Chemistry Study Strategies

“It is not how smart a person is but how efficiently does a person work?”

— Dr. Lawrence Doyle, Executive Director, UCLA Medical School Prime Program and Expert on improving study skills , 3/11/11 presentation. Parts of these strategies are adapted from his talk.

You have other classes, a job, a family, and a life. You have academic and professional goals that you want to achieve. You want to learn what you need to learn from every class to prepare you for your next classes and to learn and develop a set of well rounded skills that employers value.

Review, review, review: You will forget 25-30% of what you learned within 1-2 hours (to 12 hours) if you don’t review. You’ll forget another 25-30% after 24-48 hours if no review.

“Spacing Effect” – practice, e.g., learning and reviewing, that is spread out over time enhances long term retention. Cramming does not help you remember.

“Retrieval effect” – repeated practice of active retrieval of information, not studying, promotes and enhances long term retention. Repeated retrieval practice through testing was shown to enhance long term retention, whereas repeated studying produced essentially no benefit.

Practice retrieval by Quizzing yourself – self-testing is an extremely effective way to learn faster and retain more.

Need to sleep 6 to 8 hours per night. A rested brain and body learns, retains, recalls, and processes information better than a tired one. Put in the time so you don’t feel compelled to pull an all-nighter. Cramming does not help you remember.

Study Skills:

1. Time management. It does not matter how smart you are if you don’t or can’t put in the time to study.

Study two hours for every class hour. It is better to take fewer units and get better grades than to take too many units and get poor grades. Protect your GPA.

2. Memory. See “Spacing Effect” and “Retrieval Effect”.

Chunking information. Learn better in groups of 4 or less. E.g., phone number: xxx-xxx-xxxx

Use mnemonics, e.g., place mnemonics – relate what you are trying to remember to a place.

Lists – usually items at the beginning and end are learned first and remembered, middle not so well. If items on a list are on flash cards, need to shuffle the cards.

3. Reading. Relate what you already know to what you are reading.

Reading a science textbook is NOT the same as reading a newspaper or novel.

Scan a chapter before reading it helps you identify main ideas and main points and determine what you are reading.

For example, look over the headings first. Next, read the end of chapter summary. Then, read the chapter. You’ll have an idea of what you are reading and know what to look for and focus on.

4. Note Taking. Process information as you get it – class lecture and textbook reading.

Predict an answer or what the teacher is about to say improves learning. You’ll get immediate feedback.

Write one idea per line in your notes. Is it a main idea, lesser point, or digression?

Write a summary of the lecture ASAP (ideally at end of lecture). Then, share it with or teach someone else. (Those who TEACH learn faster and retain more.)

Compare your notes with other students if you feel you have missed something in a lecture.

Quiz yourself when you are done.

5. Test taking. Improve your exam performance by taking a pretest or practice test (with immediate feedback) to prepare for the exam.

Common mistakes include: not setting plans for every test, premature closure (get an answer and move on to next question), change answer (most people should not change answer. Intuition is usually right. Test taker often tricks self into believing teacher is trying to trick them), and not reviewing every test to identify mistakes. Have a Growth Mindset (see 1, 2, and 3).

Use visualization to visualize self doing well on test or other goal like athletes do.

Several books have been written on how people get good at something (see “Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else”, Geoffrey Colvin and “The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.”, Daniel Coyle). Here are three important factors:

1. Deliberate practice is deep, focused practice that makes you get better each time. More than just reading and reviewing, work on practice questions/problems that push you to a deeper learning and understanding. Try to teach someone what you are studying. This is a good reason to study with other students.

2. Insightful coaching for help, feedback, and guidance. See your instructor or SI Leader for help.

3. Motivation so you feel you are investing your time to accomplish something worthwhile. A positive attitude helps.