Be Patient

 

Times are tough, so I thought I would share a little poetry here to lighten the mood. One of my absolute favorite quotes about learning and love is from Rainer Maria Rilke, and it goes like this:

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

Live the questions now.

Farewell, 2021.

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Source: The Marginalian

Photo: Michael Fenton via unsplash

Memorization: My Best Tips and Tricks

High school and college students often need to memorize a lot of material. Personally, I would love it if every student could use a sheet of notes on every quiz or test. I believe American education tends to emphasize memorization a little too much; we could stand to shift our priorities a little more toward applying knowledge and critical thinking.

But in the absence of giving students that option, I have a toolbox of tips and tricks to make memorization a little less painful. Many of my tips focus on figuring out what you already have memorized and therefore don't need to spend extra time studying. Don't waste time "memorizing" things you already know!

In this post, I'll describe the strategies that help me memorize material, which is useful to me as a tutor. I'm also going to muse about the neuroscience that may explain the technique, drawing on my background as a PhD in neuroscience and my on-going studies in learning and education.

* Include Equations and Other Relevant Details when Doing Your Homework

This tip may seem very obvious, but many of my students skip this important step. Write down your equations when you are working practice problems. This will help you memorize the equations in the context in which they are used. You could also add details about which concepts or other information you are using in your work. Adding information will build a mental framework in which equations and concepts are woven together rather than being separate pieces of information. Part of how our memory works is with association: thinking about A reminds me of B and C. On a test, it will be useful if you remember A, B, and C as part of a cluster of information.

Write down your work. Include equations, units, and any algebra used to solve the equation. Do it even if your teacher lets you get away with showing little or no work.

* Mind Map

I've written about mind maps before. I still think they are a great study tool! Basically, you give yourself a big sheet of paper or a whiteboard to brainstorm ideas and connections for the material you are studying. You can include diagrams, equations, drawings, and text--anything, really, that you think is important or relevant.

After you've created your mind map, take a moment to think about what's missing. Was there anything you wanted to include but couldn't remember all the details? Those missing pieces of information tell you what you should deliberately study in order to memorize them.

* Prepare a "Cheatsheet"

You might not be able to use this cheatsheet on your quiz or exam, but it's still a great tool for exam review. The idea here is to write out the cheatsheet that you would want to have for the exam. The practice of writing things out will show you what you need to memorize and thus streamline the time you spend actively memorizing things.

For the cheatsheet, I'd recommend using your class notes and other resources. Then go through it and ask yourself: what information is here that I don't have memorized? What data would I struggle to reproduce from scratch?

* Do Extra Practice

When you prepare for an exam, do you ever seek out extra practice? Some teachers and professors will provide extra practice questions or even full-length practice exams. For some courses, there is a lot of practice material available online; I frequently recommend Khan Academy to my math students for extra practice.

Doing extra practice, even just a little bit, can strengthen your skills and boost your confidence before your exam. If you practice using only the resources that will be allowed on your exam, you'll discover what you need to have memorized. 

* Write Your Own Practice Problems

The beauty of this tip is that it asks you to spend time with this material in a new way. You aren't answering questions; you are asking them! In learning, it can be useful to look at things from a different perspective. The novelty of it will strengthen your understanding of the material. For extra practice, you can write out your own answers as well. (And quiz yourself: can you answer your own questions without looking at the course materials?)    

* Quiz a Friend or Have a Friend Quiz You

This tip is pretty self-explanatory. You and your friend can make the questions as easy or as hard as you want. You can make it timed so you can practice your speed. Hearing your friend's questions may help you identify areas of weakness in your own understanding of the material (and vice versa for them).

In general, I am a big fan of having study buddies as long as you know you can get some work done. But be honest with yourself about whether the time spent with a friend is for fun/pleasure or to get schoolwork done.

* On the Exam: Immediately Write Down Your Memorized Information

This is a tip I discovered in college when I was taking either organic chemistry or biochemistry. If you are nervous or anxious about remembering a lot of information for a test, you can start the test by writing down everything you have memorized. Do this before you start answering questions so you are less likely to lose any details. I think this is a great way to "download" your brain before you have to dig into a challenging exam. You'll free up your working memory to focus on the questions rather than trying to hold onto whatever you studied.

OTHER TIPS

I wanted to add a few more tips that I think can be useful. They aren't my preferred strategies, but they might work well for you.

* Flashcards

Lots of people love flashcards to drill themselves on basic information for a class. They're convenient too, as you can review your flashcards several times a day to use repetition to build your memory.

* Rewrite Your Notes

This strategy is pretty self-explanatory. I think it can be useful to find ways of explaining the material in your own words or with your own edits (perhaps adding additional material like acronyms, new connections you have made, etc.). For me, the cheatsheet I described above is like a condensed version of my notes.

I've been getting into making new note sets for some of my core tutoring subjects, like chemistry and physics. It's fun for me because I enjoy learning. Over the long run, all the efforts I have put into studying have made me more effective at this work. My hope is that the same is true for you when it comes to your academic performance.

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What are your favorite strategies for memorization? Did I miss any good ones?

Image courtesy of Green Chameleon via Unsplash.

How I Actually Study: My Best Tips and Tricks

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.