It’s often assumed that long hours of studying are the best way to become an exemplary, top student. However, research shows that highly successful students actually spend less time studying than their peers-they simply study more effectively.
Teachers can help all students use their study time more effectively by sharing research-proven techniques.
Learn less, learn more
In this age of social media and digital distractions, many students and adults do a lot of multitasking. But successful multitasking doesn’t exist because most of the time is wasted on context-switching and the brain has to reboot and refocus.
Consider this formula: “Work accomplished = intensity of focus X time spent.” If a student is taking AP Biology but also checks his textbook and swipes through Instagram, his intensity of focus is low – say 3 points. Although he spends 3 hours “studying,” his work is only a 9 out of 10.
On the other hand, a student who focuses solely on AP Biology has a high level of concentration – a 10. Although she spent only one hour studying, she accomplished more in three hours than her distracted classmate.
Very successful students have usually learned to avoid multitasking. These students don’t spend a lot of time doing low-intensity work and don’t get distracted; they do higher-intensity work in less time without being distracted by email, social media, etc. They learn more effectively and lead to greater achievement.
Ineffective study techniques
Many students use study techniques that are both time-consuming and give the illusion of proficiency. They familiarize themselves with ideas and information as they prepare for exams, but forget about them a week later because their study methods never lead to long-term learning.
Ineffective techniques include.
- Studying for long periods of time
- Studying a subject for an extended period of time, repeating phrases over and over to memorize them (known as focused practice).
- Reviewing a topic over and over again before moving on to another (closed practice)
- Reading an article over and over again
- Underline important concepts in an article and then review them
- Reviewing notes
5 Intense Study Habits
Researchers have found that the following techniques, when incorporated into students’ daily study habits, can improve learning sustainability and retention. These techniques are difficult, require effort, and can slow down learning. Initially, the learning gains seem smaller than some ineffective practices. However, these techniques lead to long-term proficiency.
The book Make It Stick lists several study techniques that have been proven by research.
- Prediction: When students practice answering questions, even incorrect ones, before learning the content, their future learning is enhanced. Research shows that pre-testing improves post-testing results more than spending the same amount of time studying.
- Spaced Practice: Spaced learning – focusing on a topic for short periods of time on different days – has been shown to improve memory and recall more than focused practice. The book How We Learn explains that spaced practice can be difficult because knowledge can be forgotten at first – regaining it takes effort.
Creating sample recognition cards that can be used for spaced practice and self-testing is effective. Students should stack the cards in different piles as they review them. Cards they can answer immediately should be placed in a pile to be reviewed three days later; those they have difficulty answering should be reviewed two days later; and those they answer incorrectly should be reviewed the next day.
- Self-testing: In this era of standardized testing, testing has a negative connotation, but it is a form of active retrieval practice. Encourage students to make their own test questions as they learn new concepts and think about the types of questions you might ask on a quiz or test. They should incorporate these quizzes into their course of study by answering every question, even those they think they know well.
- Interleaved Practice: Students may rely on group practice, working in small groups on a set of problems, such as multiplication problems, until they feel proficient. A more effective way to learn is to solve a set of related but not identical problems, for example, a set of math problems that require addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. Successive problems cannot be solved with the same strategy. This is much more effective than doing multiplication one after the other.
- Rewrite and Reflect: Many of us have read several passages of a textbook only to realize that we didn’t remember a single concept or key point from those passages. To show your students how to solve this problem, have them use intentional learning strategies. These include connecting what they are learning to prior knowledge, thinking about how they would explain content to a 5-year-old, and reflecting and asking questions about the content.