Posted 9:20 a.m. Monday, Jan. 13, 2025
Eugenia Turov, director of the Tutoring and Learning Center at UW-La Crosse, offers key strategies for successful studying in her video series. She calls them the "4 S’s of Successes"—four essential steps to help students achieve their academic goals.
Step 1: Sequencing – prepare to learn
The first step in effective studying is sequencing: organizing yourself before, during, and after class to optimize learning.
“Effective studiers don’t just show up to class,” says Turov. “They pre-plan and get ready to learn.”
Here’s how to do it:
- Pre-read the material: Skim your assigned readings or focus on headings, bold terms, and key concepts. This gives you a mental framework for the upcoming lecture and boosts your retention by exposing you to the material more than once.
- Take smart notes: During a lecture, don’t try to write everything down. Focus on what the instructor emphasizes, repeats or writes —these points are usually the most important. The Cornell note taking method (explained in the video) is an effective way to take notes on your readings prior to class while leaving space for what you will learn in class.
- Summarize after class: Write a short summary of what you learned in your own words. Combining lecture and pre-class notes, this summary helps reinforce the material and serves as a valuable review tool later on.
Step 2: Scheduling – make study time a habit
Creating a consistent study routine is key to avoiding procrastination. Keep a weekly planner that includes all your commitments—classes, meals, workouts, and extracurricular activities. Then, block out regular study time around these commitments.
For example, even with just 30 minutes between classes, you can:
- Review the textbook or readings
- Work on homework or assignments
- Summarize your last lecture
- Preview upcoming material
- Practice problems you’ve already seen in class
For exam prep, Turov recommends breaking your study sessions into multiple, focused one-hour (or ideally two-hour) blocks leading up to the test. Cramming isn’t effective, especially for subjects that build upon previous lectures.
Step 3: Surround – create a productive study environment
Your environment plays a big role in how well you study. To maximize focus:
- Find a quiet space: Choose a distraction-free zone where you can concentrate fully.
- Put away your phone: Even if you don’t check it, having your phone nearby steals focus. Research shows that just knowing your phone is within reach uses up valuable brainpower. Turov recommends setting a timer for focused study sessions, such as 30 minutes, followed by a short break to check your phone.
- Consider the people around you. Join or form a study group to review material, quiz each other, and explain difficult concepts. Teaching others is one of the most effective ways to reinforce your own understanding. UWL students can use the Navigate app to connect with classmates for study sessions.
Step 4: Self-Test – quiz yourself to solidify learning
The most powerful studying tool is self-testing. Testing yourself mimics the exam environment and helps strengthen your recall.
- Use flashcards or online Quizlet to quiz yourself. Research suggests that spacing out your testing over multiple sessions (nine times is ideal) strengthens retention.
- Leverage practice problems: Use practice problems, study guides, and any other resources your instructor provides—these are valuable tools for preparing.
- Review actively: As you go through your notes, pause to ask yourself questions, rephrase information, or create examples to check your understanding.
- Study in groups: Testing yourself with others is even more effective. Group self-testing allows you to compare answers and explanations, helping you identify areas where you might need to focus more.
By following the 4 S’s—Sequencing, Scheduling, Surrounding, and Self-testing—students can improve their study habits, retain more information, and perform better academically. The key is consistency and preparation: the more you practice these strategies, the more effective your studying will be.