always tell people that
an all nighter is the worst thing you can do. Get a good night's rest instead.

I'm not a psych student or anything, just someone who did really poorly in
undergrad despite trying hard at times. Here are some interesting links, for anyone
interested, to a textbook that seems targeted at some of the mechanics behind
teaching/learning.
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy1/Edpsy1_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy2/Edpsy2_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy3/Edpsy3_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy4/Edpsy4_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy5/Edpsy5_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy6/Edpsy6_intro.htm
http://education.purduecal.edu/vockell/edpsybook/edpsy7/Edpsy7_intro.htm
Here's another interesting one that's centred around math and learning. Not sure
how the studies it's included are reviewed (http://books.google.ca/books?
id=vSXlRIiAhUAC&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=mathematical+reasoning+patterns+probl
ems+conjectures+and+proofs&source=bl&ots=JZeCpXUw8n&sig=Lz_pl4SCUvK8O0
U_uriZdfKpa4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h6rJU7CDA9a2yATO5IGgDA&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAw#v=on
epage&q&f=false).
I have some questions that hopefully will interest you:

1. How do I prevent from learning a subject in isolation of other

concepts/knowledge?
2. How do I find the significance/importance of learning something? By
this I mean I can find the first derivative of polynomials, but so what?
3. How do I get more awareness skills? By this I mean asking questions
like, does this make sense, can I get this answer a different way or faster
way, can I even solve this problem, etc.

Overall I really like this G.O.A.T.M.E., but I would change the part about studying
20 minutes at a time and then doing something else. That is not going to help your
memory and frequently switching between tasks can reduce your attentional
resources much quicker. Study for an hour or 2 (as long as you dont feel bored and
you're engaged in the material) and then take a break or do something fun.
I would also add avoid having the TV on or listening to music with vocals as you will
have trouble effectively encoding the words you're reading. Your brain is getting 2
sources of input and its going to have to choose which one to encode.
Source: Psychologist who studies memory.

I was a straight A student the majority of my undergraduate, graduate and

professional degrees. I rarely studied during finals, except to just review my notes
to reinforce I knew the material enough I didn't need worry. Essentially, following
the principles above this is what I did:

If there's reading, do it before class, and then ask yourself what you

read. Some classes rely on reading more than others. For the most part, it's
a first step in starting to learn material and be able to recall it earlier. Time is
your friend.
Review your class notes within 30 to 60 minutes after each class. It
helps reinforce the material you learned and increases memory by an

incredible percent. I found I actually could discover mistakes, or points I

needed to clarify, within my own notes because my recollection was still
fresh.
Change subjects and take breaks after 60 to 90 minute sessions. Try
to spread your studying out throughout the day.
Make sure to not study one subject one day and then ignore it for two
or three days, you will have wasted a lot of your time. Even just fifteen
minutes on each subject every day or two can help you recall a lot of what
you previously learned, and help reinforce its retention.
Test your own understanding. This is the recall above, as well as the
generate and test. Examples: Rewrite your own notes, try to put the notes in
your own words that are accurate. Work through problems your professor
didn't assign. Find people who took the class before and see if you can see
their old tests, and then practice taking those tests.
Keep a little diary or log book, and mark the time you spend studying
each day and total up it up each week. It helps you keep a schedule and not
ignore one subject. It also allows you to positively reinforce success, and not
let you convenience yourself you studied hard when you didn't.
As an aside, a good student will follow good study habits after school. At work
they'll likely find they are able to retain and collect new information quickly, and
know how to prepare projects, remember speeches, be more efficient, etc. These
habits have life long benefits.

I'd just like to add that students should certainly study different things under
different conditions, other things equal, instead of focusing on being in one spot.
For a helpful study guide to studying (isn't that meta?) see this article, which
Harvard's undergrad intro to psychology class hands out along with the class
syllabus:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html [1]
"The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the
background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether
those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the

wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the
Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard."
In general though, I think these things are fairly small points - most of the people
around me who got straight A's all their lives do the 'cram in one day' approach and
usually do fine. I think it's largely about motivation and about seeking out extra
help (via office hours, usually). I think the people who tend to do the BEST, though
(i.e. an A or high A- average), work really hard all semester, consistently meet with
Professors, ask questions about things they are 99% (but not 100%) sure of just to
get to 100%, etc.

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

By BENEDICT CAREY
Every September, millions of parents try a kind of psychological
witchcraft, to transform their summer-glazed campers into fall students,
their video-bugs into bookworms. Advice is cheap and all too familiar:
Clear a quiet work space. Stick to a homework schedule. Set goals. Set
boundaries. Do not bribe (except in emergencies).
And check out the classroom. Does Juniors learning style match the new
teachers approach? Or the schools philosophy? Maybe the child isnt a
good fit for the school.
Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education
research that doesnt offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching
styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is,
no one can predict how.
Yet there are effective approaches to learning, at least for those who are motivated. In recent
years, cognitive scientists have shown that a few simple techniques can reliably improve what
matters most: how much a student learns from studying.
The findings can help anyone, from a fourth grader doing long division to a retiree taking on a
new language.
But they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they
have not caught on.
For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a
person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one
sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.
We have known these principles for some time, and its intriguing that schools dont pick them
up, or that people dont learn them by trial and error, said Robert A. Bjork, a psychologist at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are
mistaken.

Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are visual learners and
others are auditory; some are left-brain students, others right-brain. In a recent review of the
relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team
of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas.
The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education
and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing, the
researchers concluded.
Ditto for teaching styles, researchers say.
Some excellent instructorscaper in front of the blackboard like summer-theater Falstaffs; others
are reserved to the point of shyness.
We have yet to identify the common threads between teachers who create a constructive
learning atmosphere, said Daniel T. Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia and
author of the book Why Dont Students Like School?
But individual learning is another matter, and psychologists have discovered that some of the
most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong. For instance, many study skills courses
insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take
their work. The research finds just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists
found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms
one windowless and cluttered,
the other modern, with a view on a courtyard did far better on a test than students who
studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a
variety of topics.
The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background
sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are
conscious.
It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study
room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in
the backyard.
Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that
information more neural scaffolding.
What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is
enriched, and this slows down forgetting, said Dr. Bjork, the senior author of the two-room
experiment.
Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting alternating, forexample, among
vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language seems to leave a deeper impression on
the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time.
Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales,
musical pieces and rhythmic work. Many athletes, too, routinely mix their workouts with
strength, speed and skill drills.
The advantages of this approach to studying can be striking, in some topic areas. In a study
recently posted online by the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Doug Rohrer and Kelli
Taylor of the University of South Florida taught a group of fourth graders four equations, each to
calculate a different dimension of a prism.

Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation, say, calculating the
number of prism faces when given the number of sides at the base, then moving on to the next
type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that.
The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of
calculations grouped together. Both groups solved sample problems along the way, as they
studied.
A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new
problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets did twice as well as the
others, outscoring them 77 percent to 38 percent. The researchers have found the same in
experiments involving adults and younger children.
When students see a list of problems, all of the same kind, they know the strategy to use
before they even read the problem, said Dr. Rohrer. Thats like riding a bike with training
wheels. With mixed practice, he added, each problem is different from the last one, which
means kids must learn how to choose the appropriate procedure just like they had to do on
the test.
These findings extend well beyond math, even to aesthetic intuitive learning.
In an experiment published last month in the journal Psychology and Aging, researchers found
that college students and adults of retirement age were better able to distinguish the painting
styles of 12 unfamiliar artists after viewing mixed collections (assortments, including works from
all 12) than after viewing a dozen works from one artist, all together, then moving on to the next
painter.
The finding undermines the common assumption that intensive immersion is the best way to
really master a particular genre, or type of creative work, said Nate Kornell, a psychologist at
Williams College and the lead author of the study. What seems to be happening in this case is
that the brain is picking up deeper patterns when seeing assortments of paintings; its picking up
whats similar and whats different about them, often subconsciously.
Cognitive scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade
on a given exam. But hurriedly jam-packing a brain is akin to speed-packing a cheap suitcase,
as most students quickly learn it holds its new load for a while, then most everything falls out.
With many students, its not like they cant remember the material when they move to a more
advanced class, said Henry L. Roediger III, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Its like theyve never seen it before.
When the neural suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its contents for far, far
longer. An hour of study tonight, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now:
such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall
study effort or pay more attention, dozens of studies have found.
No one knows for sure why. It may be that the brain, when it revisits material at a later time, has
to relearn some of what it has absorbed beforeadding new stuff and that that process is itself
self-reinforcing.
The idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning, said Dr. Kornell. When you forget
something, it allows you to relearn, and do so effectively, the next time you see it.
Thats one reason cognitive scientists see testing itself or practice tests and quizzes as a
powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment. The process of retrieving an idea is

not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is
subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future.
Dr. Roediger uses the analogy of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics, which holds
that the act of measuring a property of a particle (position, for example) reduces the accuracy
with which you can know another property (momentum, for example): Testing not only
measures knowledge but changes it, he says and, happily, in the direction of more certainty,
not less.
In one of his own experiments, Dr. Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke, who is now at Purdue
University, had college students study science passages from a reading comprehension test, in
short study periods. When students studied the same material twice, in back-to-back sessions,
they did very well on a test given immediately afterward, then began to forget the material.
But if they studied the passage just once and did a practice test in the second session, they did
very well on one test two days later, and another given a week later.
Testing has such bad connotation; people think of standardized testing or teaching to the test,
Dr. Roediger said. Maybe we need to call it something else, but this is one of the most powerful
learning tools we have.
Of course, one reason the thought of testing tightens peoples stomachs is that tests are so
often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty thatmakes them such effective study tools,
research suggests. The harder it is to remember something, the harder it is to later forget. This
effect, which researchers call desirable difficulty, is evident in daily life. The name of the actor
who played Linc in The Mod Squad? Francies brother in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? The
name of the co-discoverer, with Newton, of calculus?
The more mental sweat it takes to dig it out, the more securely it will be subsequently anchored.
None of which is to suggest that these techniques alternating study environments, mixing
content, spacing study sessions, self-testing or all the above will turn a grade-A slacker into a
grade-A student. Motivation matters. So do impressing friends, making the hockey team and
finding the nerve to text the cute student in social studies.
In lab experiments, youre able to control for all factors except the one youre studying, said Dr.
Willingham. Not true in the classroom, in reallife. All of these things are interacting at the same
time.
But at the very least, the cognitive techniques give parents and students, young and old,
something many did not have before: a study plan based on evidence, not schoolyard folk
wisdom, or empty theorizing.
This article has been revised to reflect the following Correction: September 8, 2010.
An article on Tuesday about the effectiveness of various study habits described incorrectly the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics. The principle holds that the act of measuring one
property of a particle (position, for example) reduces the accuracy with which you can know
another property (momentum, for example) not that the act of measuring a property of the
particle alters that property.

DOIT. Do it now, not later, not tomorrow. Oh, there is a new episode of your favourite show that
you HAVE to watch although there is work to be done? Guess what, I don't care. If there is stuff
to be done, then do it. If you don't do it, someone else will and these people will be a lot more
successful than you in the long run. The things you do now that other people don't do will enable
you to do things that other people won't be able to do later in life. Get that Nike mantra: JUST
DO IT!
Pay attention in class and write stuff down. There are only a few people out there who can
remember everything that is important without writing it down and I highly doubt that you are
one of them. Once you are at home, you eat and do what? Go to the computer and browse
reddit all day or play games? Nope, you review the things you have written down and try to
explain them to yourself. You aren't able to do that? Next lesson go to your teacher and ask him
if he could explain it again. Not next week or one day before you have an exam, you ask him
when the next lesson starts. PARTICIPATE IN CLASS!
Do your homework and understand what you are doing. So many people do things and have no
clue why they do it or what they can do with the things they've just learned. Try to understand
things and explain them to people. If you can explain something to someone, you understand it.
FOCUS! Many people really want to study but procrastinate all the time. If you can't focus in
your room, go into a library or somewhere else where you are not distracted. Nutrition and
workout - A healthy lifestyle helps you to concentrate, makes you feel better and is good for your
body.
Take breaks, enjoy your life (socialise) and relax. Try to find a hobby where you can learn
something that will help you in the long run. Read. Something that may help you is the 3
Seconds Rule: http://getbusylivingblog.com/how-to-start-anything-and-get-unstuck-in-life-usethe-force/Another thing is to learn how to study - The GOAT ME method seems like a good
starting point. TL;DR: Get the right mindset, work hard, do it for yourself and it will pay off. Work
beats talent in the long run.