As most of our readers already know, we’ve been creating materials to communicate with teachers and students about six learning strategies that have received strong evidence from cognitive psychology. We know these strategies can help students if they apply them – but what’s it like for a student to actually use them? In this post, Syeda Nizami (@sniz77) – a UMass Lowell junior currently doing BAs in English and Psychology – describes her attempts to use each strategy for one week at a time. Syeda’s previous contributions to the blog can be found here.

When first considering a quiz or an exam, many students don’t know how to approach studying. Should I start studying three days before the exam? Or should I just cram the day before? Should I make flashcards or just read the book? Take notes on my laptop or handwrite them? There are a lot of techniques and ways to study, but some are more likely to get you the A on that quiz than others. In fact, there are six learning strategies, as emphasized on this blog, whose effectiveness reigns superior to others:

I put these six evidence-based strategies to the test for the past six weeks. I used a different strategy each week to prepare for my weekly Research Methods quizzes, examining my own experience using each strategy, the difficulty (regarding time or thought) that went into it, as well as how I perceived the overall effectiveness of the strategy, as well as my own results with using it.

Week 1: Spaced Practice

During Week 1 of this venture, I employed spacing as my first strategy to practice. Confession: I am usually not the type to space out my studying too often. I usually do start studying for an exam at least two days ahead, but with quizzes, I usually find myself waiting until the day before to review the materials. This was a change of pace for me – one that proved useful. After my first Research Methods class that week, I followed the Spaced Practice poster to a T, spreading out time to study over the course of a week rather than a single day. My class took place every Monday and Wednesday morning, so studied on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I also briefly reviewed the day’s material after I got home from work on the days I had class. This strategy was incredibly invaluable to me, not only that week but throughout the semester, as spacing allowed me to recall information from this chapter better than any other. However, it was difficult to fit my spaced out studying with my hectic schedule (one of the downfalls of working a lot and having a full course load!), and I had to fit in studying at odd times to make it work; but the overall experience was satisfying as I got a 100 on the quiz. I can much better recall the material now that I am preparing for the final, and I owe that to spacing.

Week 2: Retrieval Practice