More Than Necessary by Evelyn

More Than Necessary by Evelyn - January 2014 Scholarship Essay

Most people look for an effective study strategy that lets them absorb more information in less time. This kind of strategy leaves time for extra studying, and if you’re lucky, a slice of that legendary substance: free time. My preferred study method cuts rather drastically into my free time, because unlike other strategies, it requires me to study longer. I give myself more studying to do, rather than less.

No, I’m not crazy. I must confess that, like any other student, I detest studying, but I nevertheless love this method. It is engaging and provides excellent results. This is how it works:

It starts with the class lecture. The teacher may hand out a study guide or use a power point, but no matter how the lesson is presented, I write down the topic and few details that were emphasized during class. It doesn’t take more than ten words and five minutes.

When study time rolls around, I get on the internet and google the topic, which could be anything from modern styles of dance to the historical background of Shakespeare’s plays. Say I’m working on Shakespeare. I might find a wiki article or an encyclopedia entry on him, follow a link to a description of Elizabethan England and read the section on theatre, which leads me back to Shakespeare again. Then I’ll watch an excerpt from Hamlet on YouTube, and a commenter will let me know that Shakespeare has a facebook profile. After that I might search out a scholarly article on Elizabethan theatre or a literary review of Hamlet on a database somewhere. Finally, I do the same thing for each subtopic I wrote down: historical setting, rival playwrights, and theatre traditions.

By this time three hours have gone by and I know a general outline of Shakespeare’s life; I’m familiar with one of his tragedies; I’ve discovered a juicy conspiracy theory that a playwright named Christopher Marlowe is the real author of several of Shakespeare’s plays; I’ve found out that the phrase “break a leg” has its origins in audience drool; I still don’t know why it is bad luck to say Macbeth in a theatre; and all of my information is nestled comfortably in a general background knowledge of Elizabethan England. I know way more information than my teacher will ever require.

This is useful because in class, the teacher will give only a few examples of any given topic, and can spend only a few minutes on the main concepts. Because of my extra research, I have a dozen examples (and I’m bound to remember at least one of them for the test) and I have better understanding of the important concepts and how they fit within the bigger picture. When I get to the essay question at the very end of the test, I can write about why Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, rather than lamely summarize the brief information in the study guide. The result is an A plus test, and more importantly, a real knowledge of the topic.