The Best Way to Study

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Hey, person reading this!

I’ve decided to take a break from intensive research for this “blog,” as it is almost winter break, at least where I am. This is actually an excuse for me to study/review for tests, and also for me to test out how a more informal/image-based format would work for my project.

Some Context: Currently, I’m on Unit 8 of AP Psychology, which is about Memory.

The Testing Effect

According to my psychology text book, the best way to nearly permanently etch these funky concepts into your slimy brain is to distribute your time. I know it sounds very obvious, but again, obvious is different from comprehensible. Everyone probably knows that the satisfaction of cramming is but a falsehood that will raze your sleep schedule to mere ruins. And sleep is important. In fact, it is essential to your memory. Although you may ace a test after staying up at ungodly hours that even dawn herself would be afraid to touch, that information is encoded and stored into your short term memory. Ah, yes, short term memory; it may seem vast at a glance, but even a mere second could erase it without remorse. Not even a smudge would be left.

The Testing Effect simply states that repeatedly reviewing your material (aka testing yourself) will help effectively retain information. However, rereading your notes or underlining may not help as much as testing your actual recall; the measure of memory in which you retrieve information (like on a fill in the blank test).

Advice From a Hypocrite

1. Sleep. If you can’t sleep, try to at least keep your schedule consistent. It’s always better to sleep.

2. Write the basic gist of concepts you have trouble with on an index card and review it. “Chunking” your information makes it more manageable to remember (e.g., “box, car, cat, dog” is easier to remember than “xcaobcraodgt”). I usually struggle with studying because the information is spread out on multiple docs/pages, so it feels nice to have it all in the palm of your hand. You don’t have to do an index card if that’s too small, just whatever works for you.

3. Talk in a funny voice and act like you’re explaining the concept to an imaginary audience. This isn’t very hard for me to do, because I constantly hear my voice in my head and like to hear myself. It also makes things more fun for me personally. If you get stuck you can just look at your notes again, and treat it like some script you can loosely follow.

4. Resist that urge you get when you start getting into the groove of studying and feel like a machine whiz who can do anything and everything and then suddenly it’s 2 am. Time may be an illusion, but you’re body sure isn’t. I don’t care if we’re living in a simulation and it turns out everything isn’t real, because reality is subjective and you control it and it’s telling you to go to sleep. Now go to sleep.

5. Finish studying an hour before you go to sleep, so as to prevent retroactive interference (a disruptive effect in which new learning interferes with recalling previous information). This minimizes the chance of interfering events occuring.

Thank you for reading this, person I don’t know, and I hope to “see” you next month!





Sources Cited

(2014, January 12). Youtube. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Np8PJDGq_A.

Meyers, D. G., & Dewall, C. N. (2017). Psychology (12th ed.). Worth Publishers.