Listening to Lectures

• Read assigned material before coming to class. You will be sufficiently familiar with the material so you will more readily understand the lecture

Taking Notes

• Try to capture the ideas and concepts of a lecture.
• Don't recopy your notes. You don't learn while copying material.
• Don't use a tape recorder. It takes too long to review the material.
• Take notes and review them immediately after class. In some research, a group that reviewed material immediately after a class recalled more than a group that didn't.
• Remembering what you have heard is usually more difficult than remembering what you have read. Therefore, take class notes so that you will have something to read.
• Don't do your remembering by memorizing. We need to be selective in what we memorize. William James said, "The essence of genius is to know what to overlook."
• Memorization should only be done with material that is understood. It should not be used as a means of escaping the effort to understand. Do not learn by memorizing what can be learned by reasoning. Use the five R's of note taking (the Cornell system):
  1. Record: The meaningful ideas and concepts
  2. Reduce: After class, summarize the main ideas and concepts
  3. Recite: Say out loud in your own words the main ideas of the class.
  4. Reflect: Take a few minutes to ponder over the main ideas of the class
  5. Review: Once a week, review the ideas of all the semester's lectures.

Asking Questions

• During class, ask questions of yourself. It helps to keep you mentally alert. It helps you to look for answers in class.
• Always have at least two questions that you would like to ask each time you go to your class.

Making a Schedule

• Schedules are crucial to student success. They are a means of gaining extra time by making you more efficient and by helping you use small blocks of time that usually are wasted without a schedule.
• Schedules also hep you prevent avoiding your study.

Studying

• Use daylight hours. Research shows that each hour used for study during the day is equal to one and a half hours at night.
• Study before each class. The material will be fresh in your mind.
• Study each subject in a one-hour block of time. It makes you more efficient. You don't become bored. Longer blocks of time lead to a waste of time.
• Allow time for sleep.
• Set realistic goals for yourself. You can reward yourself for being successful. If you waste all afternoon and then set a goal of studying chemistry from 6:00 p.m. to midnight, you may not be realistic. The chances are that you won't be successful; you will become frustrated.
• Study at a desk.
• Recite why studying. If you will recite while writing, you will be learning while using your eyes and ears.
• If you can't say it, you don't know it.