What Studying is to Me by Kayla

What Studying is to Me by Kayla - January 2014 Scholarship Essay

I can recall one time where an unconventional study method worked extremely well for me. After studying and receiving my A in a very difficult course, I continued to study in a similar way all throughout high school.

I discovered this study method during my sophomore year of high school. My best friend and I were trying to cram all of the knowledge needed for an exam in three days. It was a very conceptual test so we decided to try the use flashcards. After repeatedly asking each other for the definition and significance of each word on the cards, we both concluded that there were some words that were easy to remember and some words that I cannot even remember the definition to at this moment. There had to be some way of shoving the facts into our minds and keeping them there just long enough to remember them for the exam. I don’t know if it was the insanity of the repetition of the flashcards or the fact that it was already approaching one A.M. but all of a sudden my friend snapped. She had currently been asking me the significance of a certain phrase and even though we had gone over it multiple times, I still couldn’t remember. She then stood up and shouted the phrase in my face. At first I was taken aback, but then it came to me. For some unknown reason, I was able to recall the significance almost word for word on the back of the card. After that we just laughed and laughed at how something so simple and silly could actually work. We then shouted each word at each other that we couldn’t seem to remember and it worked. It was almost as though the shouting and laughing relieved the tension we were both feeling. After two more days of helping each other study with the flashcards, we took the test. Both of us had received an A on the exam and consequently an A for the course.

Now, the study method wasn’t the shouting between us. It was what the shouting had evoked in us. It was a combination of using the flashcards and working together. The cards are currently my best study method because the repetition of facts really does work for me. What working with my friend did was relieve stress and help me to concentrate more. Nothing is harder for me than to study for a really hard test while all I can think about is how stressed out I am and how difficult it’s going to be. What I realized is studying with a friend is a great thing to do because you both have a common goal and can work together to reach it. Relieving the stress allowed us to focus solely on what we were doing and nothing else. My study method has benefited me because it is tool that I have used ever since. I use flashcards on almost all exams and I generally do better if I have someone to study with. I believe the method has been academically effective overall because I am now graduating in the top 10% of my class with a 3.97 GPA.