Carolin Pan Week 15 - Learning
Carolin Pan
Benedetti
APENG
26 April 2022
Learning
When learning a subject you might spend the same amount of time as your peers or maybe even more, but you realize that you still do not perform as well as them on exams. Why is it that during exams, we can’t remember what we learned so well for the past week, or month even. During our learning unit in AP Psychology, we were taught numerous methods as to how to learn effectively for the information to be stored in our long term memory.
As most of us may know, learning is most effective when done in distributed intervals; however, why does this work? Well, our brains retain information best when we repeatedly call on the information learned, as this strengthens the synapses. If you were to cram all the information the night before an exam, your brain would not yet have developed these neural connections; hence, you would forget everything you just learned the night before.
Say you and your classmate both make flashcards for the upcoming exam and your friend only studies for a few days while you study for an entire two weeks, but your classmate still performs significantly better than you on the exam. Though the two of you used the same study strategy and your classmate even studied for a shorter amount of time, it can be assumed that your classmate utilized deep processing while you did not. Deep processing is when one remembers information through elaboration rehearsal and more meaningful analysis. You might have repeatedly read the terms, memorizing the definitions as is, while your classmate took the time to carefully analyze each term, drawing meaningful connections. Spending extra time studying does not necessarily guarantee better grades (it might make you feel better, as if you’ve got lots of studying done.) It is the actual learning that impacts memory retention and performance.
https://www.nicolleducation.com/uploads/6/3/7/7/63779813/myers-psychology-for-ap_2nd.pdf
Thank you for the well-needed reminder to not cram my studying and take more breaks in between instead. Watching Youtube and scrolling through Social Media is probably not the best thing to do during breaks to develop this deep memory, but I guess it is better than nothing. I wish you good luck on studying for your AP exams.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin, I agree that the number of hours you study does not guarantee the grade you will receive. I witness many of my classmates give little to no effort on some homework assignments and just cram a couple of days before the test. I used to do this in some of the classes I had little passion for, but I realized b.s.ing was detrimental to my work ethic. Regardless of how bland it is or the low point count, I think every assignment should be done with at least 90% effort. Once you start giving your all, that mindset will carry on in hard tests or when you have to learn new information.
ReplyDeleteHello Carolin! The knowledge you gain from AP Psychology definitely seems useful. Unfortunately for me, breaking bad habits and forming good ones is much easier said than done. Thank you for these much needed tips on effective studying.
ReplyDeleteHey Carolin, this is something that I have found to be especially important in classes like physics, biology, and calculus. Most of the times, just memorizing formulas and facts for hours does almost nothing to help on the test, and none of the questions will make sense after days of studying. However, if I just learn the concepts and make connections on how something actually works and use deep processing techniques, I can study something in an half hour and be able to answer really complex questions. I will definitely keep the benefits of deep processing over brute force memorization in my head though for the next few weeks for AP studying.
ReplyDeleteHey Carolin,
ReplyDeleteThis is something I truly needed to hear. When I used to force myself to memorize speeches in Spanish, I would often neglect to understand what I was saying. Sentences came out choppy and unprepared. However, the moment I remembered what each word I was saying meant, it was easier to recollect them while focusing on how I spoke. Understanding something strongly is like dipping a sponge in dyed water. The water may easily be squeezed out, but the dye will stain the sponge forever. Education works the same way. I do not memorize an endless number of facts, cram hours of studying, and push through millions of assignments to remember them all. I do it so that ultimately all that information will stain me with knowledge (I apologize for this cringy metaphor) that will help guide my actions in the future.
Hi Carolin! I appreciate your truth regarding the important ways to retain information. I have surely been in a situation where I’ve wondered why someone has gotten a better grade than me despite studying for the same amount or even longer than the other. Your blog makes so much sense, and really nails in the idea that deep analysis in studying is a better form of learning. Thanks for your great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin! Especially with AP exams and such with the loads of preparatory work we are being given from our teachers, it’s so important to take a break and not cram too much as that might make you forget the information you know really well by covering it up with topics you only half understand. It’s certainly true that no matter how much you study, you won’t be guaranteed a grade. It depends on various factors for each individual. Some people only need to study an hour before the test to get an A while others need to be studying for hours on several days to be able to get a good grade. Even that, sometimes, a test doesn’t go the way it does. Thanks for the reminder to take a break and good luck to everyone on their AP Exams.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin, the memory-retention strategies you mentioned remind me of the Socratic method. In that, you have to repeatedly ask questions until you cannot answer them. That is when you have to start studying whatever topic that is. It's interesting how conventional note reading or video watching might not be the best—doing active learning is more effective.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin, I also remember learning this in psychology. I think almost everyone has heard that it is not good to cram before an exam, whether from reading it somewhere, a parent, or a teacher. But, there are situations that make it impossible not to cram even though we know we should not. For example, if you have a test that was announced a few days ago in one class and major projects due in other classes. That is why engaging in deep processing while initially learning the material is so important. When studying the night before, if you had previously engaged in deep processing, your brain could focus on only retrieving information instead of trying to encode, store, and then retrieve that information all in quick succession.
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