White Boards, Markers and Flash Cards, Oh My! Studying at Kansas by Thomas

White Boards, Markers and Flash Cards, Oh My! Studying at Kansas by Thomas - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” So says Dorothy in “The Wizard Oz” as she travels through Kansas. But for this Kansas college student, traveling the path to college success means white boards, markers and flash cards. These are in my arsenal of study supplies--but they never used to be.

These essential studying tools are new “finds” for me. And they trigger my one piece of advice that I have for an incoming high school freshman: “Forget everything you know about learning from your former grades in school and try new methods of learning to produce the results you want.”

“New methods?” an incoming high school freshman may ask. “How do you come up with these?”

As part of experimenting with new learning methods, incoming freshmen should research what methods effective students use to succeed in academics. Personally, I researched new approaches to learning on the Internet and found techniques that I put into practice and that work for me.

New procedures and ways to study for me that have proven the most beneficial in learning, as hinted about earlier, include using a white board. I write the answers to questions on the white board and then erase the answers. Once the correct answer is known, I move on to the next question and again write down the answer. By writing on the white board, I retain more memory of the answer than simply reciting it out loud. This technique has merited great recall and high scores on examinations.

Another method that works well for me is writing out flash cards. Although preparing 300 or more flash cards on terms in biology is painstaking, by writing down the vocabulary, it helps with recall. The flash cards then can be used to go over and over terms until they are known.

With each year in school, courses move faster than in previous years in school. Because of this, I realized that I needed to kick up studying. I researched new methods and practiced different techniques to determine the best approaches to studying that are the most conducive to me. I figured this out on my own but want incoming freshmen who might not be thinking about new learning methods to benefit from my experiences about learning.

The white board and the flash cards are the best systems I use for learning by myself, and I have built them into routines for studying and learning. I stand by white boards, markers and flash cards, but every learner is different, and every student comes from different environments and learning backgrounds. Therefore, it is important for incoming students to examine and practice the methods that will help them with academic success.

There are methods of studying that suit each individual incoming freshman. By exploring ways to learn and gather knowledge from their education, incoming high school freshmen will realize a thriving learning environment.