Studying: SQ3R

Aside from telling students who are studying that they should use distributed practice, I tell them to use SQ3R as their studying method. SQ3R stands for: survey, question, read, recite and review.

1. Survey - Read the material through that you are studying. Think about what it means.

2. Question - Formulate questions about the materials that you need to answer before the exam.

3. Read - When you are reading, find the answers to the questions above.

4. Recite - Cover over the material you are studying, recite it from memory.

5. Review - Go back to the material and see what you have missed.

This cycle should take no longer than 45 min. - 1 hour. You should, following distributed practice, then take an extended break. If you want to remember what you're studying, you are better to organize several short study periods over a week in which you study. The reason that cramming is not efficient is because the objective of studying is to get the information from your short-term memory into your long-term memory. This can't be accomplished by cramming.

What I'm saying here is, use SQ3R as your overall study strategy. If you want to take a last minute look at your textbook to review it, that's not a problem. The important thing you need to remember is that you should go into the exam room, calm and confident. That last minute look is fine, as long as you have the backlog of information in your memory from repeated study and consistent review. I hope this has been helpful.

KB

A Hiatus for this Blog until March 31, 2011

Hi, for the last few months, I've been struggling very hard to write these posts. The main reason has to do with a serious problem with my back. This issue has been dealt with by major spinal surgery two weeks ago. However, I'm still struggling just to keep up with my emails from all my students. The operation, which I wish to say was 100% successful, means that I need to spend more time taking care of myself so that I can heal. That is, I need to do therapeutic exercises in a warm pool every week to strengthen my back as well as gentle walking. In order to facilitate my healing, I'm taking some time off this blog so that I can focus on healing. As I say, I'm not taking any time off my teaching obligations. When I come back to write this blog, I was hoping that students might post suggestions for posts and topics of interest. I will endeavour to help students with these requests in every way possible. As usual, you can contact me through my email at the University of Leicester if you have any urgent inquires before March 31st.

KB