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