Марти Лобдел (Marty Lobdell)Study Less, Study Smart
A guide to effective study techniques and enhanced learning.
By
Marty Lobdell
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction 5
How long can you study effectively? 7
Reinforce your study habits. 9
Create or use a study area 11
Learning mindfulness 13
Discovering the meaning 15
Deeper Processing 17
Mnemonics 19
SQ4R 23
Note taking 25
Underlining, may hurt your efforts 27
Regular Attendance 29
Study group 31
Get enough sleep 33
Conclusion 35
Introduction
I taught college success at Pierce College for nearly 20 of my 40 years at the college. I often opened the quarter by asking students, “How do you go about learning something?” They usually answered that they would read it over, and over, and over until they memorized it.
This taught me something: most students don’t know how to effectively learn school material. This is not their fault; most students have not been taught how to study. They have most likely been told to read it until they know it. They have also been told to spend more time studying and they will be an effective learner. “Seat time” is important for learning, but seat time that is not effective is a frustrating waste of time.
I also realized that students confused memorization with grasping or understanding what they studied. This was not surprising since much of elementary school involved rote memorization rather than understanding concepts.