UCLA psychology professors offer advice on smarter studying
By Shoshee Jau
Feb. 4, 2010 10:36 p.m.
For third-year political science student Jesse Richardson, studying for midterms involves creating pages of study guides a week ahead, along with eating a hearty breakfast and sleeping at least eight hours the night before.
“I’m pretty good about my studious activities,” he said.
According to Phil Kellman, cognitive psychology professor, the goal of studying is to retain information and apply it in various contexts. While it is important to score well on a test, students should focus on learning the material as substantially as possible.
“It is important to make a distinction between studying for a midterm and learning material for the long-term,” Kellman said. “Students tend to emphasize tests and procedures, reducing the material to a level of meaninglessness.”
In order for students to commit material to long-term memory, they should space out their studying over extended periods of time. Rather than cramming in all the information, students should intersperse periods of rest with periods of work, said David Stahlman, learning and behavioral psychology professor.
“It is ideal to space out your study sessions at increasing intervals,” Stahlman said. “You study your information and take a short break, and then you study some more and take a longer break, increasing the length of your break each time.”
When reviewing course material, students should not limit themselves to their textbooks and lecture notes. Looking at material from different sources and recognizing patterns in various contexts allow for a longer-lasting retention of material, Kellman said.
“The problem with memorizing facts is that in real life, it never happens that way,” Kellman said. “Students should look at as many different examples and identify underlying patterns. It may be confusing to learn, but it’s more effective in the long run and in the real world.”
Though some students usually cram for their midterms one subject at a time, studying various subjects at the same time proves more effective, said Ladan Shams, cognitive psychology and behavioral neuroscience, professor. While subjects of dissimilar natures should be mixed and interwoven with one another, subjects that contain greater content overlap may confuse when studied together, she said.
“If you are trying to learn two related concepts, it may be easier to learn each separately. But if you learn them simultaneously, the learning may be more robust, and you may be able to apply it more generally,” she said.
A student’s study environment can have a significant impact as well. Because students tend to associate the material they study with their surroundings, switching study areas often produces more effective results, Stahlman said.
“You associate some level the info you’re studying with the context that you’re in, and the more rooms and the more context you find yourself in, the more generalized that behavior or recall that becomes,” he said.
As a result, “good-luck charms” may aid students in remembering information during exams, provided the objects are constantly present in a student’s study environment, Stahlman said.
“There’s evidence that suggests that if you have an item with you that is consistent across study sessions, if you bring that with you to an exam, it can potentially help your exam scores,” he said. “The item might help you recall some of the information that you’ve studied.”
However, one of the best ways to improve memory for an exam is through sleep, which can help synthesize and sort information, preparing it for a longer retention period, Shams said.
“Even a 10 to 20 minute nap may have a very important benefit to learning,” she said.
A popular study strategy on campus, study groups can be an asset to students who have studied alone prior to the group session, which should be primarily dedicated to review and synthesis, Stahlman said.
Students view study groups both as potential distractions and as study aids.
“I feel like if you show up to a study group and you don’t have an idea of what’s going to be on the test and you haven’t studied already, you’re probably not going to retain too much material,” Richardson said. “I’m usually the one speaking, and when I explain it to someone else, it helps me retain the information.”
As for music while studying, unfamiliar songs or songs with lyrics may hurt more than help. And, contrary to popular opinion, classical pieces by Mozart do not stimulate the mind any more than other music genres, Stahlman said.
“If you’re listening to an album that you’ve listened to a thousand times before, then that would not have as much of an impact on your studying because of something called habituation, in which you basically learn to tune out things that are familiar to you,” he said.
First-year biology student Aracely Diaz agrees.
“If I listen to music, it has to be music without lyrics, or else I find myself singing along and not concentrating,” she said.
Going into the test, students should, above all, work to maintain a calm attitude. According to Stahlman, students who are stressed, nervous or under pressure tend to make careless mistakes and forget information they actually know.
“My personal rule in college is to not study for the 24 hours prior to an exam,” he said. “There’s a certain point at which additional studying is no longer useful, and it becomes a matter of recalling the information you’ve learned.”
