How To Study - Online Psych 56

   Overview

You are about to embark on an intellectual journey through the many areas of psychology, but before  you start out, I want to share with you some important information that will help guide your adventure. The following information offers some general ideas and specific tips on how to use your textbook and how to study in general.

1. Set aside sufficient time for your reading assignment and review of class notes. The textbook contains much new technical information, many principles to learn and a whole new glossary of terms that you will have to memorize. To master this material, you will need at least three hours reading time per chapter.

2. Keep a record of your study time for this course. Plot the number of hours (in half-hour intervals) you study at each reading session. Chart your time investment on a cumulative graph, one on which you add each new study time to the previous total on the left-hand axis of the graph and each study session on the base line axis. The chart will provide visual feedback of your progress and show you when you have not been hitting the books as you should.

3. Be active and space your studying. Optimal learning occurs when the learner is actively involved with the learning materials. That means reading attentively, listening to lectures mindfully, paraphrasing in your own words what you are reading or hearing, and taking good notes. For the text, underline key sections, write notes to yourself in the margins, and be sure to summarize points that you think might be included on class tests. Research in psychology tells us that it is best to space out your study, doing it regularly, rather than cramming just before tests. If you let yourself fall behind, it will be difficult to catch up during that last minute "panic time."

4. Get study-centered. Find a place with minimal distractions for studying. Reserve that place for studying, reading, and writing course assignments---and do nothing else there. Let that place-space be associated with only study activities and you will find it easier to work whenever you are seated at "your" study center.

5. Encode reading for future testing. Unlike reading magazines and watching television (which you do usually for their immediate impact), reading textbooks demands that you process the material in a special way. You must continually put the information into a suitable form (encode it) that will enable you to retrieve it when you are asked about it later on class examinations. Encoding means that you summarize key points, rehearse sections (sometimes aloud), and ask questions you want to be able to answer about the contents of a given section of a chapter as you read. You should also take my perspective, anticipating the kinds of questions I might ask and then make sure you are able to answer them. Find out the form of the test you will be given in this course---essay, multiple choice, and/or true-false. That form will affect the extent to which you focus on the big ideas and on details. Essays and fill-in ask for recall type memory, while multiple-choice and true-false tests ask for recognition-type memory. You are provided sample quizzes for this course, which will answer some of the above concerns.

6. Textbook Review. Review the outline of the chapter. It shows you the main topics to be covered, their sequence, and their relationship, giving you an overview of what is to come. The outline at the start of each chapter contains first-level and second-level headings of the major topics. The outline of all the chapters in the Table of Contents at the start of the book also includes the more detailed third and fourth level headings. The section headings indicate the structure of the chapter, and they are also convenient break points, or time-outs, for each of your study periods.

7. Jump to the end of the chapter to read the recapping or "main points" summary section. There you will find the main ideas of the chapter organized under each of the first-level headings, which will give you a clearer sense of what the chapter will be covering.

8. Skim through the chapter to get the gist of its contents. Don't stop, don't take notes, and read it as quickly as you can. Note the graphs and photographs (one hour maximum time allowed).

9. Finally, dig in and master the material by actively reading, underlining, taking notes, questioning, rehearsing, and paraphrasing as you go (two hours minimum time expected).

Adapted in part from Zimbardo, P. Psychology and Life, (13 ed.) Harper-Collins, 1997, p. xxii.

Distance Education office at Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA USA