Three Steps to an Effective Study Arsenal by Cheryl

Three Steps to an Effective Study Arsenal by Cheryl - January 2014 Scholarship Essay

I own all of the latest gadgets that are supposed to make life easier, faster, and greener, but the notes I type in class on my Mac seem to disappear into the ether that is the Internet as soon as I put my machine to sleep. I recall very little of what I typed for the day. For me, nothing replaces the effectiveness of frantically scribbling my notes down in class and going home to decipher the day’s lessons. It is hard to discipline myself to do this at the end of a long day but the benefits outweigh late night crash-courses and bad grades because I didn’t put the time in to learn the material.

This is step one for my method of effective study. I re-copy the notes I took for the day in an organized, easy to read format. I like to use hand-drawn graphics to highlight the most pertinent information with solid blocks, squiggled arrows and puffy clouds. I never write my notes in blocks, like paragraphs or bullet points. It is really hard to decipher the topics when notes are taken this way. Instead, I group information and vary the print from all capitols for main points, to cursive for additional information, and create a code with my graphics. For example: I add solid blocks around words that have a definition, and puffy clouds around a new subject matter. Doing this reinforces the information I learned for the day.

As the test day grows closer, I read over all of my notes and transfer the information to index cards. Usually, I place a question or a word on one side and the answer on the other side and begin testing myself. I go over my index cards at least once a day, but usually I carry them with me and go through them whenever I have a few spare moments. This is step two.

A couple of days before the test, I am feeling pretty familiar with the information and give myself a practice written test. This is step three of my effective study method arsenal. I pull out my index cards with the questions and physically write out the answers. At this point, I usually only have a few questions that I may still be having difficulty with. I review those and re-test with those questions only.

The evening before the test or the morning of, depending on what time the class falls, I review the index cards one more time. This method has not failed me yet! I have great notes to save and look back on if I should ever need them again, and I give myself a chance to test before the real deal. I am currently a Sophomore at a University and still maintaining a 4.0 grade point average with this method. Happy testing!