Study Tips

Many students find studying science at the college level more difficult than they anticipated. Typically the study skills and techniques that worked in high school are inadequate for college-level success. Here are several hints that can be useful:

You are a college student. That is now one of your roles in life, just like your roles as mother/father, son/daughter, husband/wife, etc. And just like these roles, you are a college students all the time, not just when you are in class. If you take this attitude, it will help you maintain your focus and commitment.

Attitude is half the battle. Why are you taking this class? You can't study well unless you want to learn. Make your goal to learn the content of the course, rather than just to achieve a particular grade letter. If you find yourself asking the professor "Will this be on the test?" perhaps you need to think about what you're trying to accomplish. Sure, there's a lot of material you need to know, and it would be easier if there wasn't so much to study. But your goal should be to understand biology, not to make studying easier. Focus on learning and you'll do much better.

Study enough. For a typical college class you should study three hours outside of class for every hour in class every week. Therefore, three hours in class means nine hours studying outside of class. You can't cram all of that into the week before the test. So, study every day.

Study efficiently. Studying efficiently will allow you to achieve your desired goals with less study time. To maximize your study time, find out what works best for you. Schedule study time into your day (it helps to actually write it into your day planner). Choose times when you will have a minimum of distractions, but when you will be alert and capable of assimilating what you are studying. Studying soon is better than waiting until later. It is amazing how effective it is to spend a few minutes going over your notes immediately after class.

Study actively. Listening to lectures is passive. If you want to learn the material you have to take an active role - you can't just sit in class and expect that by some magical or miraculous process someone can teach you. Studying actively means:

  1. Ask questions in class, after class, or during office hours. Sometimes you're not quite sure what to ask. That's O.K. It is fine to say "I'm not sure I understand. Would you explain to me again how this works?" Don’t be shy! You paid to be here!

  2. Take good notes. Don't try to copy down everything the instructor says, word for word. Instead, try to listen closely and understand, then write down in short form what the main point is. You can fill in details later by asking questions, reading the book, comparing notes with other students, etc. Your lecture notes should be your primary resource for studying. You may want to add material in the margins, or even take separate notes on another sheet of paper. Sketching structures you are responsible for can help you understand them better.

  3. Write, draw, and explain while you study - don't just read. Many things in biology can be understood as processes made of steps. Close your book, grab a blank sheet of paper and draw a diagram that shows the steps in a process - then check your work. Explain the process to someone (your study partner, your husband or wife, your roommate, your dog). Flash cards, summary charts, and outlines can help you assimilate large amounts of information.

  4. Quiz yourself. A blank sheet of paper is one of the greatest study tools of all time. Close your book and notes and write/draw everything you can recall about a topic or a process. Then check your work. Study the details you forgot, then try again the next day with another blank sheet of paper. Memorization is just the first step. Memorizing the parts of a car's engine won't give you a full understanding of how it works, and certainly won't prepare you to build your own car. There is a large quantity of information that you'll have to memorize to succeed in biology classes, but memorizing is not the same as learning. In the typical biology class you'll learn as many new words as in a foreign language class. Say the words. If you just refer to a new term as “that r word”, with the intention of learning it later, you won’t learn it. Some people make the mistake of relying on flash cards as their only study method. Flash cards may help, but only to a point.

  5. Reading is hard. Your text book can be quite challenging to read. The book goes into a lot of detail, and a lot of depth. For most students, reading a chapter from front to back, and marking with a highlighter is NOT the best way to learn biology.
    A good strategy for reading the text is to scan the reading first, looking at the tables, inset boxes, pictures, picture captions and main headings of sections. Get a feel for what you are about to learn. Then look over any summaries or tables of contents for the section. Finally read the text, stopping to look at the appropriate figures, etc. Don’t go on to a new section until you understand what the previous section is trying to convey. Do not try to memorize as you read, just read and try to understand.
    Reading before you come to lecture can be a great way to familiarize yourself with the material. After you hear the lecture, then go back and reread the book. You will then have a better idea which details your instructor considers most important.
    The best strategy is to read a little bit every day, and re-read several times before the exam. Don't let your highlighter make you think that you know it, just because you read it once and colored it yellow..

  6. Pace yourself. This is too much material to try and cram into your brain the night before the exam! Study consistently from the beginning of the semester in small doses. You will be able to spend less time studying if you study a little every day rather than waiting until two days before the exam.

  7. Don’t be afraid to use creative learning tools. Mnemonic devices, such as rhymes, trick words, similar sounding words, memorable phrases, etc. can be very helpful. You instructor may give you some of these, but don’t be afraid to develop your own and share them with other students.

  8. Be a positive exam taker. Exams are not intended as punishment, rather they are an opportunity for you to show what you have learned. Take them with a positive attitude. Prepare yourself for the exam as well as you can. When it comes time to take the exam, tell yourself, “I know what I know and there may be some things I don’t know. If they ask me what I know, I’ll get it correct. If they ask something I don’t know, I’ll make an informed, educated attempt at answering, then go on to the next question.” Don’t let your inability to answer a particular question distract you from succeeding on the rest of the exam. A positive attitude can make a big difference in good test taking.

  9. Don’t just color your text and lecture notes! Highlighters can be useful tools, but they are frequently overused/misused. Before you highlight something, ask yourself, “Is this really more important than the rest of the material?”. Highlighting frequently distracts you from the non-highlighted material which may be important too!.

  10. There is strength in numbers! Most students gain from studying in groups. Set up a study group that can meet weekly and go over the material from that week. Within your group you should set concrete goals for each session, not just get together and talk about the class. Select a different person each week to present that week’s material to the rest of the group.

If, as the semester progresses, you find you are not performing as well as you feel you should be, here are a few suggestions:

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