The truth, I’m afraid, is that there is no best study technique. There is no be-all-end-all technique to replace your current studying technique forever. At the end of the day, you will still have to put nose to book, pen to paper, and mind to questions – this will not change. So who would have thought that the best study method for you, knowing that they will all contain the same core principles, is the one that fits you best? Here are some that I’ve tried out – ranked by effectiveness.
1. The Feynman Technique
Named after celebrated physicist Richard Feynman, saying you’re going to use the Feynman Technique is a fancy way of telling people you’re going to be talking to yourself for the better part of five hours.
In all seriousness, the Feynman Technique does work, since it involves breaking down complex concepts into simple, smaller components, and then explaining them all using your own words as though you were teaching someone else. Think of yourself as the teacher. How would you want to be taught this concept?
How do you do this? Well, you first have to pick a concept you want to study. Your goal is to deepen your knowledge, so write down what you already know and try to piece the puzzles together. Find any gaps between areas of knowledge and bridge them as you go along. Now, once you’ve consulted your tools, these being the internet, your textbook, other students, or your professor, try to compress all this knowledge into something that you feel a five-year-old could understand. The main point is that if you can’t explain the topic in simple terms, then you haven’t understood this concept enough… yet.
2. The SQ3R Method
The SQ3R method stands for ‘survey’, ‘question’, ‘read’, ‘recite’, and ‘review’, hence the three Rs. This method involves you not diving straight into your reading material, but rather – if we’re using the swimming analogy here – walking along the perimeter of the pool and seeing how deep it gets, if at all. Review the material you’re about to read by scanning chapter titles, subheadings, and any other important features. The idea is that you want to familiarise yourself with what you’re going to study first before delving into reading.
After familiarising yourself, you’re going to start reading. As you’re reading, and even before it, you should constantly be formulating questions in your head to keep you engaged with the material, even if the questions are answered in the next sentence you read. After you finish reading, recite the information you just consumed and put it in your own words. And for the final R, go back over the material and review your understanding.
3. The PQ4R Method
Instead of three Rs, we have four now, and these, along with the rest of the letters, stand for ‘preview’, ‘question’, ‘read’, ‘reflect’, ‘recite’, and ‘review’. The main difference between this method and the previous SQ3R method is – you guessed it – the ‘reflect’ part. Reflecting allows you to take a step back, take a break from reading, to reflect on what you’ve been learning. While you’re pondering your thoughts, you can ask yourself questions like “Why am I learning this?”, “Why is this important?”, or “How is this related to what I know already?”. You want to give yourself a chance to see the bigger picture and see why it all matters.
4. The Leitner System
Named after psychologist Sebastian Leitner, this system uses flashcards to help you retain information. You first have to get a couple of boxes, with the first box you use containing all the flashcards you haven’t memorised yet – you start with only one box filled with cards, the first box. If you get a card right, you move it to the next box, and if you get a card wrong, you move it down the hierarchy or keep it in box 1 if it’s already there.
The basic principle this system relies on is spaced repetition, with each box you have determining how much you’re studying the cards. For example, you want to be studying all the cards in your first box every day, since you don’t remember them. Your second box can be used every two days, and your third box every three, and so on. By the end of it, you’ll ideally want zero cards in your first box, indicating that you’ve at least memorised what you intended to.
5. Retrieval
Named after no one in particular, retrieval is a studying technique based on pretty much just remembering to remember at a later time. If you remember the answer to a question you failed on your last test, recalling it hours or days after your study session improves retention more than looking for the answer in your textbook. You should be retrieving this information yourself, without the use of your notes or flashcards. Just go about your day after studying, and randomly remember important concepts or questions that you’re sure will be on your exam.
6. Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique is only this low because no one ever actually adheres to it. Every student knows what it is, but that knowledge flies out the window once you’re in an actual, deep study session, and you feel as though if you stop, your flow and motivation will also fly out the window.
The concept is simple: set your timer for 25 minutes, study until the timer goes off, and take a short break of around five minutes. You’ve now done a pomodoro, and every fourth pomodoro, you take a longer, 15-30 minute break. The problem is that the exam is in a couple of days, and if you stop studying every 25 minutes, you’ll be wasting a lot of time, especially since in a lot of studies one question takes 25 minutes to complete. I’ve found that increasing the pomodoro time to an hour and then taking a 15 minute break after works better for studying, while the ‘official’ 25 minute timer plus five minute break is better for getting work done, such as writing or reading.
7. Color-coding
I’m not a big notetaker, so I’ll only put it this low because this doesn’t really work for me. However, every time I’ve read someone else’s notes, I tend to appreciate it when they highlight important things in different colors. However, I’ve also read notes that had practically every word on the page highlighted, which kind of defeats the purpose.
In any case, use warm colors (red and yellow) to highlight important information. Warm colors apparently increase attention and “elicit excitement and information”, though take this with a grain of salt.
8. Mind-mapping
Mind mapping is useful if you have a lot of seemingly disconnected concepts in a course and want to try to see the connections between them. However, I’ve never seen a use for it in my programme (Mechanical Engineering), so I don’t use it.
The process of mind-mapping things is related to how our brains store and retrieve information – we’re always trying to see the causality of things, how different things relate to one another. If you want to look at the bigger picture, then get straight to mind-mapping.
Hopefully, with the techniques mentioned above, you’ll avoid having to spend all-nighters to study for your exams. If this is the first time you’re taking university exams, then this is the perfect period to test out what works best for you. Just make sure that, on top of reading your notes, you’re also doing past exams as part of your prep. Good luck!
