Study LESS Study SMART - Motivational Video on How to Study EFFECTIVELY

Summary

The transcript discusses effective study habits and common mistakes students make. It emphasizes the importance of reviewing notes immediately after class, active learning, and understanding concepts rather than memorizing facts. Environmental cues, such as using a study lamp, can help condition focus. Short, efficient study sessions with breaks are more productive than long, unfocused ones. The importance of sufficient sleep for memory retention and performance is highlighted, as sleep helps consolidate learning. The transcript also introduces the SQRRR method for reading, promoting a more structured and mindful approach to studying for better results.

Takeaways

• 📓 Effective note-taking requires expanding on notes immediately after class to retain information better.
• ⏱ Delaying review of notes by even a few hours can lead to forgetting key points.
• 💡 To test understanding, try recalling the concept in your own words after reading it.
• 🛋 Environmental cues, such as using a specific study lamp, can condition the brain to focus on studying.
• ⏳ Short, focused study sessions (30 minutes) followed by 5-minute breaks lead to higher efficiency compared to long, continuous studying.
• 🤔 Active learning, such as questioning and reciting information, improves retention over passive reading.
• 🦴 Memorizing facts without understanding the concepts behind them results in shallow learning, especially in subjects like anatomy.
• 😴 Adequate sleep is crucial for memory consolidation, especially through REM sleep, which aids long-term retention.
• 📚 The SQRRR method (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) helps structure studying by first surveying the material and raising questions.
• ⏱ Last-minute studying is less effective than consistent review and active engagement with material over time.

Q & A

What is the importance of expanding notes immediately after class?

Expanding notes immediately after class is crucial because it allows you to give depth to what you jotted down and ensures that you retain more information. Waiting too long may cause you to forget the context of your own notes.

How can you test whether you truly understand a concept from your notes?

To test your understanding, you should be able to look away from your notes and explain the concept in your own words. If you can recall and articulate the idea without looking, you likely understand it well.

Why is environmental control important for studying effectively?

Environmental control, like using a dedicated study lamp, helps train the brain to associate certain cues with focused studying. This makes studying in that environment more automatic and efficient.

Why is passive studying, such as re-reading material, considered ineffective?

Passive studying, like simply reading material over and over, is ineffective because it doesn’t actively engage your brain. Learning requires interaction with the material, such as summarizing or questioning, to truly understand and remember it.

What is the difference between learning facts and learning concepts?

Learning facts involves memorizing individual pieces of information, like the name of a bone, whereas learning concepts involves understanding how those facts interrelate or function, which leads to a deeper and more lasting comprehension.

How does lack of sleep affect learning and memory?

Lack of sleep, particularly REM sleep, prevents the brain from consolidating and storing information into long-term memory. Without adequate sleep, students often struggle to retain what they have studied, which leads to poorer performance.

What is the most common mistake students make when managing their study time?

Many students make the mistake of studying for long, uninterrupted hours, thinking they are being productive, when in reality, their efficiency drops dramatically after about 30 minutes. Taking regular breaks helps maintain high study efficiency.

What is the psychological principle behind effective studying and taking breaks?

Effective studying is based on reinforcement. Activities that are rewarding, like taking short breaks after studying, make students more likely to continue. Without breaks, prolonged study sessions become punishing, leading to frustration and burnout.

What is the SQRRR method and how does it help in studying?

The SQRRR method stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. It encourages active engagement with the material by first surveying it, raising questions, then reading, reciting information aloud, and finally reviewing to solidify understanding.

Why is cramming right before a test less effective than spaced-out study sessions?

Cramming before a test leads to information overload and fatigue, which diminishes retention and performance. Spaced-out study sessions allow for better retention, understanding, and the ability to review and reinforce material more effectively.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Effective Study Habits and Note-Taking Strategies

This paragraph discusses the importance of effective study habits and note-taking. It emphasizes that merely telling students to study more can be counterproductive. The key is to engage actively with the material, starting immediately after class by expanding on notes. It highlights the importance of understanding concepts rather than just memorizing facts and encourages using environmental cues, like a specific study lamp, to create a focused study routine. The need for active engagement, such as recalling concepts in one's own words, is stressed as essential for deep learning.

05:02

⏰ Time Management and Study Efficiency

This section addresses the importance of time management in studying. It critiques the common habit of prolonged, inefficient study sessions and offers a strategy to improve efficiency by studying in short, focused bursts followed by brief breaks. The paragraph describes how most students waste hours sitting at their desks without genuinely learning and emphasizes that taking regular breaks can significantly enhance productivity and reduce the frustration associated with long, unproductive study sessions. The concept of rewarding oneself with small breaks helps sustain high study efficiency.

10:04

🔍 Active Reading and Exam Preparation Techniques

This paragraph explores study techniques like the SQRRR (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) method, which encourages active reading and engagement with the material. It advises students to survey a chapter before diving deep, creating questions to guide their reading and help focus on finding answers. This approach contrasts with passive reading, which often results in poor retention. The importance of early and consistent study, rather than cramming right before exams, is highlighted to ensure information is understood, not just memorized. The goal is to have the material well-learned before review sessions.

Keywords

💡Note-taking

Note-taking refers to the process of writing down important information during a class or lecture. The video emphasizes that effective note-taking involves expanding on notes immediately after class to reinforce understanding. If notes are not reviewed right away, vital details might be forgotten, reducing the effectiveness of the study process.

💡Environmental cues

Environmental cues are external triggers that can influence behavior or focus. In the video, the professor suggests using a study lamp as an environmental cue. When the lamp is turned on, it signals to the brain that it is time to focus and study, making the study process more automatic and efficient.

💡Concepts vs. facts

Concepts are general ideas or principles that explain how something works, while facts are specific pieces of information. The professor explains that students often focus too much on memorizing facts, like the names of bones, without understanding the underlying concepts, which are more valuable in the long run for deep learning.

💡Recognition vs. recollection

Recognition is the ability to identify something seen before, while recollection involves retrieving information from memory without prompts. The video highlights that students often confuse the two, thinking they understand material because they recognize it, but true learning requires the ability to recall and explain concepts in their own words.

💡REM sleep

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is a crucial phase of sleep that plays a significant role in memory consolidation. The professor stresses that students need adequate sleep, especially REM, to solidify what they’ve learned during the day. Lack of proper sleep, such as in cases of sleep apnea, hinders this consolidation, leading to poor retention of information.

💡Efficient studying

Efficient studying refers to maximizing productivity during study sessions by being focused and avoiding prolonged periods of ineffective work. The video contrasts efficient studying with long, unproductive sessions where students sit for hours but only retain information for a short period. Taking breaks to recharge, as mentioned in the video, is key to maintaining high study efficiency.

💡SQRRR method

The SQRRR method stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. It is a structured approach to studying, where students first survey the material, ask questions, read actively, recite key points, and finally review to reinforce their learning. The video encourages this method as a more active and efficient way to engage with study material, ensuring deeper comprehension.

💡Breaks and recharge

Breaks and recharge refer to taking short, refreshing breaks during study sessions to prevent burnout and maintain productivity. The professor suggests studying in 30-minute intervals, followed by short breaks to keep the mind sharp. This strategy enhances efficiency compared to marathon study sessions where attention dwindles after a short time.

💡Active learning

Active learning involves engaging with the material through activities such as questioning, summarizing, and applying concepts, rather than passively reading. The video stresses that students who are more active in their learning, such as by putting concepts in their own words, tend to understand and retain information better compared to those who passively reread material.

💡Time management

Time management is the skill of organizing and planning how to divide your time between different tasks effectively. The professor challenges the common student complaint of not having enough time, emphasizing that everyone has 162 hours a week and success depends on how those hours are utilized. Efficient time management, prioritizing studying, and cutting down on distractions are key themes in the video.

Highlights

Taking notes immediately after class helps expand on the ideas and makes them more meaningful.

Reviewing your notes soon after class, rather than hours later, prevents forgetting important details.

Test your understanding by recalling and explaining concepts in your own words to ensure mastery.

Environmental cues like a dedicated study lamp can train your brain to focus more effectively.

Short, regular study sessions with breaks are more effective than long, unproductive study periods.

Active learning is more effective than passive rereading; understanding concepts is key to retention.

Distinguish between memorizing facts and understanding concepts; understanding leads to longer retention.

Recollection is not the same as recognition; reviewing highlighted notes without active engagement undermines learning.

Good sleep is crucial for memory consolidation, especially REM sleep, which strengthens long-term retention.

Most people’s memory suffers without adequate sleep, which prevents effective consolidation of studied material.

Efficient study methods include using short, active bursts of learning with focused breaks, not prolonged, unproductive sessions.

Studying in short, intense bursts followed by breaks can significantly increase retention and reduce mental fatigue.

SQRRR method: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review is an effective approach for comprehensive learning.

Previewing a textbook chapter by looking at pictures and subheadings can set a mental framework for better understanding.

Students often mistake time spent studying for actual learning, but efficiency comes from focus, breaks, and better methods.

Transcripts

Telling people to study more does not necessarily help. In some cases it might

actually worsen their performance. Taking notes, so vital but most students who do

it haven't learned a very simple rule. The first moment you get after a class

ideally right after the class, you should sit down with your notes and expand on

everything you jotted down, give it depth flesh it out, okay? If you even wait to go

home and do it a couple hours later, you will have forgotten some of your own

notes. How do you know you know it? If you can look at it, go to the next one

read it and then stop and go back to the one before, look up in the sky and in

your own words say what that was about, yeah you know it. Now a lot of students

don't realize how much we're controlled by environmental cues. Get a little lamp

and it becomes your study lamp so if you have to study in your bedroom, turn on

the lamp and start studying. The moment you lose your edge, fifteen, twenty, thirty

minutes later turn the lamp off, get up and leave the

desk. What you're training yourself - to study while seated there and it becomes

increasingly automatic, as did the raising of the hand.

You sit, turn the lamp on and you're ready to go it's like magic. Your brain

has to be focused to be really studying not time-sharing back and forth. The more

active you are in your learning, the more effective and yet increasingly I have

students who think studying is reading it over and over and they're gonna have

some magical thing where they suddenly understand it and remember it well. First

you have to decide, what am i learning? Is it a concept or a fact, okay?

Understanding the name of a bone is a fact, understanding what it does in the

body gets into a concept, okay? So in studying sometimes there are a lot of

facts, in fact I use Anatomy as a good example. You

got to memorize bones, muscles, organs tissues a lot of it but if you simply

memorize and don't understand the function of it, the comprehension of the

actual concepts it's a lot of wasted learning really, just to know a name of a

bone is like yeh so what? But in most college classes what we as professors

are most concerned about is that you grasp the concept because concepts once

grasped, will stay with you a lifetime. Can you put the concept in your own words? If

you can't, you don't really understand it okay, it's not meaningful to you. To make

it meaningful is a struggle. It's probably the biggest struggle you have

as a student but it's a struggle you need to do or you're wasting your study

time. People are incredible at confusing recognition with recollection. Your

visual recognition threshold is so great you could see a person once, see them

years later and go 'I know you.' You've highlighted the most important stuff, you

now go back to study it and you say oh I remember it! So do you study it? No. So

what don't you learn? The most important part of the chapter. Most of you undo

good studying by not sleeping adequately.

We're not sure exactly how but there's something going on and it involves the

hippocampus, it involves the storage from a transitory long-term memory to a

permanent - what we call consolidation but we're getting increasing evidence that

that consolidation process is dependent on rapid eye movement sleep which if

you're an adult happens about every hour and a half once you fall asleep. If

you're not getting a good night typically around eight hours, you're not

getting enough REM. What you've studied doesn't become permanent and I can tell

you there are studies that show simply by getting better rest, some students

improve markedly in their performance because their brain now stores it a lot

more efficiently. By the way if you know anybody with sleep apnea, biggest thing

they'll tell you is I can't remember anything, my brain is shot. It's like my

memories gone. Yeah, it is because your REM-ing isn't happening, because you wake

up so often and you can't consolidate and store permanent memories. Here's the

funny thing. There's no money to be made by telling people to get more sleep, so

you don't hear about it on TV. Sylvan isn't telling you to get better sleep

because they don't make any money. I tell students and they go yeah that's nice

but they continue to use their time for other things. It's kind of interesting

isn't it? The best advice, sleep better and most of you'll do better. Most of you

won't even begin to take it and I know why you've got so many other things to do. I'd

ask you this, are they important? Is studying and learning the most important

thing you're doing is a student If so maybe you need to give up some of the

other activities. I have students tell me I don't have enough time. There's two-

what- 162 hours in a week? We all have the same amount of time. Marty has no more

nor less than anybody in this room. The real question is what do I do with my hundred

and sixty two hours? What I want to do is show you graphically what I'm talking

about. Let's say this is efficient studying and

I know there are no numbers there but higher means more efficient, lower means

low or no efficiency and this axis we're looking at time. Here's what happens for

the average student. For her, 6 o'clock in the evening after her supper at the

residency dining hall, she plopped herself down at her little study area

and started studying but here's what happened. By about 6:30 she was in a

major slump but what was her goal? To study 6 hours so she continued to sit at

her little desk and stare at pages until midnight. She was at her desk 6 hours, how

long did she actually study? About 20-30 minutes. Now there's a simple concept in

psychology that all of you are aware of. Things that are reinforced, we tend to do

more of, things that are punished or ignored we tend to do less of. You know

we operate by those principles to a large degree. If you're sitting there for

six hours, are you feeling good? No. Once you get here, you're looking at your book

going I hate geography, I hate literature I hate psychology

all the things we're trying to get you to fall in love with, you're hating it

and so her actual good studying was followed by five and a half hours of

pain and misery. I would bet you, I don't know for a fact, that as the quarter

progressed she sat down

and finally she was done before she even started. She sat down and just stared at

a book and she flunked every class. The moment you start to slide, you're

shoveling against the tide. What you need to do is what? Take a break. Here's what's

cool about it. You can study for a half hour, it doesn't take a half hour break

to recharge your batteries. For most people, about five minutes and this is

where you go away, do something fun for five minutes and actually say this is my

treat for having studied for 30 minutes effectively. Go back and here's what

happens. Your efficiency is nearly a hundred

percent. Study a half hour, take a break study a half hour, study a half hour, now

had she done that over a course of six hours she would have got about five and

a half hours of serious studying and about a half hour of total break time.

SQRRR. Survey that's the S, question that's the Q, then you have 3 R's - read recite

review. So how do you do the survey? These are not novels. In a novel you wouldn't

want to read the last page, would you? Find out who done it, it'd ruin the whole

thing but this is a textbook so what you do is

you actually go through the entire chapter, you look at pictures okay what's

this about apples what's this about a duckbill platypus

okay and what you're doing as you survey you ask questions. It only takes a couple

of minutes to survey a chapter in any class. As you're surveying you

simultaneously raise questions. What you're doing then is causing you to be

looking for answers and this is a powerful thing. How many of you have

noticed when you're looking through a newspaper for a piece of information, you

can find it, it kind of jumps out at you but if you're just kind of reading it

haphazardly, kind of casually, most of what you read you don't even remember.

There's something about it and I can't explain it, I can only describe it. If you

intend to find something, you find it and I've got a little demonstration I could

have brought where I actually show a placard with the words Boston and London

printed on them and I hold it up for 20 seconds. Out of a group this size, maybe

two or three of you would see Boston and London because before I do it, I tell you

to look for letters, symbols and numbers. I create what's called a set. You're now

expecting not to see words but letters and even though Boston and London are

printed on diagonal, most people don't see it. Likewise if you just kind of go

through a book without asking questions first

you kind of skim over the content. You don't have the search mechanism going,

okay? The reading, followed by the recitation, I talked about that.

Technically before a test it should be review.

It should be in the barn. Now you're just touching up to make sure you haven't

lost anything or confused anything but I know how this works because we schedule

tests, most students don't start studying until shortly before an exam and much

like my friend, it puts so much time all massed together and only study for about

a half hour, pull all-nighters so they don't get the good rest, come in and do

poorly. You're undoing yourself. If you start studying early and do some of the

things I've talked about, by the time you get to the test

you're just reviewing at that point, not truly studying.