Study Skills Handout

Six Strategies for Eective Learning
LEARNINGSCIENTISTS.ORG All of these strategies have supporting evidence from cognitive psychology. For each strategy,
we explain how to do it, some points to consider, and where to nd more information.
Explain and describe Practice bringing

ideas with many details information to mind
OR
RITE E TC H
W SK
RE
TR
N IEV
ATIO AL
OR PR
Use specic examples LAB AC
TIC Space out your
E E
to understand abstract studying over time
ideas
CONCRETE EXAMPLES
SPACED PRACTICE
S PAC I NG
2
1 3
TE S TI N G SK ETCH I NG
MY
FOLDER
INT
ER DING
LE CO
AV AL
ING
DU
Switch between ideas Combine words

while you study and visuals
Content by Yana Weinstein (University of Massachusetts Lowell) & Megan Smith (Rhode Island College) | Illustrations by Oliver Caviglioli (teachinghow2s.com/cogsci)
Funding provided by the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science
LEARN TO STUDY USING
Spaced Practice
S PA C E O U T Y O U R S T U D Y I N G O V E R T I M E
LEARNINGSCIENTISTS.ORG
HOW TO DO IT
LESSON LESSON LESSON LESSON LESSON LESSON
M T W Th F Sa Su M T W Th F Sa Su
Start planning early for exams, and STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY
set aside a little bit of time every

day. Five hours spread out over two
weeks is better than the same ve
hours all at once.
L ESSO N BREAK REVIEW
Review information from each

class, but not immediately after
class.
After you review information from

the most recent class, make sure
to go back and study important 1 MONTH 1 WEEK 1 DAY
AGO AGO AGO
older information to keep it fresh.
HOLD ON!
2 S PACING
T E S T IN G 1 3 SKETCHING When you sit down to study, make sure you are using eective study
strategies rather than just re-reading your class notes.
This may seem dicult and you may forget some information from
day to day, but this is actually a good thing! This forces you to retrieve
information from memory (see Retrieval Practice poster).
Create small spaces (a few days) and do a little bit over time, so that it
adds up!
RESEARCH
Read more about Benjamin, A. S., & Tullis, J. (2010). What makes distributed practice effective? Cognitive
spaced pratice Psychology, 61, 228-247.
as a study strategy
Retrieval Practice
P R A C T I C E B R I N G I N G I N F O R M AT I O N T O M I N D
HOW TO DO IT
Put away your class materials, and

write or sketch everything you I TE
OR
E TC H CH
ECK
WR SK
know. Be as thorough as possible.
Then, check your class materials for
accuracy and important points you
missed.
Take as many practice tests as you

can get your hands on. If you dont
have ready-made tests, try making
DE TESTS
your own and trading with a friend TRA
who has done the same.
You can also make ashcards. Just

make sure you practice recalling the
information on them, and go beyond
denitions by thinking of links
between ideas.
HOLD ON!
Retrieval practice works best when you go back to check your class
materials for accuracy afterward.
1
2
3 Retrieval is hard! If youre struggling, identify the things youve missed
from your class materials, and work your way up to recalling it on your
own with the class materials closed.
Dont only recall words and denitions. Make sure to recall main ideas,
how things are related or dierent from one another, and new examples.
RESEARCH
Read more about Roediger, H. L., Putnam, A. L., & Smith, M. A. (2011). Ten benefits of testing and their
retrieval practice applications to educational practice. In J. Mestre & B. Ross (Eds.), Psychology of learning and
as a study strategy motivation: Cognition in education, (pp. 1-36). Oxford: Elsevier.
Elaboration
E X P L A I N A N D D E S C R I B E I D E A S W I T H M A N Y D E TA I L S
HOW TO DO IT
Ask yourself questions while you

are studying about how things work
and why, and then nd the answers
in your class materials and discuss
them with your classmates.
SIMILAR
FFERENT
DIF
As you elaborate, make connections A B
FEREN
between dierent ideas to explain
DI
how they work together. Take two
T
ideas and think of ways they are
similar and dierent.
Describe how the ideas you are

studying apply to your own
experiences or memories. As
you go through your day, make
connections to the ideas you are
learning in class.
HOLD ON!
Make sure the way you are explaining and describing an idea is accurate.
CH
E CK
Dont overextend the elaborations, and always check your class

materials or ask your teacher.
Work your way up so that you can describe and explain without looking
at your class materials.
RESEARCH
Read more about McDaniel, M. A., & Donnelly, C. M. (1996). Learning with analogy and elaborative interrogation.
elaboration Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 508-519.
as a study strategy Wong, B. Y. L. (1985). Self-questioning instructional research: A review. Review of Educational
Research, 55, 227-268.
Interleaving
SWITCH BETWEEN IDEAS WHILE YOU STUDY
HOW TO DO IT TOPIC TOPIC TOPIC

A B C
Switch between ideas during a

study session. Dont study one
idea for too long.
TOPICS TOPICS TOPICS

A B C C B A A C B
Go back over the ideas again in

dierent orders to strengthen
your understanding.
STUDY STUDY STUDY

SESSION SESSION SESSION
1 2 3
Make links between dierent ideas

as you switch between them.
HOLD ON!
While its good to switch between ideas, dont switch too often, or spend
TOPIC TOPIC
B
too little time on any one idea; you need to make sure you understand
A
them.
Interleaving will feel harder than studying the same thing for a long time.
But dont worry - this is actually helpful to your learning!
RESEARCH
Read more about Rohrer, D. (2012). Interleaving helps students distinguish among similar concepts. Educational
interleaving Psychology Review, 24, 355-367.
as a study strategy
Concrete Examples
U S E S P E C I F I C E X A M P L E S T O U N D E R S TA N D A B S T R A C T I D E A S
HOW TO DO IT
Collect examples your teacher has

used, and look in your class
materials for as many examples MY
as you can nd. FOLDER
Make the link between the idea

you are studying and each example,
so that you understand how the
example applies to the idea.
Share examples with friends, and

explain them to each other for
added benets.
HOLD ON!
You may nd examples on the internet that are not used appropriately.
Make sure your examples are correct - check with your teacher.
Ultimately, creating your own relevant examples will be the most helpful
for learning.
RESEARCH
Read more about Rawson, K. A., Thomas, R. C., & Jacoby, L. L. (2014). The power of examples: Illustrative
concrete examples examples enhance conceptual learning of declarative concepts. Educational Psychology Review,
as a study strategy 27, 483-504.
Dual Coding
COMBINE WORDS AND VISUALS
HOW TO DO IT
COMPARE
Look at your class materials and nd visuals. Look over the visuals
and compare to the words.
Look at visuals, and explain in your own words what they mean.
Take information that you are trying to learn, and draw visuals
to go along with it.
HOLD ON! INFOGRAPHIC CARTOON STRIP
5
PROS CONS
Try to come up with dierent
ways to represent the information
visually, for example an infographic, DIAGRAM
a timeline, a cartoon strip, or a
diagram of parts that work together.
TIMELINE
GRAPHIC
EVENT 1 EVENT 2 EVENT 3 EVENT 4 EVENT 5
ORGANIZER
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Work your way up to drawing

what you know from memory.
RESEARCH
Read more about Mayer, R. E., & Anderson, R. B. (1992). The instructive animation: Helping students build
dual coding as a connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational
study strategy Psychology, 4, 444-452.

Study Skills Handout

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Six Strategies for Eective Learning

Explain and describe Practice bringing

Switch between ideas Combine words

set aside a little bit of time every

L ESSO N BREAK REVIEW

Review information from each

After you review information from

Put away your class materials, and

Take as many practice tests as you

who has done the same.

You can also make ashcards. Just

Ask yourself questions while you

how they work together. Take two

Describe how the ideas you are

Dont overextend the elaborations, and always check your class

HOW TO DO IT TOPIC TOPIC TOPIC

Switch between ideas during a

TOPICS TOPICS TOPICS

Go back over the ideas again in

STUDY STUDY STUDY

Make links between dierent ideas

Collect examples your teacher has

Make the link between the idea

Share examples with friends, and

HOLD ON! INFOGRAPHIC CARTOON STRIP

Work your way up to drawing

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