From: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Studying for a big exam? Use flash cards, not highlighters

Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

Students studying for big exams may want to put down their neon highlighters and make some flash cards instead.

Some of the most popular study strategies — such as highlighting and rereading — don’t show much promise for improving student learning, according to a new report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

While 10 learning techniques commonly used by students and researched in the report vary widely in effectiveness, two strategies — practice testing and distributed practice — made the grade, receiving the highest overall rating.

Practice testing involves using flash cards or answering questions at the end of a textbook chapter. Distributed practice is the opposite of last-minute cramming, spreading out studying over time and quizzing yourself on material long before the big test.

Read the whole story: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel


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