Strategies to Improve Study Skills

Remembering Strategy

Select:

Ask the instructor what is important to remember.
If you don't understand the question, don't be afraid to ask.
Examine your class notes - underline any important information.
Read textbook assignments - take notes on important information
Study handouts - mark important information.

Remember:

Choose techniques that will help you remember.

Visualize - form a picture in your mind that will include all the important parts. The more fanciful the picture, the better. You can also try putting it in a story that's funny or somehow memorable to you.

Associate - remember by how things go together (smaller groupings are easier to remember)

Apply - remember by using information in some way

Repeat - read item, then say item, then write item. Repeat process several times.

Use mnemonic devices:

Rhyme - form a mental picture of the rhyme
Acronym/Abbreviation - form a word from the first letters of items (eg., HOMES for the five Great Lakes, FBI, NOW, AIDS)
Acronymic phrase - phrase formed by words beginning with first letter of items (eg., Very Active Cat - for blood vessels: veins, arteries, capillaries.

Review:

Reread - periodically (weekly reread materials to be remembered)

Recite - immediately recite information out loud

Rewrite - then write information in concise form (using key words and phrases)

Test Taking Tips