Healthy study habits and foolproof tips for taking your finals

Here are some things to keep in mind as you try to end the term with your best work:

•Strengthen your mind and body; don’t weaken them. It is rarely a good choice to miss sleep for study. Our clear mind is the basis of good understanding and memory. Research shows that trading sleep for more study time the night before a test leads to poorer results. Instead, do the reverse. If you haven’t been getting eight hours of sleep, try to do so. Similarly, get exercise. A short, fast walk for a few minutes will help defeat stress and awaken your mind. Ditto for diet. Now is the time to eat high-quality nutritious foods. This is fuel for your mind, body, and your spirit, and you’ll need it. Avoid caffeine. Except for a little to get going in the morning, it’s counter-productive.

•Make a plan. With limited time, you need to know what you must do and when you’ll do it. Download a weekly planner from the Learning Success Center website at: http://www.mhcc.edu/StudentServices.aspx?id=403 Using this, you can plan by the hour. Set specific goals for each hour. Choose your targets strategically with a view to everything you need to get done between now and end of term.

•Concentrate on your weak areas first. Avoid the tendency to go over everything lightly. Instead concentrate first on the material you are weakest on. Identify it by name. Work it up until it’s strong. Then consider again what you’re weakest on, and focus next on that. If you’re unsure what’s important to know for a test, talk to your teacher. Still, try not to spend too much time learning new material that you may have skipped earlier. Most of your study time should be spent rehearsing and reviewing what you’ve learned.

•Take frequent study breaks. We learn best in short periods of study, not longer than 45-50 minutes. Study for that period of time, and then take a 5-10 minute break. (Fast walk, anyone? Or enjoy a nutritious snack). Then return to study. It could be the same subject or a different one. But your mind is starting fresh and will focus better and remember more.

•Use “distributed study.” Instead of studying a topic for a concentrated three hours on one day in a week, try studying it for 30 minutes each day for six days. It’s the repetition over time that puts it into your memory. Also, vary the places where you study that topic. If you study the same material in different locations, for example, one time on the bus, another time at home, another time in the library, you’ll remember it better than studying it always in the library (as demonstrated by recent research).

•Employ all the “modes of learning.” We can learn in many ways: by reading and writing, by speaking and listening, by looking at charts, graphs and pictures, and by building things and moving a lot. You will be more efficient at learning by working in several modes each day. For example, to make content from a chapter more memorable, create a chart that displays its main ideas. To memorize terms, write their definitions on flash cards and include a simple picture that represents the idea for you. Do some of your studying standing up or even pacing around. Pretend to teach what you’ve learning to an empty room: stand up, speak out, and use a small white board with colored markers.

•Visit the Learning Success Center. We’re fortunate to have a better learning success center than those at any of our competitor schools. Use it (mezzanine area above the library). Tutors in the drop-in area provide help in many subjects. Writing tutors can help you think through those final papers. The computer lab offers great learning resources and monitors to help with your computer tasks. Learning specialists can help you apply the advice in this article. Student Success Seminars teach test-taking skills and other skills. (See the list at: http://www.mhcc.edu/lsc/) The LSC is open seven days a week.

Online tutoring is also available through the Northwest eTutoring Consortium, of which MHCC is a member. On the above web link, click on the button that says, “Contact an eTutor.” Enter your MHCC ID number as both your username and password. Help is available for a great variety of subjects and for writing.

Best wishes for success without stress and for a relaxing holiday season ahead.

Advocate Staff