Have you highlighted, took notes while studying for an exam and then later re-reading those notes you took? I’m sure you did. It is by far the most common studying technique used extensively by students worldwide but what if I told you that these three are by far the most popular yet the most ineffective techniques for studying?

Studies have proved that students love re-reading their notes and is by far the most common way of revising for an exam. It plays a big part in a student’s exam preparation strategy. But the question is this method really effective? The answer is it does work but as compared to the other methods, it is not the most effective techniques to exist.

Now let’s talk about highlighting. Either we highlight ourselves or we know people who like to highlight their textbooks and notes with pretty colors. It can work well for aesthetics but it is not an efficient tactic to study. Highlighting does not yield high benefits and is rather distracting since you would want to just highlight every random thing and then at the end all the information would be too much to take in and learn. If you still want to keep highlighting, you should just find out effective ways to highlight.

Now lets talk about summarizing and making notes which again is a very popular technique. Evidence around this technique being effective is a bit equivocal. There are some studies that show that students who do summarizing well perform slightly better in exams than the others but it is actually quite hard to test this since the quality of the notes varies massively between every student so this makes it actually quite hard to really test a rigorous scientific evidence. If you are one of those who can effectively summarize your notes and are scoring good grades, you can check out our glass whiteboards Melbourne.

Active recall has been proven by studies to show maximum results. Active recall engages your brain since you have to jog your memory to try and remember all the things you have learnt on your own.

To use active recall on a day to day basis to get good grades, you can use these tips:

• Before learning something, take a small quiz on our glass whiteboards, so that you know where you stand and how much you already remember regarding the test.
• When being exposed to learning material for the first time, stop after every section or idea and close your book and if you are listening to a recorded lecture, pause the video and recite to yourself what you just learned in your own words or if you feel like writing works better for you, write on our own glass whiteboards to retain all the information.
• You can also write questions while you are in class so that you answer them later.

 

Our glass whiteboards would work like a dream for your active recall, check out our websites and you can even give us a call.