Studying More Effectively Toolbox

At the AAC, we often hear, “I don’t know how to study.” It makes sense—college rarely teaches study skills and assumes high school prepared you. But the habits that worked in high school usually need an upgrade.

Studying is how we learn. There’s no shortcut—no flash drive for your brain or magic gum to absorb facts. It takes active, repeated effort. Research shows the more you revisit material, the better you remember it (see the Curve of Forgetting [pdf]). Studying isn’t a one-time task—it’s a cycle you keep working through to truly learn and retain information.

The Study Cycle:

Preview - Attend - Review - Study - Assess - Repeat

Preview

Good habits start before you even walk into class to learn new content. Here are some helpful things to do before every class session:

Complete any homework or prework
Review your syllabus for main topic(s) of the day
Skim new material for bold faced words, definitions, and summaries

How AI can help: You can ask AI to give you some key words or ideas to look out for during class based off the topic(s) of the day. If you have material in advance, you can even ask AI to create a note sheet or one pager based off the material.

Attend

Attending class is critical in being able to study for class. Even when attendance isn't required, there is no replacement for the learning that first happens while in class. Class is also where you get to learn what's important, how questions are usually asked, and you get to know your instructor -- all invaulable and irreplacable.

It's important that while you attend class, you also actively engage in class:

Eliminate distractions like your phone or computer.
Take good notes in whatever method works best for you.
- Note Taking Suggestions: Cornell Notes [pdf], Note Summaries [pdf], Mind Map [pdf], Doodle
Ask questions when you get confused or want to know more.

How AI can help: There are different AI assisted note-taking tools; however, there is no AI tool that can replace you in your seat and attend class for you.

Review

Immediately after class:

Identify key take-aways
Acknowledge any work due before the next class
Identify any gaps or questions you still have

The day after class:

Notice what you still remember contrary to what you've forgotten
Review notes from class to refresh yourself and clean up any mess
Develop questions that you need answered to better understand

How AI can help: Depending on your notetaking method, AI might be able to provide a summary of your notes for you and lift key ideas. Additionally, by sharing everything you do remember, you may be able to ask AI what are things you're forgetting.

Study

Studying at it's core is the repeated interaction with content to help improve recall of information and moving important information from short-term memory to long term memory. But what does studying actually look like? What are you supposed to do? And how am I supposed to know what to study?

What to spend your time studying:

Before you start to study, you have to know what to study. In the best case scenario, you are provided a study guide of everything that will be on the test. At bare minimum, you know what chunk of information you went over prior to the exam. Whatever you have, here is a helpful way to label the different sections of study material:

Green Zone
- You know this information really well.
Yellow Zone
- You almost know it but it still trips you up.
Red Zone
- You are very unsure about this stuff.

As you go about studying, you should spend about 10% of your time reinforcing your Green Zone, 60% of your time securing your Yellow Zone (turning it green), and 30% of your time stablizing your Red Zone (turning it yellow or green).

How to structure study time:

Spread out your studying time - it is better to study one hour a day for five days than for five hours the night before.
Be in a distraction-reduced area - go to the library or to a study space versus staying in your room.
Use the Pomodoro Method [pdf, online Pomodor Timer] - break up your study session into chunks with breaks in between to give your brain rest.
Become an interdisciplinary learner - using the Interleaving Technique [pdf] to help learn content better by building memory pathways between classes.

Methods to utilize while studying:

As Blooms Taxonomy [pdf or html] teaches us, there are different types of learning from Remember and Understand to Evaulate and Create. As we study, it is important that we study in ways that match how we will be assessed.

Remember (and recall information)
- Study methods:
  - Mnemonic devices [pdf], matching games, image-name association, write a song/rap, flashcards [pdf], listing/highlighting/underlining
- Common "Remember" questions:
  - Can you recall...? What is…? Can you select…? Can you list...? What happened after…? Find the meaning of…? Who did…? Can you label this diagram?
- How AI can help: Ask AI to help create mnemonic devices for certain material. Some AI might even be able to help you create flashcards and matching games for you to utilize.

Understand (and explain information)
- Study methods:
  - Rewrite notes, use a study guide, read the textbook, watch a video or listen to a podcast, do practice problems, give personal example, explain out loud
- Common "Understand" questions:
  - What is meant by…? How would you summarize…? What is the main idea of…? Why did ___ happen? Which statements support…? What facts show…?
- How AI can help: AI tools can help you summaries your notes and help identify missing information. Some AI programs can even take your notes and make them into graphics or a podcast.

Apply (and use information in new contexts)
- Study methods:
  - Make real work connections, write out steps to solving a problem, list connections between study materials, practice applying material to problems or solutions
- Common "Apply" questions:
  - How would you organize…? What facts can you use to support…? What factors would you change if…? What other way could you…? How would you use…?
- How AI can help: You can ask AI to help explore how different conceptions connect or to verify the steps you created are correct.

Analysis (and make connections between information)
- Study methods:
  - Make a concept map [pdf], outline an essay, write a lesson plan, make a “how-to" manual, explain what you got wrong, make a timeline, identify rules/theories/principles
- Common "Analysis" questions:
  - What inference can you make from…? What conclusions can you draw from…? What is the relationship between…? What concepts prove…? What do you see as an outcome of…?
- How AI can help: AI can provide essay prompts to then outline, look over lesson plans to identify issues, and to look at your "how-to" manual for mistakes.

Evaluate (and justify information and formulate opinions)
- Study methods:
  - Teach a friend, debate the topic, propose alternative solutions, create a pro/con list, rank or asses, fix errors and complete missing info
- Common "Evaluate" questions:
  - Do you agree or disagree and why? Based on the evidence, how can you explain…? What information would you use to support…? Is there a better solution to…? Elaborate on…?
- How AI can help: It may be difficult to utilize AI at this level of studying. Consider utilizing Tutoring Services or forming a study group.

Create (and produce original work)
- Study methods:
  - Literary analysis, write an essay, original research, lab work, create a study plan, present or perform, create test questions, teach others, test a hypothesis, design an experiment
- Common "Create" questions:
  - How would you create…? Can you estimate the results for…? In what way would you design…? What would happen if …? Develop a new idea using concepts. Propose a new solution for…?
- How AI can help: It may be difficult to utilize AI at this level of studying. Consider utilizing Tutoring Services or forming a study group.

Overall, how can AI help you student: As we highlighted at each level, AI can be used to assist in creating study tools and can even be used to create a 7 Day Study Plan [pdf or html] for you or help you fill it out. What AI cannot do is actually study for you. There is no way for AI to put information into your brain, that's still your job.

Assess

Assessing Study Sessions:

As you finish studying, you should take a few minutes to assess how you did studying. Consider asking yourself the following questions:

Did you stay focused and on task?
Were the methods used helpful?
Do you understand the material enough to teach it to others?

If you answered "No" to any of these questions, consider how you could change what you do next time to get to all answers being "Yes". Need help getting there? Schedule a session with an Academic Coach.

How can AI help: In assessing your study session, AI does not seem like a useful tool.

Assessing Exams:

After completing an exam, you should take time to assess how the exam itself went and how the studying you did leading up to the exam prepared you. Often times, the material covered in one exam does not go away for the next exam. Instead, the new material builds upon the old material so it is important to fill in any gaps identified by the exam. Utilize the Post-Test Analysis Tool [pdf and html] to help get a grasp of what to do differently next time.

How can AI help: You may be able to have AI review your exam and what you missed and help identify areas to study again or why you made those mistakes.

Repeat

The Study Cycle also exists as a pdf and html file.

Habits that foster better studying:

Set goals.

Establish a study routine.

Don’t procrastinate.

Turn on do not disturb.

Find the right environment for you.

Use study groups.

Establish a growth mindset.

Not seeing the results you want?

Take the Study Skills Inventory to indentify your areas of strength and growth around studying. Then bring your results to an Academic Coaching session to create an individualized plan to study better.

Take the Inventory