Study Strategies

Written on: December 19, 2018

Everybody has a different studying strategy that they’ve found has worked for them over the years. However, sometimes new classes call for new study strategies. In this post, I will present some new study strategies that you may not have thought of before:

Easy – Hard – Easy Method

This method can be used for all types of classes, from math-intensive courses to biology courses and lab-based classes. The concept is fairly simple, however this method of studying does require the most amount of time. The method looks something like this:

  1. Syllabus
  2. Study guide
  3. Youtube (optional)
  4. Notes
  5. PowerPoints
  6. Textbook (optional)
  7. Homework, quizzes, and old tests
  8. Book problems
  9. Notes
  10. Study guide
  11. Syllabus

Syllabus: Start with the most high level piece of material you own, such as the course syllabus. Look at each of the topic that will be on your test and from your memory, write down the key points and takeaways from that particular topic. This purpose of this is to give you an outline of what you know and bring to your attention of what you need to work on.

Study guide: Next, move to the study guide (if there is one). This is more detailed than the syllabus and begins to fill in the gaps of understanding with key points that the professor wants you to know. If you don’t have a study guide, you might be able to find one that a previous student has made.

YouTube: ever heard of Khan academy? They are amazing. If they don’t have what you need, then there are dozens of other YouTube channels out there that are bound to cover almost all of your 1000-2000 level courses. Having a visual and audio teacher that’s not your professor will definitely add to your visual and kinesthetic learning while you are studying. Pro tip: you can watch videos in 1.25, 1.5, or 2x speed. I learned an entire course in 1 night using this method – you can too (0/10 do not recommend)!

Notes: Next, look at your notes. Some people prefer not to take notes (more on that in another post), but if you do have notes, then look them over. Odds are, you were scrambling to write them while the professor was talking so you don’t understand all of it. Go through and solidify what you do understand, and clarify what you don’t understand. This is a good time to compare your notes with a classmate.

PowerPoints: hopefully your professor uploads PowerPoints. If they don’t, shame on them. The PPTs can oftentimes sum up the information really well, and are the next level of detail after notes. This differs across various professors of course, but generally going through the PPTs is a good idea since they usually contain the information that you need. Some students prefer to take notes directly on them by either printing them out and writing on them or annotating digitally.

Book: If you have time, read the sections of the textbook that pertain to your test. Better yet, read it before your professor covers it (time permitting). This should theoretically fill in the rest of your knowledge gaps (not necessarily your understanding gap). If you don’t have time, look through the example problems provided in the book. Usually they are very useful.

Homework, quizzes, old tests: odd are at this point in the course you’ve accumulated a bunch of other resources from your professor other than your notes. Homeworks, quizzes, and old public tests are excellent resources. Not only do they help you understand the material, but they give insight to what type of problems that professors value in their teaching. If you’re strapped for time, this is arguably one of the top priorities that you should focus on. Don’t just copy the problems again. Look at the problems and solve them on paper. If you are strapped for time, look at the problem and try to list the steps that you would take to solve them. Determine what steps to take is the most challenging part of solving engineering problems. Doing the steps is relatively simple.

Book problems: this pertains mainly to the ESM and MATH courses. Almost always, the test problems are pulled directly from the textbook. This is also where the homework problems come from. There is a reason that the professor chose those specific problems for homework. What aspect are they trying to teach you? Maybe the geometry was challenging. Maybe you had to identify some oddity in the problem. These small details are hard to catch during an exam under pressure. It’s much easier to catch these details when you are studying. My best tip is to look through the book problems and think about: what makes the problem unique? (geometry, bounds, functions, etc.), how you would start the problem by listing the first 2 steps you would take. Now when the problem comes on the test you’ll have already done the leg work! You don’t need to memorize it. It will come naturally on the exam even if you’ve seen it once.

Notes: again? really? Now that you’ve gone through the nitty gritty problems, this serves as a high level overview of the material that you should know by now. This shouldn’t take you very long (15-30 minutes) and if you don’t feel confident enough at this stage, go back to ‘PowerPoints’.

Study guide: this is very similar to notes. Go over it with a friend and make sure you touch all the bases that your professor could test. Perhaps your friends know a bit more about what’s going to be on the test than you do…

Syllabus: this is very similar to study guide and has the same purpose. You can skip this if you’re tired and worn down (aren’t we all?)

“But Scott, I don’t have enough time to do all of this!!”

You’re right. We don’t all have the luxury to spend hours upon hours studying for an exam. If I were to pick the top 3 things to look over before an exam, they would be:

Powerpoints, old problems (old tests, quizzes, homeworks), and book problems