Midterm Study Skills

Many people approach studying from a passive standpoint. They read their textbook, attend lectures, and even go over their notes, however, they do nothing with the information. Instead they are passive learners. Effective learners tend to re-organize the information in a way that makes sense to them, and have learned to become active learners.

Ways to improve concentration and become an active learner:

1. Create a quiet, comfortable and well-lit study environment.

2. Study the same subject, at the same time, in the same location. This gets your body and mind into a routine that makes it easier to "get into" studying.

3. Make a list of what you need to study each day, prioritize and set times for each task.

4. Make notes on what you are studying and rearrange the information in some way:

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  Make a diagram to get the "big picture" of what you are studying.
  
  
  
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  If you are reading text, draw pictures of what you are learning.
  
  
  
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  If you are learning from pictures (such as anatomy class), write down what you are learning in paragraph form.
  
  
  

5. Make an association with something you already know. For instance, a "cat ion" (in chemistry) has a positive charge, if you like cats, you can associate the positive charge with your feelings about cats.

6. Learn more than you have to about any given subject. If you are unsure of your understanding of something from class, try looking it up on the Internet.

7. Make flashcards. Be sure to shuffle them to change the order, and when you feel confident that you know the material on the flashcards, turn them over to see if you can come up with the information on the front side of each card.