Study Skills Resources

Written by Megan Dorsey on October 29, 2020. Posted in Academic Success, College Prep Podcast.

HERE.] If you want to try before you buy, she has a free preview [HERE.] Click on the episode titles to hear them from our website or look them up on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find “The College Prep Podcast” on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and most common podcasting sites. 203: Don’t Overlook These Seven Surprising Study Techniques Sometimes small study tweaks can make a difference. In this episode, Gretchen outlines seven small study techniques that can are easy to integrate into your homework time, and can help you be better prepped for tests. We’re listing them here, though you’ll want to tune in to understand exactly how to integrate them into your study routine. They are:

Take 3-minutes to quiz yourself before every assignment.
Don’t use Google Translate to do your language homework, but do use it to assess yourself after you’re done
Eliminate silly mistakes on math tests by doing a “speed practice” when doing homework
Check your homework every night using www.slader.com
Use blue tape to put flashcards up around your house, so that you can study when you’re walking to and from different rooms
Draw a picture next to information that you’re having trouble remembering
Make a quizzable study tool before each chapter test and save those tools for the final.

252: Two Straightforward Steps to Taking Great Notes Too often educators teach specific note taking strategies like Cornell Notes without teaching students WHY they work. Tune in to hear Gretchen outline a straightforward approach to helping take better notes. Specifically, she discusses:

Review the Study Cycle, which summarizes the three steps the brain needs to learn
Understand where good note taking fits into the Study Cycle (hint: encoding!)
Discuss the two steps to note-taking
Learn tips for how to put each of these steps into practice.

At one point in this episode, Gretchen references the excellent graphic organizers at www.ThinkingMaps.com. 256: 6+ Ways to Study for Tests in Five Minute Bursts Students often worry that studying effectively for tests will take more time than they have! In this episode, Gretchen takes a deep dive into retrieval practice, which is arguably the most important things students can do when studying. Specifically she explores simple ways to do retrieval practice:

Before class or reading,
Right after class,
While you are doing already assigned pieces of homework
In addition to your homework

292: 15+ Anti-Boring Ways to Study for Exams Study Smorgasbord! Gretchen lists more than 15 anti-boring strategies students can choose from as they prepare for exams, to make sure that they’re practicing retrieval and encoding in new ways. Tune in to learn:

The 3 most important steps any student needs to take in order to study effectively
6+ ways to teach yourself information that you don’t already know
9+ ways to quiz yourself to see what you know and don’t know
How to save time by doing both at the same time, picking encoding practices that also serve as retrieval practices.

194: Research Reveals the Three Best Ways to Teach, Learn, and Study What does research teach us about the best ways for teachers to teach and students to study? Guest experts Yana Weinstein and Megan Sumeracki, otherwise known as The Learning Scientists, school us on what research shows is is the best ways to learn, including some surprising myths about what doesn’t work. Together with Gretchen and Megan, they discuss:

The hilarious way that the Learning Scientists podcast got started
Stories from the classroom of what students at the college level struggle with in regards to learning
The three most effective strategies for learning, based on a research study from the NCTQ, which include retrieval, spaced practice, and dual coding.
Why intuition is sometimes misleading when someone is trying to figure out how to study
And more!

Here is the link for a cool way to use flashcards to do elaborative interrogation, which was mentioned at the end of the episode. 320: Help Students Rely Less on Nagging and More On Themselves In this mini-episode (11 minutes) Gretchen shares one of her favorite ways to get students to start thinking about reminder systems. This includes a brainstorm where you guide students through the following:

Make a list of ways they can remind themselves to follow through on tasks
Discuss the pros of each reminder system, thinking through what kinds of reminders they might work for
Discuss the cons of each reminder system, thinking through what kinds of reminders this system might NOT work for

The rest of the newsletter focuses on ACT and SAT issues for this school year. If you don’t have a current junior, you can skip the rest.]]>