With the piling up of exams, homework, and extracurricular activities, being efficient when it comes to academics is essential for Hun students. It is extremely tempting to wait until the last minute to begin studying, but science says there are easier—and healthier—ways to learn about a topic than sacrificing hours of sleep. By spacing study sessions and varying topics from time to time, students can not only remember what they learned for a longer period of time, they can also better retain it on exam day.
Cramming the day before may seem bad to most. But it is so much less effective than taking time between study sessions. Research done by the American Psychological Association says that the more time spent in between study sessions, the better. Researchers do not have a definite answer for why spacing sessions works better than studying all at once, but a popular theory is that over a period of time, people tend to forget what they have studied, and this process of retrieving what they have already learned is what makes the information easier to recall on the day of the test.
Sometimes, however, spacing is not an option. For example: imagine that you have three tests coming up, to space each study session, you might be preparing for a month or even more. Instead, Robert Bjork, a Psychologist at UCLA, advises that we “interleave” our subjects. Interleaving is the process of focusing on a subject for a small amount of time, and then moving on to a different topic. This is effective because it forces the student to retrieve or remember information about a previous topic, which makes the information stick in one’s head for a longer period of time.
Another way to improve your studying is through generation. Generation, opposed to repetition, is the strategy of making a word that is interactive somehow. For example if I wanted to remember the word green, generating this word would look like gr___, or perhaps an anagram such as ‘energ.’ By making something more interesting or challenging, we, as humans, seem to be able to recall it more effectively.
When information is forgotten and then retrieved, it becomes easier to remember. This fact makes tests both a good measurement of how well a student is doing in a particular area and one of the best ways to learn about a subject.
In conclusion, academic success at Hun requires a strategic approach to studying, emphasizing quality over quantity. Spacing study sessions, interleaving topics, and using generation strategies to enhance retention and comprehension are the best methods to ensure a full eight hours come nightfall. While cramming the night before may seem like the only option, consider using some of these strategies next time to set yourself up for success!
