I recently had the pleasure of working with a student on her preparation for the AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 tests. As part of my own preparation for working with her, I spent many hours with two review books, my own notes, and the internet to polish my physics knowledge. I thought it might be helpful to share with other students what my study process looks like.
* Work the practice problems.
You probably have practice problems available to you, whether from your teacher or a test prep book. Do the practice problems, using all the resources that you have available. For some classes, you might be looking up information as you go. This is okay! Take note of what you are looking up. When I work with students, especially for online tutoring, I'll leave all the web pages open and then send my student the links afterward. That way, we both have a record of the resources we used during our session.
* Compile the topics and concepts on which you need more information and/or practice.
Sometimes it will become clear to me that I just don't know enough about a topic to explain it well to a student. I make lists of these topics so I can study them in depth later.
Work-wise, I tend to be in one of two modes: produce or learn. When I'm in my productive mode, my preference is to knock out as much of the task as I can. If I were a student, I would want to complete as much of the assignment as I could. Then (perhaps later) I would shift into learning mode to study and think about the things that I didn't understand. This strategy has a lot to do with how my brain and energy levels work. The important thing is to not lose track of the material that needs more attention, even if you can't get to it right away.
* Do a deep dive on the material you need to better understand.
I love nothing more than to do a deep dive to learn more information! My favorite resources for independent study are:
- trustworthy websites
- textbooks and test prep books
- Khan Academy
I use practice questions as my touchstone for the deep dive. If I can answer those questions confidently, with good information to justify my answer, then I have completed my task. If I'm having a good time while learning about something, I might go deeper just for fun. But I'm always keeping an eye toward being able to help my students. The deeper my knowledge is, the more I can offer them as a tutor.
What do I during my deep dive? Sometimes I'll just read and think. I might watch a video or several videos. I take notes. I ask myself questions. Since I enjoy learning so much, I don't mind if this process is a bit meandering. If I'm crunched for time, though, I'll just stay focused on trying to answer the practice questions.
The more crunched for time you are, the more you'll have to take a triage approach to studying. You'll want to focus on getting as much done as you can, and you might have to limit how much time you spend on a deep dive. This is okay! Gradewise, it might mean you get a B instead of an A, or a C instead of a B. This is life--it's messy and imperfect. We all have seasons of life during which we have to triage our to-do list and know that we did the best we could. But even if you are taking a triage approach, I'd still recommend making notes about the material you didn't understand. You might be able to get the information you need directly from your professor, a tutor, or a review session.
* Ask a trusted source for help.
I'm a former academic married to another STEM tutor. So I have a lot of people in my life who can answer questions for me. My own approach is to answer questions as best I can on my own, then enlist help from other people. I think this a great way to approach tutoring if you hire someone or get free tutoring from a trusted person.
* Revisit challenging practice problems.
This one is self-explanatory. It's worth it to retest yourself to see if you have truly learned the material. Are there any parts you are still stumbling over? Is there anything new that you realize you need to know?
* Write up a study guide for yourself.
This is one of my absolute favorite study tips. It's so empowering to create this resource for yourself. If you could use a study guide on a test (maybe in an open-notes situation), what would you include? Which equations, concepts, and diagrams would you want to have available? Are there any pieces of information that you tend to forget or find confusing? Write it all down. I created a study guide for my AP physics student to summarize what I thought was the most important information from the topics that we reviewed together. I plan to expand that study guide to cover all the topics on the AP Physics 1 and 2 tests, mostly so I can continue to improve and refine my approach to physics tutoring.
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Those are my study tips: practical, thorough, detail-oriented, with an eye toward the big picture. What are your favorite study tips?
Image courtesy of Avel Chuklanov via Unsplash.
