How to Learn Things, Dos and Don’ts
A Scientific Guide on Effective Learning Methods
When I first heard about learning strategies in high school, I thought I already knew how to study.
Just reread the information in the book and voila, I now know the topics. But, after some time and many exhausting exam weeks later, I realized this might not be the best strategy.
I felt good about how much I knew, but after a couple of days, I realized I can’t remember all the things I learned.
So, I decided to dig deeper to find what works and what does not.
Do Use a Pen Instead of a Keyboard
In their creatively titled research paper, the Pen is Mightier Than a Keyboard, Mueller et al. (2014)¹ examined how much our note-taking device affects our learning.
The results were clear, student taking notes with pen and paper performed much better than laptop note-takers.
One reason for this might be that pen and paper users might be evaluating that information as they are writing, which might make it easier to remember.
They actively think about the lecture and use their words while writing about it.
Now, I know it is hard to write and manage so many notes on paper, so, my tip would be to evaluate things you are writing on a computer, at least for each page.
Try to think about it, or test yourself on it after writing it. As research suggests, testing is a valuable tool for learning.²
This brings us to the second point.
Do Test Yourself
Testing yourself sounds quite simple and if I asked you whether you are testing yourself while studying you would probably say yes.
But if you are not happy with your learning performance, you might need to increase how much you test yourself.
Test yourself on everything you want to learn.
Let’s say you opened up a textbook on biology and want to learn about cells in our body. After reading 10 pages stop and test yourself. E.g., what is the powerhouse of the cell?
Now, you probably know the answer to that one. But in this process, you might realize that you have many other gaps in your knowledge.
After testing yourself, move on to other parts you want to study, and when you are done for the day, test yourself again for all the things you learned that day.
Doing this in each study session would increase your retention.
And when you go into the actual exam you would have a much easier time remembering all the information. Compared to when you try to remember all the information after an all-nighter before an exam.
While self-testing, ask yourself: can I explain this to a friend without looking at the book?
If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.
-Richard Feynman.
I feel competent about a concept when I can explain it in a single sentence. And I test myself repeatedly until I reach that level.
Do Use Flashcards
Flashcards were a lifesaver for me in my psychology program.
We were learning hundreds of facts, terms, and concepts in a month and it was tough to memorize all of them quickly.
Most of us would learn important concepts for the exam and forget it as soon as the exam was over. Flashcards helped me test myself comfortably from my phone.
This helped me remember many psychological terms and concepts well and for a long time.
A flashcard has information on each site. You write a piece of information and test yourself with the information on the back of the card.
For example, writing the English word “apple” on the front of the card and trying to guess what is the French word for it.
A 2011 study researching flashcards’ effects on medical students’ learning performance suggested that it was effective at helping students retain information for a week.³
You can start using flashcards with the Anki app. I created many flashcards lists to memorize psychological terms, which was very helpful.
Do Put Sleep Between Your Study Sessions
Another crucial learning component is sleep. Your brain rewires itself during sleep and consolidates new information.
Researchers from France conducted a study on sleep and learning.
2 different groups memorized foreign words. The first group learned words went to sleep and,12 hours later, learned the words again. The second group also learned the words twice but there was no sleep between.
1 week later they were tested with these words and the sleeping group performed better than the other group.⁴
This shows us how crucial sleep is for learning. Sleep after learning, and make sure to maintain a healthy sleep schedule in general.
Do Use the 3R Method
3R method refers to the read-recite-review steps and is the newer version of the SQ3R method. In the 3R method, the only thing you need to do is to read the material, recite the information and concepts as much as you can and review the gaps in your knowledge.
Research suggests 3R method could be an easy and effective strategy to remember things you learned.⁵ The researchers from Washington University in St. Louis conducted this study on 3 learning strategies.
These were note-taking, rereading, and the 3R method.
Re-reading was not effective as note-taking or the 3R method.
Both 3R and note-taking performed very well but while the 3R method took, on average, 13.5 minutes, the note-taking method took 17.5 minutes, almost 30% more.
So, the 3R method was more time-efficient at memorization than note-taking.⁵
Don’t Highlight or Underline
Students with bright yellow highlighters highlighting half of the textbook was a common scene in my classes.
We thought, after highlighting all the words we would remember them much better.
However, research suggests highlighting is an ineffective technique for memorizing information.⁶
One reason highlighting doesn’t help with exams might be that students don’t know where to highlight in a new subject.
As students are new to the subject they might miss where exactly the crucial concepts are.
They might also have a bias to highlight what they found interesting.
Another reason could be that it gives us students the illusion that we have learned it.
We might feel as if, somehow, we highlighted those words in our mind’s eye too.
Don’t Reread
You might say, “How can I learn without rereading that concept Kagan?”
Of course, I don’t mean never repeat what you learned, what I mean is to not mindlessly reread the same information over and over again without thinking about it and testing yourself frequently.
As research suggests rereading is not very effective for remembering information.⁷
In sum:
- Evaluate what you are taking notes about write notes in your own words.
- Test yourself on the subject frequently.
- Start using flashcards for remembering facts.
- Take great care of your sleep and sleep between large study sessions.
- Try the 3R method.
- Avoid highlighting and rereading mindlessly.
Learning in itself is a fun activity. I believe many people refrain from learning more about various concepts of life because they associate the negative feelings they remember from the mandatory teachings of the school.
Learning more and remembering them well could bring us so many opportunities, make us a bit more interesting, and change how we view the world.
Let me know your thoughts on these methods.
Sources
1.Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.
2. Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. III. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968.
3. Schmidmaier, R., Ebersbach, R., Schiller, M., Hege, I., Holzer, M., & Fischer, M. R. (2011). Using electronic flashcards to promote learning in medical students: retesting versus restudying. Medical education, 45(11), 1101–1110.
4. Mazza, S., Gerbier, E., Gustin, M.-P., Kasikci, Z., Koenig, O., Toppino, T. C., & Magnin, M. (2016). Relearn Faster and Retain Longer: Along With Practice, Sleep Makes Perfect. Psychological Science, 27(10), 1321–1330.
5. McDaniel, M. A., Howard, D. C., & Einstein, G. O. (2009). The Read-Recite-Review Study Strategy: Effective and Portable. Psychological Science, 20(4), 516–522.
6. Peterson, S. E. (1992). The cognitive functions of underlining as a study technique. Reading Research and Instruction, 31(2), 49–56.
7. Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
