What Would Be a More Effective Way of Studying Besides Reading My Notes and the Book?

There are several approaches to studying that work variously well for different students.


Most people have an attention span of about 20 minutes. Quite often, students decide to study their notes all at once and this normally takes more time than the 20 minute attention span. Because of this, it is common that the beginning of one's notes is well learned but the middle and last parts are poorly learned. One way to avoid this is to break up your study session into 15-20 minute sessions.

I have provided you with a set of study questions and review guide of important terms. You should highlight these in your notes - or- develop an independent series of definitions and notes from which you can study. These should supplement your class notes which, in an ideal world, should be supplemented by your readings.

Another way in which studying becomes most effective is if you condense your entire set of notes to the essentials (nouns, verbs, adjectives) leaving out the unnecessary verbiage we normally associate with reading. These words are what really take up your study time. If you can condense your notes into 5-6 pages, you can study these in 15-20 minutes. Your notes should be condensed 3-4 days BEFORE the examination, and then each day before the exam you need to read this 'Reader's Digest©' version at least 3 times (45-60 minutes/day, but a repetition of 3x). It the repetition of seeing the material that allows you to learn it. By condensing your notes and following this strict discipline (just like an athlete), you will study your notes 10 times (!!) in 4 days using only 4-5 hours of your time. If you were to read your unabridged notes, you might spend 4-5 hours but see the material only 2-3 times.

BUT, and I reiterate BUT, this takes a concerted effort on your part to be disciplined. You can't put this off until tomorrow, because tomorrow results in the loss of study time.

Once you've condensed your notes you can study them:

animated book
  • once in the morning (between classes or at breakfast),
  • once in the afternoon (before dinner), and
  • once in the evening (before bedtime).

The point of the exercise is to read them many times because after the 4th or 5th reading you'll now be so familiar with the information that it will be second-hand knowledge. When you are intimately familiar with information then you can use it to your advantage. If you are vaguely familiar, hoping to recognize a correct answer on a multiple choice test because you somehow recollect the name/concept/etc., you're bound to do poorly.

When our athletic teams take the field, we expect them to be competitive. Their success is based upon many, many long hours of "training" and repetition. The constant repetition, day after day, results in the competitive edge necessary to win. The SAME is true for success in an academic climate. It is possible to be truly successful if you decide to begin learning the material the night before the exam. It is not possible to be truly successful if you decide to read the assigned chapters the night before an exam. The same dedication to "training" is necessary when you are a participant -- either participating as an athlete in an athletic program or as a student in an academic program.

Study is the key to success, but you don't have to torture yourself to do this. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me back or stop in my office anytime. As I told the class in the beginning of the semester, my office door is always open. I'm in shortly after 8 am and usually leave between 5:30-6:00 pm. I'm available (except for times I'm in class) for about 9 hours per day.

© Copyright 1997-2006 by Robert A. Gastaldo. All rights reserved. No part of these lecture notes may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

GE142 Syllabus