How To Pass A Hard Class
by
Ken Tangen
You know the difference between an easy and a hard class. There is some variation between people as to which topics are hard but when you expect to be in a class you think will be difficult there are several things you can do.
You already know what to do for an easy class. Go to class, smile at the professor and pretend to pay attention. You also will ask for a detailed study guide, and wait to study until you have to.
In contrast, a hard class requires a different approach. I originally had Biological Psychology in mind but these suggestions apply to any course preconceived as difficult.
Your mileage may vary but in general, in order to master this material, you must invest 300 hours in studying. This does not include class time, labs or study sections. That’s 20 hours per week for 15 weeks of the semester or 33 hours per week for a 9 week quarter.
Clearly, no one has that much time. That’s why you need a plan.
PART 1: PLAN
1. Predict Your Workload
If you can’t spend all your time studying a class, start at the other end: predict how much time you will have.
Build in personal time. If you have a 16 week semester, assume you only have 15 weeks. Give yourself a week off. Similarly, don’t schedule 7 days a week. Try a 5-day work week, regardless of when those days will actually be. You might want to take off Tuesday and Friday instead of Saturday and Sunday. No matter which ones are your off days, count on having a couple of days off.
The reverse of that is to count on having several days on. You can’t realistically learn this material if you try cramming it in on the weekend. You need to set aside a couple of hours every day, every day you call a work day. Learning complex material requires a distributed schedule.
Remember, these are study hours, not class hours. This is dedicated time to learning the material. This is time for becoming an expert, not listening to an expert.
Think of it like tennis. Watching matches can be helpful to your understanding of the game but TV time is not the same as game time. You’ve got to spend time actually playing tennis to become good at it.
Be realistic. Divide the number of weeks by the number of days you have per week. Then adjust that number-of-hours-per-day number to be doable.
Everything in life takes time. Eating, sleeping, exercising, family, friends… It all adds up. So be reasonable. Be honest. With so many obligations in your life, how much time can you devote to this particular activity?
2. Balance Your Load
Do yourself a favor. Don’t take several time guzzlers at the same time. Don’t take Biological Psych, Organic Chem, Physics and Intro to Russian in the same term. Don’t kill yourself will good deeds.
Clearly, you’ll want to balance your load. When you take a hard class, take several easier classes to balance the load. Working 40 hours a week, having family responsibilities and taking 5 courses all at once is excessive. If all the courses are as intensive as Organic Chemistry or Biological Psych, you’re nuts. J
But if you can set aside 3 hours a day for primary class, you’ll find it to be an amazingly interesting course. It’s intensive but worth it.
3. Study EVERY DAY
You’ve set your schedule for 5 days a week. And let’s assume that 3 hours per day is doable. Try to do 3 hrs every day. All 5 days.
If you can’t put in all 3 hours, do what you can. And NO GUILT! Do the best you can but don’t get down on yourself if you don’t reach your daily goal. Just try again tomorrow.
You don’t have to make up the time. Your best try at 3 hours per day, day in and out, is all you need. If you put in 3 hours, celebrate. If you put in 1.2 hours, celebrate. If you don’t put in any hours that day, try for 3 the next day. The focus is on every time you move closer to your goal. Non-movement is not punished. It’s simply ignored.
As it turns out, we do best on routines. Doing a bit every day is better for us than big chunks of time. This is true of exercise, singing, dancing, writing, and learning. Steady is good.
Part of the reason routines are good for us is that they are built in. Our bodies have self-generated cycles. These circadian rhythms help control and regulate our lives. Most people have a circadian rhythm of about 24 hours. This may change as you age but is a relatively stable timetable.
Your circadian rhythm impacts a lot of your life. It affects your eating, drinking, urination, secretion of hormones, and sensitivity to drugs. It makes your body temperature change from its lowest level (usually the middle of the night) to its highest level (usually late afternoon).
It also affects your mood. Most teens, for example, get more positive as the day goes on. Partly this is because their ideal bed time may not have settled in yet. And partly its generally true of all people. Most are happiest at 5pm and grouchiest at 5am. I’m not ascribing cause and effect here because sleep is a major factor in determining mood.
But there are general cycles you may have noticed. Some people like staying up late, others enjoy going to bed early. The early to sleep folk are usually early risers. They are bright, cheery and ready for action in the morning. They like nothing better than seeing the sun rise. Maybe they’re solar powered.
Certainly, night owls don’t understand them. Late-to-sleep folk don’t really get started until everyone else is in bed. Maybe they are moon-powered because they seem to thrive at night. Usually, late to bed means late to rise.
If you get up in time for lunch, early classes might not be for you. But if you do your best thinking in the morning, arrange your schedule accordingly. Night classes aren’t for everyone.
The best measure of your circadian rhythm is vacation. If you have a couple weeks or even a long weekend, give yourself a test. Don’t set the alarm. Don’t plan activities. And don’t have any deadlines. See when you wake, when you feel the best and when you feel the worse.
People vary in how much their daily rhythm impacts them. You don’t have to avoid doing something just because it’s not in your optimal time period. Your body rhythms are more like templates or guidelines for your body. They are not hard and fast rules that restrict you.
When is the best time to study? You can study as early as you want or as late as you want. As long as you get enough sleep.
Circadian rhythms influence you but not as much as the lack of sleep. If there is one thing to do to improve your mood, your relationships with others, your workflow and your ability to concentrate, it’s sleep. Get enough sleep.
Sleep deprivation is worse than circadian rhythm shift. So study when you want, take courses that don’t fit your body rhythm but get enough sleep.
You may have to backward plan your sleep schedule. It’s a simple 3-step process. First, decide when you need to get up. This includes time to wake up, get ready, have breakfast, get where you’re going and not feel stressed or rushed. This is not the last moment possible. Pick a rise time that includes all of the essentials.
Second, count back the number of hours you need to sleep. This varies by individual but is usually 7.5 to 8.5 hours for adults. Teens need more sleep, typically 9-10 hours.
Third, supplement as needed. If you can’t get enough sleep any other way, consider adding a power nap. Get the sleep you need and study when you can.
Soooooooo…answer this:
How many days per week can you study?
How many hours per day can you study?
What’s the total number of hours per week you can devote to studying this topic?
4. Use All Available Resources
There are many resources available for your use. To make this simple: use them.
Buy the book
I know it’s expensive. Sometimes you can rent them or get used copies but they are still expensive.
And I know there are classes that don’t really use a book. But this is one of those courses where the book is worth the cost. Even if your prof doesn’t ever refer to it or give you a reading list, a good textbook on organic Chem 0r Biological Psych is worth the investment.
It’s a good book to keep for the long term. Although many parts of it will be obsolete in the future, much of it will still apply. Certainly the history and methods sections will still be useful. Even when new discoveries are made, it doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of people in the past. And good scientific methods will still be good scientific methods.
But even if you give the book back at the end of the term, it’s good to have. Because the primary value of the book is its voice.
When you’re studying a complex subject, it’s best to have multiple voices. Your prof will be one voice, giving you their take on the subject. And the textbook is another voice, giving you its point of view.
Think of it like watching the news from several vantage points. Getting local, national and international news from several local stations, several national sources and several countries. Every point of view adds a bit to the conversation.
In my classes, I recommend the book as an overview. This is going to vary between instructors but I don’t teach directly from the book. I can’t. When I create a course, I use several textbooks, usually 5 or 6 but it has been as many as 20. I read them all so you don’t have to. And I take the best of each. I try to tell a story over the entire term, each class helping move the plot along. So I use whatever portions work the best with where I’m headed.
From my point of view, there are three good ways to use the book. First, if you read it before going to class, you’ll get a good overview of the material. You’ll already have the context for the specifics of that session. This is the approach I recommend. Read the book like you would a fun novel. Don’t track the details or underline the quotes. Just read it for the gist of it.
Second, you can read the textbook after class. Try to do it the same day. Use it as a review and scan it for the key words you heard in the lecture. Again, at least for my classes, details are not the focus. I put everything you need to know in the notes, and highlight the most important of those in class. But if your course requires you to take notes from the book, this is the time to do it. Listen to the lecture, use it as your overview, and then extract the important content from the textbook.
Third, as a last resort, read the book before the test. This is the least satisfactory use of a text. If you must use this option, read the book after you’ve studied. Use your class notes, prof-supplied notes, book notes and anything else you can find. Study from them, then sit down and read the book as a review. Think of it as a long reminder.
Go to class & participate
Go to class, no matter what.
I know instructors vary in the quality of presentation. Some have great language skills; some have all of their skills in a language you don’t understand. Translating in your head, whether you are the teacher or the teachee, is not easy.
I also know that instructors vary in their ability to inspire and motivate. Some teachers leave you wanting more and inspire you to “go out and learn!” Others make you wish you’d been at the beach. Teaching is a skill, and there is great variety in its practice.
It’s still good to be there, even in the worst-case scenario.
Let’s assume the worst. Your instructor comes from Portugal, you come from Iceland, and the class sessions are in English. It’s a subject you’re not interest in but must take. You’re a morning person but it’s a night class that meets once a week for 3 hours, on the night your favorite TV shows are broadcast, and you can’t record them.
Let’s add to this that it’s the first time the instructor has taught this class, she’s very nervous, speaks in a monotone voice, and reads to you from the book. And you are ADHD.
These are not the best conditions for effective learning. But class is still useful. Let the voice play in the background while you study. If she’s reading the book, do something else. Use your flash cards, practice your lists. Make this a dedicated time to study the material.
In normal circumstances, there are other reasons to go to class, aside from having a set study time. You can participate in discussions, observe demonstrations and hear new explanations.
Typically, you can help direct the class session. You can ask questions, answer the prof’s prompts and supply reactions. Profs are suppose to tell dumb jokes and you’re suppose to groan; it’s part of the process. But when you don’t understand something, say so.
The value of lectures is interactivity. I work hard at making the best presentation I can. I plan the order of presentation, think about the wording and design the visuals. I use multiple illustrations, create learning projects, and incorporate videos, music, photos and animations.
But I really earn my money when a student says “I don’t get it.” Every time I teach a class, I find new ways to present the material. Over time my presentations get better. But my greatest skill is coming up with one more illustration on the spot. One more way to explain it. Or two. Or as many as needed.
Class is a great place to compare approaches. For example, if the textbook and Prof disagree, ask about it, don’t just accept it. It usually opens up a more thorough discussion of the material. There are lots of reasons for discrepancies, so take the opportunity to explore the issue in depth. So use that resource. Ask questions. Work at figuring things out. Remember, without you there, it wouldn’t be the same.
Also, if your Prof lets you out early, don’t leave. At least, don’t leave until you have all of your questions answered. I’m always surprised when I give a class time to ask questions and get clarifications but they all rush toward the door. It’s a resource they aren’t using.
Website
More and more, you’ll find your instructor has a website dedicated to your class. They will vary in quality but be sure to check out what is there.
You should also look for sites on the same subject. Obviously, I’m partial to the websites I create but check out anything you find helpful.
Pay attention to the demonstrations and videos presented in class or cited in you textbook. If they go to the effort of giving you a link, track it and see what you think. At worst, you’ll already know the info. At best, it will trigger an understanding you wouldn’t have otherwise have found.
Instructor’s preferences
Another resources is your instructor’s preferences. Profs will tell you what resources they favor. They are not usually shy about this topic.
You’ll find that some are book people. Some are lecture-centric. Some focus on in-class discussions and demonstrations. If they tell you to study the class notes, the book or both, listen. They are probably not trying to misdirect you. If they say “read the footnotes,” believe them.
Office hours
There are good and bad ways to use office hours. They are a great place to get extra help. They aren’t a replacement for not going to class or not reading the book.
Profs aren’t really sitting around waiting for someone to entertain them. They don’t need you to come to office hours to chat about music, art or funny cat videos.
They also aren’t the way to get recommendations. If you want to get good recommendations from your profs, join a small group activity. Join a research team, a psych-oriented club or take advanced seminar classes.
But if you have a question you’ve tried to answer, have asked your friends and still can’t answer, office hours are a great resource for you. If you’ve done your homework and still don’t get it, ask them to explain it again. And keep asking refining questions until you understand it.
If you’re too shy to ask questions in class or office hours, use email. Again, this is a task-oriented interaction. You can avoid spam filters by including your class name and days it meets in the subject line. “Help, I have a problem” is not as good as “Bio 255, T-Th student.” Similarly, get yourself a business-like email address. It’s hard to know who “sexycatlover92” is. Many instructors don’t open attachments. It cuts down on the number of cats singing videos and computer viruses. So don’t include attachments unless asked.
Other students
Learning is an individual activity but school is a group sport. School give you a social context for your learning. And as a social animal, surrounding yourself with people is fun.
Classmates are critical to the success of in-class demonstrations, discussions and activities. Other people give us energy. We like engaging and sharing. So any opportunity to add a social element to a learning situation is good. You can always tell what’s going on inside my class by listening at the door or walking by the window. If it’s noisy with laughter and chatter, and everyone is having fun, I’m not lecturing. It’s a discussion, project, game or other learning activity.
Other students provide emotional support and help build friendships too. There are many personal benefits that come from taking classes together. I still keep in touch with people I was in class with 12456 years ago, approximately. Great fun.
Consider adding a Coffee Conference before or after class. Take some time and some friends out for coffee, tea, water or lemonade. Use the time to discuss class material. Compare class notes and fill in any gaps you have. Then discuss how the material applies to your lives. What has touched you, turned you off or impacted you emotionally? How does this material connect to other classes you and your friends are taking? What is the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
PART 2: EXTRACT WHAT’S IMPORTANT
Before you can learn, you have to figure out what to study. This is both a process of deciding what to include and deciding what to exclude.
1. Extract From Your Textbook
Use your textbook to decide what’s important. If it’s well written, you’ll find a list of key terms at the end of each chapter. These are extremely valuable because hard classes are very vocabulary-driven course. It has a very specialized vocabulary system to keep track of hundreds of bones, dozens of nerves and several types of neurons.
For example, terms are important because we have complex biological processes. There are names for each of the 100+ neurotransmitters operating in the brain. For vision, you’ll have to label parts of the eye, retina, LGN and occipital lobe. The more complex the organism, the more words you going to need. Consequently, Biological Psych has a lot of words. Whether the tests are essay or multiple choice, you’ll need to know your vocabulary. Keep that in mind when you are extracting the important points of a textbook, paper, website or lecture. Hunt down the words.
Read your textbook with a purpose. Look for how the words are used. Unusual words are easy to find and notice. But keep track of normal words used in specialized ways. For example, when we say something is significant to us in everyday life, we mean that it is important. When psychologists use the term, they are referring to the outcome of a statistical procedure. It is a very specific meaning but those are the hardest vocabulary terms to find.
Some people like underlining the terms they find while reading. But in my experience, underlining can be one too many steps. Start with the list of key terms at the end of the chapter. Then underline any additional words you find while reading. When it comes time to make your own vocabulary list, you’ll be able to quickly find the book’s list, your list, and anything in your class notes that are unique.
2. Extract From Your Notes
If your instructor supplies notes, congratulations. That makes your life easier. You now have a map of where the session is headed. Like all maps, it won’t be an exact copy of reality. Your prof will have more or less things to say on a topic. But those notes make less work for you.
If you can, take the profs notes with you to class (physically or electronically). Print them or download them but use them at a basic form. Then annotate those notes as the class progresses. Mark the sections covered in class, the order in which they are presented (often subject to change without notice) and go from there. Add to them anything new, and mark anything you don’t understand.
The other approach to notes is to take your own. Although I supply notes before class, I often have students to prefer to take their own during class. They think of it as a separate stream of input. They get the advantage of jotting down what’s important to them and having the backup of what’s important to me.
Some take notes in outline form. Every main point is followed by an indented sub-point. The result is both visually and mentally easy to follow. The diagram clearly depicts the cascade of thoughts.
Others prefer to doodle. The trick is make the doodles connect to the material. Instead of generating random geometric patterns or cartoon characters, try making mind maps and structured overviews.
Mind maps use lines to connect related words and ideas. This is great for identifying the contribution of a given theorist to several areas of research. Many start with a single word in the middle of a blank sheet of paper and make spokes of connections to other names and terms. Some combine outlines and mind maps. They capture the structure with the outline or class notes but draw arrows and connecting lines from point to point.
Structured overviews are great for artists. Draw a picture of each concept and combine them into a single scene. A cartoon character with freckles, different eye colors and several hair colors, could be dressed in jeans (genes). Each inherited trait is tied together in a memorable image.
After class, regardless of how they are made, notes can be scanned for a quick review. Even better, if possible, schedule time right after class to consolidate your notes. Go back over what you just heard and figure out what you already know well and what you need to know better. This is a good time to add new terms to a master vocabulary list of your own.
Learning requires gathering the material, studying it and remembering it. Notes are best used in the first of those three steps. They are part of the input.
The best strategy is to combine your prof’s notes, the notes you take in class, your classmate’s notes (if any) and the notes you took on what your textbook said. That will give you the most comprehensive list of concepts and terms.
3. Extract From Lectures
Lectures vary in their purpose and style. My purpose in General Psychology, for example, is more to inspire than instruct. I try to make each class session an overview of an area they might want to study in depth. My goal is to inspire students to pursue a new area of knowledge.
Inspiration is often paired with an entertainment style. Intro classes, particularly if there are 100+ students present, are more song and dance than instructive. Many teachers use videos, games, cartoons and costumes to illustrate their points.
Detailed instructive lectures can also be entertaining but the focus is on showing the interrelationship of components. It’s showing beauty in complexity. This works really well for people who are already fascinated about a topic. Stamp collectors love detailed presentations on archival techniques more than home movies of your kids.
It’s true that presenters vary in their ability. But your job is to extract important information from the lectures, even if the presentations are dull. Sometimes you get to search inside a presentation filled with beauty and grace. Sometimes you must slog your way through the forest of bullet points. But the job is the same: find the nuggets.
Think of lectures as music. There are lyrics, rhythm and melody. The melody is the quality of voice and the beauty of the presentation. But the lyrics are more important. Listen for key words or phrases as you would in a rap. Find the rhythm patterns. Count the number of times a phrase is repeated because repetition is often a good measure of importance.
Find the rhythm and go with its flow. Just as all music has rhythm, all presentations have flow. It might be a slow moving river like the Everglades but there will be movement. Find the rhythm so you know when to listen closely and when to let your mind wander.
Wandering is fine if you know when to come back in. And it’s best if you wander within the same subject. If you’re listening to a slow moving presentation on vision, you might want to let your mind want back to remembering your list of neurotransmitters. Try to find a related topic. It’s okay to wander into a neighbor’s yard but try to stay in the same neighborhood.
Don’t just take notes robotically; record what you think is critically important. And consider getting a note buddy. Team up with one or two others and pool your lecture notes. With it comes to gathering data, more is better.
PART 3: ORGANIZE
1. Find A Theme
Most courses in psychology revolve around names. Personality removes around the names of the theorists: Freud, Adler, Skinner, Rogers, Frankl. The concepts are often similar, so it helps to organize them by person, not topic. All personality theorists have something to say about self-concept but they use different terms. Freud calls it ego, Adler focuses on the “inferiority complex,” Skinner says self-concept it a fiction and doesn’t exist. Rogers prefers “positive regard” and Frankl thinks of self-concept as a will to choose or the power of purpose.
Biology has names but they are not the organizing core of the material. There are so many experiments done by so many people that the naming convention is impractical. You need a different system.
Fortunately, Biology has a unifying theme: your body. Think of this course as a tour through your body’s systems and anatomy. For each topic, think of the body part associated with it. Hunger and thirst are highly impacted by the hypothalamus. Neurons travel from the receptors to the spinal cord and up to the brain. And each lobe of the brain has its own specialized functions. Instead of names, use location.
If you have trouble visualizing your anatomy, consider getting a physiology or anatomy coloring book. The illustrations are not so complex that you’ll get lost but are more detailed than a photo. You don’t have to actually to the coloring but many of my students report that they enjoy doing it.
2. Chunk
There is a vaudeville joke about how to eat an elephant (or horse or whatever sounded the funniest). The answer is obvious and silly. As with any meal, you break it into parts and eat it one bite at a time.
The joke does highlight the importance of the divide and conquer concept. It is the way we accomplish any goal. You write a novel one chapter at a time, one paragraph at a time, and one sentence at a time. You learn a complicated dance routine by dividing it into movements or “steps” and then connecting them together.
We use this method regularly. We do it automatically. We you see this number:
7145551212
You don’t see it as a single string of digits. You divide it up. And in a particular way. You don’t see it as:
7 14555121 2
You see it as: 714 555 1212.
You’ll recognize this fits the pattern of a US phone number. But it is also our general approach. We chunk things into groups of 3-4 items.
The discovery is best described by psychologist George Miller. Previous research showed that we can only hold a limited number of digits in short term memory. We can keep 5-9 numbers in our head long enough to dial a phone or write it down. But then we purge that short term memory store and they disappear.
Miller showed that the limit is about 7 items (plus or minus 2) but that the digits could be replaced by chunks of 3 or 4 numbers. So our 714 555 1212 is not really 10 digits; we see it as 3 groups. Three chunks.
As it turns out chunking is not limited to numbers. We can chunk (make a meaningful unit of 3 or 4 items) with words, faces and even chess positions. Basically, chunking is how our perception system works. We do remember a lot more when we break things up into smaller units.
Let’s apply this concept of chunking to our present discussion.
There are 6 main sections to this book: plan, extract, organize (where we are now), learn, remember and test prep. To remember them, we should chunk them:
plan, extract and organize
learn, remember and prep
Six item but only two chunks. Much simpler.
We do the same with the subparts. Plan had predict, balance, every day and resources. So we chunk it:
predict & balance
every day…resources
We looked at 7 resources: book, class, web, prof, office hours, email and other students. Chunk in whatever way works best for you.
book, class, web
prof, office
email & others
Or:
book, class, web, prof
office, email and others
All that matters is that the junks are small and make sense to you.
Whenever you encounter a large amount of information, chunk it into smaller parts. Remembering all of the brain functions all at once is too much. Break it down into cerebral lobes and then divide those areas into subareas. The frontal lobe, for example, is composed on the motor cortex and the premotor cortex. That’s a good start. Now chunk it further. The premotor cortex has three areas: medial, dorsolateral and orbitalfrontal. And then divide those areas down even further.
If you’re given a long list of vocabulary items, divide it into small segments. Remembering 100 words is hard but remembering 10 groups of 10 is remarkably easier. Chunking is a natural process we do automatically when processing perceptual input. Apply the process to learning vocabulary.
Your class notes are pre-chunked into days but that may not be the best way to learn the material. Sometimes topics cover multiple days. You might start a concept one day, continue it the next and also cover several smaller topics that day too. So take your notes and rewrite them into chunks that make sense to you. Ignore the day, remember the concepts.
3. Use Easy Mnemonics
Sometimes it helps to make material more memorable by changing its form or presentation style. You can combine individual items or chunks together to make things more memorable.
This is an easy process because people naively use some mnemonics. I’m not referring to the technical mnemonic systems that require a lot of work and practice, just the normal things you do naturally, such as rhymes, songs and the like.
Rhymes
You probably learned a spelling rule as the rhyme: I before E, except after F. No, I mean after C. For the last 200 years or so, people have used this rhyme to help them with spelling English words. It doesn’t work every time but it’s popular because it gives you a general head start.
You many have learned Henry VIII had 6 wives by this rhyme.
Divorced, beheaded, died
Divorced, beheaded, survived
Songs
If you put a rhyme to music, it’s a song. And another way to help us remember things.
You may have learned the Alphabet Song: A B C D E F G…, sing along!
Or maybe you learned the Fifty Nifty United States? Or learned to name notes as Do Re Mi by the song in the Sound of Music?
Try it yourself. You can make your own songs or change the lyrics to a song you know. It might be hard to come up with a good melody for lyrics like “dendrites, soma, axon hillock, axon, terminals, synapse.” But even adding just a rhythm might make this sequence easier to remember. Make your own “Neuron Rap.”
Acronyms
Another common method people use automatically is to make up acronyms. Use the first letter of each word to make something smaller to remember.
No matter where you work, you probably have acronyms for regular day off (RDO), chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), earnings per share (EPS), and return on investment (ROI). Your company might also have TQC (total quality control), KPI (key productivity indicator) and GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles).
You may have learned the names of the Great Lakes as HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior
The 7 resources we looked at could be summarized as BCW
POEO. This would help you remember them in order. But if the exact order isn’t important, you have more flexibility. You could try: BOOP CEW or PEW COBO or PO BE COW. Use whatever works for you.
Acrostics
Another method is a bit counterintuitive. Essentially, you add more stuff to make something easier to remember. It will be longer but easier.
For example, to remember the 12 cranial nerves, you could use a phrase such as: On old Olympus towering top, a Finn and German viewed some hops. The letter of each word is a cranial nerve (olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, etc.
You can use this technique for any collection of nerves, bones, brain regions or neurotransmitters. But be careful. You might remember the acrostic but not remember the items in the list. So practice the contents more than you practice remembering the mnemonic.
Visualization
People vary in their ability to visualize and in their preference for using it as a memory cue. But if you are a visualizer, this is a good approach to remembering biological-psych terms.
Visualization works best with concrete words. Use visualization to remember the areas of the brain because they are very concrete. You can draw a diagram of them, point to them on a model or identify them from a picture.
Visualizing neurotransmitters is hard because they are chemical. So do what chem students do, draw it out our use a rod & spool construction set. I used to have TinkerToys made of wood but you can also find sets made of Styrofoam or plastic.
Use your construction set to build a neurotransmitter model. It makes it easy to see relationships between similar structures. Dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine all share common structure of a benzene ring, for example. But you can use the same process to explore other neurotransmitters, hormones and drugs.
Bizarre Images
Visualization improves learning by organizing the information. We do really well when things are pre-organized for us. And that’s usually enough for us.
If visualization helps, it’s surprising that bizarre visualization doesn’t help more. It’s true that you’ll remember a blue-hatted 7-foot tall yellow bird run into the room, as long as it’s not a room filled with blue-hatted 7-foot tall yellow birds. The context makes it unusual.
You might remember an usual inherited genetic condition because you or someone you know suffers from it. But context doesn’t help you with a long list of similar terms, diseases or conditions.
Bizarre is fun but interactive is better. Playing with children’s toys helps you remember chemical structures because you interact with them. You see how things fit together in an organization.
Visualizing the four brain lobes helps you organize your knowledge of their anatomy. You can combine those images with images that would represent their function. For example, the occipital lobe is at the back of the brain and processes visual input. You could combine an image of the occipital lobe with an image of an eye. The resulting combination would help you connect the interaction of occipital with vision.
Cluster
You can combine chunks & visualization with a technique called clustering. Sometimes clustering is called diagramming, mind mapping or concept mapping. The idea is to sketch, color or visualize relationships between terms. Think of it as visualized chunking.
Start with a list of words. You can get them from your textbook, class lectures or vocabulary lists. Sort the list into clusters. Put all of the terms that relate to synapses in one group, all of the parts of the eye in another, etc.
Then when you have all of the neurotransmitters together, for example, make a sketch or diagram. Here’s one I did for the major types of neurotransmitters:
As you can see, you don’t have to be artistic to make a cluster. But if you have art skills, feel free to use them. Don’t leave key terms hidden in notes or stuck in alphabetical ordered lists. Group them into meaningful clusters so they are easy to review.
PART 4: LEARN
1. Learn Until Competent
You are very smart. Your built-in systems are great analyzers and predictors of patterns. Consequently, you tend to study until you are confident you know the material.
The problem is that our confidence usually comes before our competence. We stop when we think we have it, not when we can prove we can do it.
Have you ever thought you were ready but then been in a band performance that sucked, a play that flopped or given a speech that was halting? You know from your own experience that you can forget your lyrics or that your joke sounds a lot funnier in your head. Things don’t always come out as well as we planned.
We reach the 90% mark and then envision what it will be like. We expect the future to be a smooth continuation of the present. But we underestimate actual performance.
Our underestimation is why coaches, directors and conductors ask us to go over that routine one more time or several. We want to stop too early. They want to encourage us beyond our mental limit.
In studying, no one is there to push you beyond confidence. You have to be both student and coach. You have to be the director that yells “One more take.”
Keep going until your self-testing proves that you know the material cold. Hot learning means you know it when you leave the class or when you’ve just finished studying. You’re confident. Competence is knowing it when the mental trail has gone cold.
The technical term for continuing on is over-learning. It is learning it more than minimal, more than confident. When you over-learn, you go beyond your comfort. You do it until you can do it consistently.
Keep at until you can do it. Start with a blank piece of paper and generate an illustration or draw a diagram. List all the names and identify the bones. When you can do it, your confidence will be based on action. It’s the difference between being able to recognize a picture of a frog and dissecting a frog.
Fortunately, no frog need lose their lives for you to show your competence in Biological Psych. You can settle for drawing a diagram of a neuron, indentifying each part and explaining the process of despoliation.
2. Personalize Your Study
Everyone is different. So do what works for you. Most people can’t study and listen to music at the same time (they think they can but they can’t). But if you’re the 1 in 10,000 that can, do it.
The nice thing about studying is the feedback. If you get an A, you know your study system works. If you’re not getting the grade you want, you can make changes for the next test.
Some people find it helpful to read several textbooks and the dictionary. Some people love flash cards. Others like listening. Does it help to record the lectures and listen to them again? Go for it.
In my experience, it’s not always easy to get what you need but it’s worth the effort. I’ve always had vision problems. I know what it’s like to have to get up out of my front row seat and go to the blackboard so I can read what the teacher wrote there. I learned to ignore the “get out of the way” from the other students. It’s your education. Do whatever it takes to get what helps you.
3. Pretend You’re A Prof
This is a two step process. First, go through your accumulated study material. Gather all of the terms, ideas and lists you’ve acquired from your readings, class notes, etc. Put them all together. Hopefully your Prof did this for you in some sort of vocabulary list. But if not, do it for yourself.
Second, once you have everything collected, write some test questions for your own use. Not everything can be made into a test question, so pick things you can write questions about. There might have been a discussion in class about when life begins but it is unlikely to be a multiple choice item. Similarly, it’s implausible that you’ll be asked your opinion about animal cruelty as a true-false question.
Although essay questions often cover major theories and life issues, in psychology the focus is on how the arguments are made and the evidence you supply. The grade is not based on your conclusion but how you get there. The same is true about items on theorists. Opinions by theorists can be important (compare this theory to that theory) but your personal opinions are lower on the test making hierarchy. The facts in dispute are important but you personal views are unlikely to become test items.
For example, an item might ask you to describe the process of neural transmission but the key is to give an answer with specifics. In order to get full credit, you have to mention terminal buttons, neurotransmitters, diffusion, dendrites, neurotransmitter-gated ion channels, depolarization, voltage-gated ion channels, sodium rushing in, potassium rushing out, hyperpolarization and the absolute refractory period.
Multiple choice tests use several items to get to the same sequence. One item might focus on which direction sodium moves and another might ask you to distinguish between types of channels. Each question is short but the combination of items will show whether you understand how a neuron functions.
Format (essay or multiple choice) isn’t as important as predicting the important points. Decide what to study by evaluating the specificity of the material. If you see a list of Four Principles of Perception or any topic with several components, those are good for test creation.
Some items will ask for distinctions between alternatives. An item might ask you to choose the which brain lobe controls language, sound or vision. These are general distinctions of functions. Other items will ask for you to distinguish small difference, such as between parts of the hypothalamus, for example. Some items ask you to apply a concept. These are what-will-happen-if kinds of questions. If blood pressure is high, what will happen to the blood-brain barrier?
The trick is to write your own. You have all the material gathered. Write questions on the material as if you were creating the test. Organize the information by making your own tests.
4. Prepare To Teach
Continue the idea of being your own instructor by making your own lectures, slide shows and videos. Once you have the material collected together, prepare artwork or diagrams or whatever you would make if you were teaching this material to someone else.
Prepare for you what works for you. If you’re a film maker, here’s an opportunity to put your skills to good use. Make a video that explains the material is a way that makes sense to you.
Or if you’re an artists, create a mural, poster or cartoon that summarizes the course material. Use whatever skills you have to help yourself. Translate the material into your language.
You don’t have to share what you make with others. The act of making is can be enough. When you use PowerPoint or KeyNote, you have to think about what to put on the slides. If you make a podcast, you have to write a script or edit your ramblings. In my experience, the process of creating training materials helps you figure out new relationships between lesson components.
5. Rely On Yourself
Learning is not a group activity but people do provide context. You and your friends can learn something at the same time but it is an individual activity for each of you. Just because one member of the group “gets it” doesn’t mean everyone else does.
At some point, you have to rely on yourself. At least, rely on yourself first. You are going to be graded on individual accomplishment, not on group effort. Like a good athlete, put in your time before you get together with your teammates.
Don’t let a study group be your guide. My best suggestion is to study first alone and then utilize the group. Study groups typically don’t study, they review. Review is a great thing to do after you’ve learned the material but doesn’t replace individual work.
6. Teach Your Cat Or Teddy Bear
It doesn’t matter if you teach another person or your teddy bear. But learning things well enough to teach them is a good example of over-learning. It is also a good way to quickly identify gaps in your knowledge.
This is a good use of study groups. In general, study groups are not helpful when you don’t know any of the material. You can’t really get others to read for you or rewrite your notes. To really benefit from a study group, you need to already have studied on your own. You’d be better off to think of them as review groups. Use them after you think you’re ready for the test. Use them the same way you do a final review before you turn in your tax return.
PART 5: REMEMBER
1. Don’t Reread The Notes
Some people think that studying is re-reading. They re-read the book, re-read their notes, or re-read the lectures (or re-listen to them). But studying is imposing your organization on the material. Rereading your notes won’t help you much. It’s better than doing nothing but it is not as good as learning the concepts.
Rereading increases familiarity. It’s one of those things we do that sounds smart but doesn’t actually help. It’s like learning to recite a speech without understanding what it means. Recognizing words you’ve seen is not the same as knowing what they mean.
Familiarity is also a problem when studying old tests. You become familiar with the wording but not the underlying information. If the new test has minor changes in the wording, you can get the item wrong because you read it quickly and remembered the old item.
Think of notes and old tests as raw material. Use them to find the key words you’ll need and to see what is generally covered. Old tests might help you guess what format the next test will have but don’t count on it. Instructors sometimes change their minds.
Study the words you extracted from your notes. I like to highlight the main concepts and definitions in notes. Once I’ve marked it all up, I list (type…I have lousy handwriting) all of those terms. Then I cluster them, usually on paper but I’m getting better at doing it electronically.
I start with a blank piece of paper. I put words I think go together into groups. Sometimes I circle them or link them with lines but often it’s just the words. But use whatever method works for you.
2. Don’t Forget
This is a great tip you can use best if you’ve been studying every day. Or at least studying regularly.
As it turns out, it is easier to remember things than to learn them. So once you’ve gone to the effort of learning something, it makes sense to make sure it stays in there. You want to avoid having to relearn things. The idea is to do it once. Learn once, remember forever.
Your memory systems will store something if they think it’s important to you. And one of the key indicators of your priorities is retrieval. If you don’t regularly retrieve things from memory, it will disappear.
Applying this to learning a difficult class, is easy. Once you get a vocabulary list, junk it into small sections. On day 1, pick a chunk and learn the definitions of each in it. On day two, test your ability to recall the definitions. Simple flash cards will work.
If you don’t remember them all, chunk the chunk into a smaller list and try again. Every time you’re not successful, break that list into a smaller segment.
If you remember them all, wait two days and retest yourself. If successful, wait three days. Every time you’re successful, extend the amount of time to the next self test. Eventually, you will be able remember all the definitions. And you’ll never forget them….as long as you occasionally retrieve them.
3. Prepare For Your Test
If you’ve done all the other steps, this one will be the easiest. You’ll have already done all the hard work. They’re not much left to do.
Test your competence
If you can do the sample tests you’ve created, you’re doing good. If you can answer the items your prof gives you on practice quizzes, you’re doing great.
Once you are competent, you will be more confident. Base your confidence on your ability to diagram the brain or neuron or drug reaction process. You’ve done it lots of times in practice. You only have to do it once on the test.
Don’t be neurotic
If you can do the work and are still not confident, studying isn’t your solution. Studying and practicing get you ready for performance. And if you can perform the task consistently, you’re ready for the test.
When we know we can do the work but we’re still worried about the test, we’ve got to consider the problem isn’t the work. Test anxiety for someone who is well prepared is just anxiety.
We tend to be anxious in two ways. We either worry that we’re not good enough or that something bad will happen.
For most people, our worry of not being good enough declines with success. The more practice problems we solve, the better we feel. The more practice tests we ace, the more confident we are. In this case, the cure for mild anxiety is competence.
Our fear that bad things will happen usually comes when we feel our whole lives are at stake. If we don’t pass this one test, we’ll be doomed. We’ll never get into grad school, we’ll be penniless and no one will love us. This is the silliness of perfectionism.
No one is perfect and life won’t always turn out the way you want. The cure for a mild case of perfectionism is reality. Put things in context. This is only one test of hundreds. You would prefer it to go well. But even if you fail, your puppy will still love you. You’ll be okay.
If you’re saying to yourself that your case is different, and I just don’t understand how scary this is or what’s at stake, then I have another suggestion. It’s a tip you should consider seriously. If you are really, really anxious about tests, school or life, get some professional help. Find someone who will guide you through this challenge. Everyone needs help from someone. Find the most qualified person you can. Give it a try. You may have tried before. Try again.
Sleep
One of the major things you’ll learn in Biological Psych is that sleep is more important than you thought it was. You really need to get good sleep on a regular basis.
Apply that knowledge to your whole semester and particularly to the weeks you have tests. If you’re not sleeping well or long enough, you won’t be able to do your best. It would be like racing your car with an un-tuned engine. Sleep tunes up your brain automatically. And all you need to do is give it enough time to work.
Think of it as reformatting your hard drive or balancing your wheels. But this is someone you can do yourself. There’s no specialized training required. When in doubt, get some sleep.
