How to Study – Not a bad skill to have – Dr Robert A. Hatch

How
to Study
Robert A. Hatch – University of
Florida
There’s
an old joke about three frat brothers discussing plans for the evening. 
One said, ‘Hey, I want to go out to the movies.’  The second said,
‘No, I want to go out for pizza.’  The third said, ‘Gee Whizz, fellas,
I mean, like gosh, I really need to stay in and study.’  With this
the fourth guy said, ‘OK, let’s flip a coin:  Heads we go to a movie,
tails we go for pizza, and if it lands on edge (and stays there) we can
study later….’ 
Not
very funny, I suppose, but neither is studying.  Fact is, learning
is serious business, even if it is fun and comes easy. But most students
coming to the university have never really studied, and younger university
students often feel at a loss.  Make no mistake, one way or another,
surviving university life requires you learn to study.  Equally clear,
if you learn to learn it will serve you a life time.  To be blunt,
much of the stuff you learn at a university is not important in itself. 
The reason is that most of the day-to-day stuff keeps changing.  The
trick is to learn to learn.  You have probably heard the teaching
cliché a dozen times:  Give a man a fish he eats for a day;
teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.  Enough clichés. 
What’s important is developing disciplined study skills.  And yes,
you have heard this before.  But now the question is: What have you
have done about it?  The following survey focuses on this question.
It aims to provide an overview, some preaching, and a few practical tips
on ‘How to Study.’

How Much Study: 
Serious students (studious students) study 50-60 hours a week.  Although
this should be no surprise (after all, in the ‘real world’ people rise
at 6 or 7 am and work 8 hours or more each day) many freshmen do not trust
this figure.  But as a matter of record, University of Florida guidelines
are clear:  Undergraduates are expected to study a minimum of three
(3) hours for each one (1) hour of class time.  The mathematics is
simple.  If you have a 3-credit hour class, you will spend a minimum
of 12 hours each week in that course.  It is likely you will spend
additional time with the mid-term and final exams, not to mention research
essays.

If you are an entering freshman you
should feel some pride in being welcomed into the university community. 
And let’s face it, as a university student you are privileged.  Think
about it.  Next time you take your seat in a university lecture hall
consider how many people would like to be in your place.  But there
is more.  The honor does not make you a particularly privileged character. 
Rather, it identifies a seat of responsibility.

Study Hours – Add it Up: 
If you have an average course load of 15 credit hours the figures come
to sixty (60) hours per week.  This is a suggested minimum. 
But make no mistake, smart students spend more, and please note: 
If you are not unusually smart you may need to spend more than the smart
folks.  How do you know if you are smart? The paradox was summarized
long ago by Pascal (a clever guy now dead) who reminds us that a person
who is lame can see he is lame; a silly person cannot see his problem so
clearly. If you are really – really – really smart you will study as much
as your body can endure.  If you are not so gifted (or not so sure)
you would be smart to study your level best.  The trick (given our
short time here) is to learn all the best stuff we can and to put it to
the best possible effect.  Serious business I suppose.  Perhaps
another number will help frame the game, if game it be.

Another Statistic: 
The second set of numbers is that for every three students entering the
University of Florida one will not receive a degree.  Many problems
confront entering freshman.  But the solution to the problem of studying
is simple.  Like a lot of things, it is difficult to do but easy to
understand. For example, if you want to lose weight you need to take in
fewer calories than you burn.  Simple to understand. So too, if you
want to develop good study skills you need to diet your time and discipline
your activities. But all the advice in the world is useless unless you
use it.  Although you already know what to do, the following tips
may be useful reminders.

The Skinny:  Study is hard
work.  If
you already understand that study is hard work, the second step is to accept
it as a daily fact of life and then, as the philosopher said, ‘Just do
it.’  One of the facts you will have to embrace is that study requires
repetition.  If study is extending and internalizing your interaction
with course material, a key component is, I repeat, repetition:  Reading,
re-reading, writing, re-writing, discussing, re-discussing, thinking, re-thinking
the course material.  Bored?  Too bad.  A long-standing
learning cliché is that you need to push the same stuff past your
brain in as many ways as possible:  See it, hear it, read it, write
it, repeat it all again in as many different ways as possible.  It
is no surprise that universities are designed to do just that.  The
trick is to help yourself learn as painlessly as possible.  What follows
are time-honored suggestions.  If the following hints are not obvious,
you might consider a different line of work:

1.  Never Miss Class: 
Come to class.  When you are in class listen critically. Learn to
take good notes.  Skinny:  Attend (and attend to) all lectures.
Listen to what the instructor means.

2.  Do the Required and Recommended
Reading:  And do the reading before you come to class. 
Take notes from your reading {Cf. infra}.  Don’t take notes word
for word.  Don’t paint over the words, uncover the meaning. 
Do the reading.  Re-read difficult material as many times as necessary
to understand it.  Outline the chapters.  Write down questions. 
Think about the full range of answers.  If you are not satisfied,
raise questions in class, discuss the questions with classmates after
class.  Either way, if you have good questions they benefit everyone. 
Share your insights, your confusions, and your criticism.  Learn
when to speak and when to listen.   If you’re smart and articulate
don’t be silent and smug or overbearing and obnoxious.  If you are
shy and hesitant learn to trust your yourself and take a risk.  
How to Take Notes From Reading

3. Take Good Lecture Notes:See
the other files at this WebSite.  Learning to take good notes is
akin to learning to learn.  Taking good notes is a ritual for thinking. 
Listen to what the lecturer means; try to understand what the author wants
to say.  Develop a workable system for all of your notes that combines
reading and lecture notes. A ring notebook provides flexibility, it allows
you to add and re-arrange material at a later date. Recopy your lecture
notes the same evening; review all of your lecture notes each week. Develop
a semester plan and a list of priorities. Attend university, college,
and department-supported lectures.  They are free but could pay large
dividends. Attending such lectures will help you expand your horizon and
focus your interest.  You will see how a university works. 
You will see genuine genius and educated idiots.  You will learn
to distinguish pepper corns from mouse terds.  How
to Take Lecture Notes

4.  Study Every Day: 
Establish a daily routine where you study in one place a minimum of 4 -5
hours each day.  There are different kinds and ‘levels’ of study discussed
below.  What is important is that study becomes the centerpiece of
your day and the continuous element in your work week.  Do not wait
for exam-time to study.  Exams offer the opportunity to refine what
you know and to sharpen your communication skills.  The best way to
focus your view of things is to present it clearly in writing.  Writing
is a ritual for thinking.

5. When in Doubt:  Read
the Syllabus – Read Ahead – Ask Questions:  Read the correlated
readings (designed to mesh with that lecture) before you come to class.
The whole point of correlated readings is to prepare you for the lecture.
If the readings are completed at the appropriate time you will have a ‘Big
Picture’ framed by a general narrative and suspended by an ongoing line
of argument. These readings should help you establish a set of expectations
as well as some unsettling questions.  The lectures should help you
connect ideas you have read about and, with any luck, they should help
you call key issues into question.  Your job is to arrive at an understanding
you call your own and can defend to a critical audience.  Beginning
to end, you are the center of your education.  You know where to begin.

6. Ask Questions; See Your Instructor
Before or After Class or in Office Hours:  Do not sit and
fret over an intellectual, institutional, or personal problem if there
is someone who can help. Communicate your concerns.  If you have a
problem do not hesitate to tell some one.  Chances are your instructor
can help or can put you in touch with someone who can.  If you have
questions, come to office hours and come well prepared.  Recognize
that others may be in line (undergraduates, graduates, sometimes other
faculty, media moguls, creditors) and that some have made specific appointments. 
Time is valuable.  Come with notes, specific books you may wish to
discuss, and a list of questions.  Take notes.  If you return
to office hours for follow-up, demonstrate that you have done your job
since the last meeting.  Life is short.  Make your visit substantive. 
Simply making yourself known will not, on the face of it, improve your
grade.

7. Find a Good Place to Study: 
A good place to study varies from person to person.  Personally, I
like several gardens in Cambridge and a few parks and libraries in Paris. 
But I also accomplish quite a lot in my home office.  I try to keep
distractions to a minimum. I have a daily and weekly schedule; I plan out
each month in light of the semester.  I attempt to maintain more or
less normal human working hours, that is, I avoid ‘all-nighters’ and try
to keep a regular sleep schedule.  In the long run, if you have a
regular time and place for study your time will be more productive and
pleasant.

8. Study Smart:  Spend Appropriate
Quality-Time in Study:  Study each of your subjects every
day.  It is a good idea to keep a work calendar for the entire semester. 
Block things out during the first week; note when the mid-terms, papers,
and final exams will take place.  Don’t avoid certain classes because
they are difficult or of less interest; both judgments could change. 
Make the semester a continuous effort; do no ‘binge’ study or ‘binge’ play. 
Make your study habits part of your life.  Do not let playtime and
extracurricular activities get in the way of your academic life. 
There will be lots of time later in life to be lazy and irresponsible. 
If you keep a realistic study schedule you should begin and end at regular
times. When you sit down to study, start immediately.  Don’t dally
around and procrastinate. Your study area should be just that.  If
you are surrounded by toys you will surely be diverted. Be honest with
yourself. If you find yourself not making progress do something else. When
you sit down to study, study.

9. Consider a Study Group:If
repetition is important (remember:  hearing, hearing again; 
reading, reading again; writing, writing again) say and saying again can
also help bring focus to your learning.  A Study Group can help you
identify, analyze, and verbalize problems.  It often offers new perspectives
and provides an opportunity to learn from your peers.  It is important,
of course, to pick potential members with care. Chaos multiplies faster
than order and discipline.  Study Groups can be an opportunity to
avoid work in favor of unfocused fun.  You may do better by yourself
in a closet.  Arguably, the best advice for a serious student is to
read a few hundred carefully selected books.  An orgy of reading 30
or 40 first-rate books in a month ranks at the top of the usual list of
human pleasures.  If you wish, as an undergraduate, you could do it. 
You have time and energy, and with luck, you have the curiosity and courage
to risk a month or two.  Read Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes,
Pascal, Voltaire, Berkeley, Hegel, Marx, and Kanetz.  Or you could
just play Frisbee on the Plaza of the Americas.  Life is choice and
there is much to learn.  Not making a choice is a choice.

10. Use Your Head; Help Yourself
to Help:  There are plenty of ways to help yourself. 
Take advantage of resources at the library and elsewhere on campus, whether
clinics for reading, writing, computing, counseling, and so on.  Use
the web, go to help sessions, see your instructor.  But in the end
it is up to you. Discover and create patterns of study that work for you.

WHAT ABOUT TESTS &
EXAMINATIONS?
Tests are one method of attempting
to gauge, assess, or measure what you have learned in a course. Doing well
on tests begins with good study habits. If you want to be a good student
take time to develop your study skills.

Before the Test

Good organization, planning, and time management are essential
to being a good student.  Start planning your semester as soon as
classes begin and study without stop until the semester is over. Other
hints: Read assignments in advance of each class, attend all lectures,
and learn to take good lecture notes.  Review your notes each day
and re-copy each night.  Review all notes for all classes each weekend.

If you develop steady study habits, regular reviews will
help you avoid cramming for exams. It will also help you avoid test anxiety
and make you more effective. Reviewing your notes on a regular basis may
seem like empty repetition. Arguably, at its best, it is a ritual for thinking,
it is an opportunity to make connections, it affords time to absorb information
and a methodically means for reflecting on what it all means. Read difficult
stuff two, three, or more times until you understand the material. 
If you understand the material you can explain it to Mom or a stranger,
to the resident specialist or the village idiot.  If you are having
problems, get help immediately. Meet with your instructor after class,
find an alternate text to supplement required readings, or hire a tutor.

Review, Repeat, Review, Repeat, Review
… {You Get the Idea}

Plan Your Entire Semester in Advance: 
Make sure you understand the ‘Big Picture’ for the semester and plan each
course with this in mind.  This involves mid-terms, major projects,
papers, and final exam schedules.  With the Big Picture in mind taylor
your weekly and daily schedule accordingly.

Daily Reviews: Conduct
short reviews of lecture notes before and after class. Begin reviewing
after your first day of class.  Re-copy your lecture notes each evening
as a study exercise. Review all of your notes for each class every weekend.

Weekly Reviews: Dedicate
at least one afternoon or entire evening during the weekend to review all
of your courses.  Make certain you have an understanding of where
each course is going and that your study schedule is appropriate. 
Do the 4×6 thing:  One card for each chapter.  Then ask yourself
how each chapter relates to other chapters, and then, how the readings
relate to each of the lectures. Are there contradictions? Differences of
opinion, approach, method? What evidence is there to support the differences
of opinion? What are your views? Can you defend them? A good exercise.

Periodic Tactical Reviews: 
On your calendar schedule special reviews. The week before a mid-term or
final exam should be blocked out for special tactical review. If you have
kept a good daily and weekly schedule, 15-20 hours should be about right
for a mid-term, 20-30 for a final exam.  Major papers take substantially
more time and effort.

Practical Review Tools: 
Flash cards, Chapter Outlines, 4×6 Summaries: 
You need to find ways to repeat and rehearse information and ideas that
work for you.  Any number of creative tools can be used to help you
organize and remember information and make it manageable. I like 4×6 cards. 
They are sturdy, large enough to hold succinct information, and you can
scribble ideas that jog the memory. The beauty 4×6’s is that they can be
carried anywhere.  You can study them at the library, laundry, or
lavatory.  They travel on the bus, they can save you from a boring
date, they can be thrown away immediately without guilt or survive years
of faithful service.

Strategic Academic Calendar &
List of ‘Things to do’:  Make a prioritized
list of everything you need to know for each course during the semester.
Link these priorities over time on your calendar.  Your list should
include a brief description of reading assignments, major ideas, skills
to master, new theories, definitions, and so forth.  If you are really
with the program, consider keeping a diary or journal of thoughts, problems,
and how your concerns develop over time.

How About a Study Group?

Developing a study group can be smart.  Such groups
allow students to combine resources, share thoughts, provoke discussion,
and to make a network of support and encouragement.  If you arrange
a Study Group it should meet on a regular basis and it should be structured
around shared rules.   Select members carefully. Your group should
have serious members, ideally with different research skills, complementary
abilities, and creative perspectives.  The goal is to learn from each
other and to benefit each member.  Look for strong, dedicated students,
often those who ask good questions in class and who take good notes. 
Dry nerds and goofy freaks can learn from each other; the trick is finding
common ground and establishing a forum where genuine communication takes
place.  If you have an aversion to certain intellectual and personality
types it should be a clue about yourself.  Take some risks.

How to begin? Introduce yourself after class; begin by
suggesting a one-time meeting. If the first meeting goes well, begin to
discuss group goals, meeting times, and other particulars.  Group
size should be five or six.  Give it a try.

A few warnings are in order.  Don’t use the group
as a safety net or a security blanket, don’t use it for socializing or
as an excuse to avoid study.  Groups can become a social support system
for delay and avoidance, at their worst, they underscore and solidify complacency
and ritual stupidity.  From the outset establish an agenda for each
meeting and a fixed time limit with agreed priorities.  Make a list
of the material to be reviewed; everyone should come prepared.  
The Study Group should help each member focus and develop disciplined habits. 
Follow a clear format and stick to it.  As a group you might begin
by comparing notes, or by going over the lecture outlines and major points
found in your readings.  Make sure you agree on the issues, the questions
being asked, and the basic themes.  Hobnob with your professor after
class about your agenda and the stuff you talk about.  If necessary,
ask for some suggestions.

Above all, rehearse the ‘Big Picture’ of the course, discuss
the organizational narrative (general) and the key lines of argument (specific
issues and principal forms of interpretation). You would also do well to
focus on recurring themes, questions, and central problems that seem to
link the course together.  Once you have identified these issues in
some detail you may wish to spend 30 minutes of open-ended discussion. 
Try to identify patterns and compare interpretations. How many different
ways can you view the same material? If the answers change with the perspective,
try to formulate new questions and identify the assumptions on which they
are based. Wrap-up the meeting by asking each other questions and press
hard for the best arguments and the most persuasive evidence.  If
you develop a good rapport in the group you should be able to frank, forceful,
and sometimes blunt.  Test each other.  Learn your strengths
and weaknesses, acknowledge ability, learning, and insight in others. 
Point out weaknesses by offering solutions.  Avoid cock-sure aggression
and cool coy cunning.  Life is too short for shirks and smirks.

Finally, just for fun, try to imagine what the mid-term
or final exam questions might be.  What makes a good question? What
would you ask?  Why?  Have each member propose a question each
week; then have each member critique each question. After perhaps two hours
bring the meeting to a close. Stick to agreed beginning and ending times.

Side benefits of the Study Group is learning to listen
to each other, developing verbal skills, and finding ways to agree and
disagree.  Insist that opinions be defended with sound argument and
detailed evidence.  Don’t stand for laundry lists any more than the
grand but superficial synthesis.  Importantly, the Study Group is
yours.  Make it work.

Practical Tips for Different Types
of Exams

First Things First:  First,
I want to make clear my preference for essay exams.  In my undergraduate
survey classes, I require an in-class written essay for the mid-term examination
and a take-home essay at the end of the course.  See this WebSite
for further information and suggestions.  But students often take
other types of exams elsewhere at the university.  I offer a few tips
and opinions:

Multiple Choice: 
First, make sure you know the rules of the game.  Check the instructor’s
directions to see if questions allow more than one answer.  A standard
rule is to answer each question mentally before looking at the optional
answers.  If you think you know the answer in advance it is probably
correct; if you look at the answers first you may introduce some confusion. 
Another standard practice is to skip difficult questions and return to
them later. Don’t waste time on a problem question. Simply mark it and
move on. If time permits, return to the question at the end of the period.
Finally, be clear about ground rules, and don’t guess if you are penalized
for incorrect responses.  If there is no penalty, eliminate optional
answers you judge incorrect then make your best guess.  It amuses
me that some professors continue to call these exams ‘multiple-guess.’

A few other common sense suggestions: 1)  If two
answers seem similar, except for one or two words, choose one of these
answers;  2)  If the option calls for a sentence completion,
eliminate potential answers that appear to be ungrammatical;  3) 
In general, if answers cover a wide range (10, 29, 160, 800), select a
number near the middle;  4)  From a clerical perspective (with
machine-graded tests) make sure your mark corresponds to the question. 
Double-check the test question booklet against the answer sheet, particularly
when you begin a new section in the booklet or mark at the top of a new
column on the answer sheet.  Start thinking about your GRE’s, LSAT’s,
ETC’s.

True-False:  I
understand this type of test is still given at the university level! I’m
almost speechless. From high school I recall the advice that if any part
of a true-false statement is false, the answer is must false (at least
as stated in a well-known book on testing).  Logical but not without
possible paradox.  In language land, look for key qualifiers such
as all, most, sometimes, never, or rarely. 
Questions containing absolute qualifiers such as always
or never are often false and, as common sense
suggests, they are almost always stupid.  If you are so inclined,
consider asking your instructor if such exams lead to useful learning.
If there is equivocation simply say:  ‘Excuse me, this is a true or
false question.’  If you are serious, like Voltaire, say it with a
smile.

Short Answer: 
Typically, testing of this kind asks that you provide definitions or short
descriptions, often amounting to a sentence or two.  If you find yourself
in this learning situation flash cards may help with key terms and phrases. 
Skills of this kind could get you on Quiz Show or other media displays
of synthetic genius.  No doubt future employers will also be equally
impressed with your recall, problem solving ability, sound judgment, and
communication skill.

Open Book:  Open
Book tests have always seemed rather peculiar to me. After all, if you
own the book (and the real test is finding things you don’t know in a limited
time) why learn anything at all?  In any case, if you find yourself
in this sort of learning situation, the rules of the game should be clear. 
Rather than make the material yours through study, the trick here is to
HIGHLIGHTall
the cool stuff not worth remembering.  Once your painting chore is
completed shift your intellectual focus.  Now, the night before the
Open-Book Exam, write down all the stuff you can cram into the margins
of the book.  You know, all the stuff that will be on the exam that
you won’t remember by morning.  Finally, the best practical strategy
here is to buy a couple packages of color-coded page tabs and post ’ems. 
These little gizmos will save time during the exam.  If you have been
successful in studying you will be able to find all the stuff you couldn’t
remember since the night before.  The problem, of course, it that
you will have to keep all of your books until you die.  Over the years
check them occasionally to ensure the colored tabs haven’t fallen out. 
Who knows, you may need to find something important really quick.

Essay Exams:  
By now you have guessed I favor essay exams, at least for most forms of
testing in the humanities.  Personally, I think essays should play
a larger role in informational, technical, and scientific courses. 
Essays are particularly useful in history courses.  Studying for essay
exams (and writing them under pressure) can be an important learning experience
not merely a form of testing and evaluation.  The Skinny here is that
essays force a response (not necessarily an answer) that challenges assumptions
while offering a variety of acceptable interpretations.  The assumption
of the essay is that organization, structure, and coherence add up to something
more than the various parts, something more than the factoids we associate
with information rather understanding.

As a practical matter, when you respond to an essay question,
it is important to be clear from the outset what the question seems to
require.  Take it apart.  Understand each word and its possible
meanings.  Look for loaded or ambiguous terms that may carry hidden
assumptions.  A good essay question is designed to open the field
to any number of complex possibilities.  A good essay question, carefully
taken apart, is completely stupid:  No one can answer a good question. 
Your job is to provide an informed response that demonstrates the practical
boundaries of the essay, to expose the intellectual traps that accompany
any meaningful generalization.  Your job is to bring abstract generalization
into line with concrete particular evidence marshaled with power and grace. 
You need to strut your stuff.  You need to deliver a fist in the forehead
with the skill of a brain surgeon.  Your answer (curiously) is your
business.  Your response will be judged on substance, strength, subtlety,
and seductive skill.  Any idiot can write well.  Aim to write
with simplicity and sincerity.

A good response involves taking a position on a meaningful issue
and defending it in detail with appropriate argument, evidence, and examples. 
Here the usual categories apply.  Be clear about how you are to proceed. 
Essay questions usually ask that you do one or more of the following: 
analyze, argue, compare, contrast, criticize, defend,
define, describe, discuss, enumerate, evaluate, examine, explain, illustrate,
interpret, list, outline, and summarize. It is good practice to
have a strong thesis and clearly stated objectives.  It is important
to present a clear argument with carefully marshaled evidence.  And
don’t forget.  A good essay has a beginning, middle, and end (As
elsewhere:  Tell them what you are going to tell them; then, tell
them; finally, tell them what you told them).  In my undergraduate
survey classes I usually require an in-class Mid-Term Examination {AKA: 
Blue-Book Exam}.  For guidelines, Click:   How
to Write A Blue-Book Examination.

But enough already.  You already know that studying
is what makes a student a student, that it takes continuous effort to study
effectively, and properly pursued, that studying and learning are life-long
occupations.  Be hard on yourself but equally mindful of your strengths
and your weaknesses.  Work on both.

Finally, remember learning is not a game.  There
are rules, to be sure, but you make the moves.  Never
stop learning and Always take heart. 
And, oh yes:  Always Drink your milk,
Wash behind your ears, and Never – Never – Never
take
classes with True – False tests. T

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