Campus Connection

By Charlene Holler, Academic Specialist, Counseling and Testing Center In past weeks I have talked about study strategies with your texts, your notes, your class times and your free time. But underlying all of these tips is the importance of review. Whether you call it review, practice, rehearsal, repetition, or drilling, material must be revisited. And, when the information is the most difficult it must be reviewed more often. A thorough learning of the details, facts and terms will give you the foundation you need to understand how that material fits into the broader concepts. That foundation is what you need for those testing questions and scenarios that ask you to make connections and to demonstrate applications. Reviewing should begin as soon as you learn new material. Always tie the new material into what you already know. Also, if you look for patterns and relationships, the learning of the new material will be easier. Then review briefly, but frequently. Several 30-minute reviews done daily, or even every other day, will be much more effective than two hours of study several weeks from your exposure to that information. It is all about working smarter, not longer.