The Crunch Time

It's crunch time for me--and for you. For me, I've got 18 projects due for my "other employer" for a December 1 deadline. (No, that's not a typo: eighteen projects.) Then, I've got 2 more projects due later in the month. That's on top of marking term papers, prepping exams, and getting courses ready for next term.

As for you, you should be well underway writing your term papers--not deciding on topics, or looking for papers and books to read. If you want the best possible mark, now is go time.

Not getting the marks you want so far this term? It's not too late. I've written posts on improving exam prep, learning, and studying; just click on the Category links on the right side of this page. I've also got a page of study resources for you.

The Student Success Centre has workshops coming up soon, but you better hurry, time is running out! Need help writing your term paper, the Centre for Writers is still open, but only until the last day of class (but that's when your term papers are due anyway, right?).

Why aren't you studying?

Exam Prep I: "Do I have to know this...?"

At this time of year, students are starting to prep for exams, which is good. How do I know students are prepping? By The Question I get asked. The Question is: "Do I have to know this...?" This is not a stupid question. I'd love to say that there are no stupid questions, but one like "Is this going to be on the exam?" is close. Er, why don't I just give you a copy of the exam so you can see what's on it?

Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I get snarky when that one comes up. Don't take offence at my snarkiness. It's just that I'm tired of answering certain questions over and over. That's why I've decided to write a post about it--so I don't have to answer it over and over. I hope.

And don't think that I'm writing this post because you were the one who asked me The Question. Lots of people have asked me The Question over the years. And lots have asked it already this term. In fact, I planned on writing about The Question this week a long time ago. So get over it.

I know what's happening when The Question starts to form in a student's mind. They're reading the textbook and increasingly getting overwhelmed by all the names and dates in the first chapter. There so much stuff--most of it not even mentioned in lectures. "Gosh, I'm getting tired. It's going to take me a long time and a lot of effort to commit all of this information to memory, and to understand all the different names for things. Hmm, maybe I'd be wasting my time learning about all of this. I better check with the instructor and see." Aaaand The Question is born, and gets sent off through the Intertubes to me, landing in my inbox. Ping!

Can you see my frustration with The Question? There are a couple of things. First: No, there will not be exam questions on everything--that's impossible. I cannot test every single concept presented in the textbook and in lectures. The test would be thousands of questions long. The best I can do is take a random sample of those questions. If you've learned everything in the course so far, it shouldn't matter what content the questions address. On the other hand, if you've been a bit...intellectually lazy and skipped over things that were long, complicated, or hard, there will be gaps in your knowledge. Exams should be designed to reveal those gaps, in order to differentiate among students' learning.

Second, the little vignettes and stories at the start of every chapter will not be on the exam. But that doesn't mean you should ignore them. Why did the textbook author spend time writing them? To help you understand the context and reason for the chapter? To illustrate an important concept? So, do you need to know that specific story or not? Probably not. But by reading it, you'll better understand the concept it's trying to teach you.

Third, names and dates. Yes, I'm deliberately wasting your time, sir. Or, wait. Am I? Is an important part of learning about psychology to know the contributions made by philosophers, scientists, and psychologists? To know their names? And to know when in history those contributions were made? If you want to become a psychologist, is all of that important? In the science biz, the way that we refer to important research is not by where it was done (although the media love to report the institution for some reason), but by who did it, and when. One psychologist will sling around names like "Smith, Shoben, and Rips", "Treisman and Gelade", and "Ramachandran and Hubbard, '07" and another psychologist will know instantly what the other is talking about. But then, psychologists know all about psychology and you don't. Not yet. You get to know a lot about psychology by reading and remembering it, not by skipping over a bunch of it. On the other hand, from a pedagogical standpoint, is there value in evaluating students on their ability to rote memorize what seems like a meaningless string of names and numbers?

So, in answer to The Question, "Do I have to know this...?"

No. No, you don't.

You also don't have to pass the course, or get an A. Students who do, will know...

Why aren't you studying?

The SQ4R Study Method: Review

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the sixth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, done some reading, recited what you've read, and related it to other things you know. This installment: R (the fourth).

The fourth R is for "review." This does not mean that you frantically try to cram all of your notes into your short-term memory 10 minutes before an exam. This is called "cramming," and it's a poor learning strategy--it may even reduce your retention.

A proper review is done well in advance of an exam. For example, you can go over the questions I pose in lectures, as part of the objectives for every topic. You can answer practice questions that are commonly provided by publishers on a textbook's companion website. Or you can go back and think about the questions you asked yourself before you read the chapter. Can you answer these questions? Or (even better) how well can you answer these questions?

After assessing your learning, you should have a pretty good idea of the things you understand well, and, er...everything else. After identifying the material that's giving you problems, you can do the actual review. This may involve going back and re-reading certain parts of a chapter, or asking your instructor (or the teaching assistant) for further help. By the way, there's nothing wrong with asking for help. Think of it this way: Would you rather struggle with something you don't understand and get a below-average mark? Or would you rather summon up your courage and talk to the instructor, allowing him or her to help you understand something better, and get an above-average mark? Hmm?

(Inside secret: Instructors love it when they can help a student learn something better--whether it's in class, or one-on-one, it doesn't matter. It makes us think we're doing a good job, and not just wearing out our shoes walking to and from class every day. We are resources for you to exploit! Wait, that didn't come out right...)

Why aren't you studying? reviewing?

The SQ4R Study Method: Relate

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the fifth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, done some reading, and recited what you've read. This installment: R (the third).

This third R stands for "relate," and it's based on a fundamental aspect of human memory. When we learn and remember something, it's not like the memory gets plunked into a little mailbox. We learn by associating new things with things that we already know. The implication is that if you want to remember something, it's best to tie it into your knowledge structures.

Now, if you've just read something that didn't make any sense (don't worry, this happens to the best of us--er, I mean other people), it's going to be pretty hard to relate it to other things you know. Take learning the alphabet: alphabetical order doesn't relate to anything else you know, so you've got to learn a little song to help you remember its arbitrary order. This explains why it's so difficult to remember things that are complete gobbledygook--nonsense is impossible to tie into our existing memories. So, things have to make sense. Fortunately, the previous step of reciting has helped ensure that you know what you've read (see how things are getting integrated together so nicely?).

When you're reading and you really want to remember what you've learned, think of how the material relates to you personally. Fortunately, this applies easily to psychology, especially topics like memory, sleep, and learning. (OK, not so much when it comes to sociopathic behaviour or brain damage, I hope.) But even if the things you're learning do not apply to you, research shows that the enhancement of learning and remembering comes when you do the comparison. So if you're reading about sociopathic behaviour and conclude that that's so not you, you've just improved your learning. Bonus!

Why aren't you studying? relating?

The SQ4R Study Method: Recite

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the fourth of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook, asked yourself some questions, and done some reading. This installment: R (the second).

That's right, there's another R. "SQ4R" doesn't mean you read something 4 times. I guess that can't hurt, but we're looking for more efficient ways of studying and learning here, right? This second R stands for recite. Although you can do this step out loud, you might feel a bit self-conscious about it if you're studying in the library. (SHHHH!) So, a better thing to do is write it down. Write what down?

In doing the recite step, you should recite (or write) in your own words what you've just read. So for example, after reading a section, stop and pull out a piece of paper (or pull out your computer) and try to come up with a summary of what you've just read in your own words. It's important that you put things into your own words. In fact, if you don't put things in your own words, you're mostly wasting your time: you're just copying words from the textbook. If you are able to do this, you're actively organization and interpreting the information you've read.

Research shows that this approach is far superior to a passive approach, like copying sentences from the textbook or (shudder) highlighting. Also, if you are unable to put things into your own words, it reveals a problem with your understanding. This step isn't perfect, because you might put things into your own words that are wrong. Oops. So it can't help you detect a misunderstanding, just a lack of understanding.

At the end of this step, you'll have several pages of notes summarizing the chapter you've read. This is handy for studying and refreshing your memory before an exam. If you don't have time to go through everything you've written, that's OK. The learning takes place not when you re-read your notes, but when you write them down in the first place. Neat, eh?

Why aren't you studying? reciting?

The SQ4R Study Method: Read

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the third of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook and asked yourself some questions. This installment: R (the first).

This first "R" stands for read. Yup, it's OK to go ahead and read the--no, wait! Hold on just a second. Let me elaborate just a bit on that.

You should be reading to try and answer the questions you just finished asking yourself. This makes reading a more active process, as opposed to a passive one. But that's not all: you should also consider your reading environment.

Your textbook is open in front of you, you're checking your text messages, one of your iPod's earbuds is tucked into one ear, and the TV is on--is this you? If so, you're not reading. I don't know what the heck you're doing, but you're not reading. Your eyes may be moving across the page, but you're not letting your brain absorb the material because your attention is elsewhere. It's the myth of multitasking. So, turn off your gadgets, get away from distractions and interruptions, and find a quiet place where you can concentrate on what you need to learn. This is what's called "studying."

Why aren't you studying? reading?

The SQ4R Study Method: Question

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the second of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. So far, you've surveyed a chapter in your textbook. This installment: Q.

The "Q" stands for question. Here's a question: What do I question? Good question.

While you are surveying a chapter, ask yourself this question: "What question is this chapter trying to answer?" or "What's the point of this chapter?" And then be more specific, going into more detail, "What's the point of this section?" You should also ask yourself, "What questions do I have about this topic that this chapter might answer?"

You can try turning headings into questions. For example, when reading a section called "The stages of sleep," ask "What are the stages of sleep? How many stages are there? How are they different?" You can also turn things around and ask very broad big-picture-type questions like, "Why is this reading assigned?" and "Why is this chapter included in this book?" Asking yourself these kinds of questions is important to start you thinking about what you know (or don't know) and what you're about to read (yes, that's coming--be patient).

You'll notice that I've tried to help you with this step in my lecture notes. At the start of every lecture topic, I give the objectives for the lecture as a series of questions. This will help prepare you for what's to follow, and you can use my questions to help you review after I've finished the lecture. You're welcome!

Here's one last question:

Why aren't you studying? questioning?

The SQ4R Study Method: Survey

The "SQ4R" study method is an evidence-based strategy to maximize the gains you get from studying. The name is an abbreviation, with each letter describing one step of the process. (And yes, SQ4R is an upgrade to SQ3R.) This is the first of a series of posts (collect 'em all!) that describe all six steps. This installment: S.

The "S" stands for survey. Before you start to read a chapter of a textbook, take a couple of minutes to skim through it. Don't actually read it now (that comes later). Get an overall impression of the chapter, and try to understand the organizational structure. There will likely be introductory material, and also summary paragraphs or points (or both).

Well-written textbooks will have a hierarchical organization: major topics are presented first, followed by more and more detailed ideas after that. Knowing that your textbook is organized in this way will make things easier to learn when you actually start reading the chapter (no, don't start reading yet).

Check for a glossary at the end of the chapter; you'll almost always find a list of important terms there. Some textbooks put important terms and definitions in the margins or at the bottom of the page. You can come back to these later, when you read the chapter. (No--no reading! Just skimming. Skim!) Surveying gives you an overview of what lies ahead.

Why aren't you studying? surveying?

The Spacing Effect

There is a finding in the scientific literature that's been known for over 100 years. Recent research has continued to support its existence, and it turns out to be one of the most robust effects ever discovered about memory and learning. The problem is, few people know about it. It's called: The Spacing Effect.

This effect was first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus, who discovered it while doing a series of experiments on his own memory. In short, he found that, although repetition helped him remember things, spacing the repetitions over time led to a big improvement in his ability to remember.

When you're studying, the spacing effects says that it's counterproductive to repeat what you've studied immediately after you've studied it once. Instead, you should actually let some time go by before you refresh your memories. How much time? That depends--when do you need to know the information? Here's the deal, taken from a study published in 2008:

When the gap between initial learning and test date was a week, the optimum review took place a day after initial learning... With a month gap, the ideal review occurred after about a week; with a year, the prime review came three weeks after learning.

So, midterms are roughly a month apart, right? That means you should be reviewing and repeating the material about every week.

The research shows that not only is spaced repetition a benefit to your remembering, but also that cramming is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Really bad. Did I mention it's bad? Optimally spaced repetition beat cramming by 77% to 111%. Note that a 100% improvement would mean a doubling of performance. Yeah, it's that good.

The bottom line: everyone should space out.

(For more, read the article, "Will that be on the test?" from the APS Observer.)

Why aren't you studying?

The Better Grades

Flipped open the most recent issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science today. The first study grabbed my attention: it's about factors related to students getting higher grades. Does it have your attention now, too?

This study was a meta-analysis, which is an analysis of previously published studies. This means it's probably going to give a pretty accurate big picture on academic performance. It's obvious that a good predictor of how you're going to do in a given course is how well you've done in previous courses. Unfortunately, but it's a bit of a circular argument. (Why did you perform at the level you did in the previous course? Because of how you did in the previous course, etc.) So this study helps break out of that circle.

This study found three factors that are really important contributing factors. First, study motivation was found to be a reliable predictor of GPA. Translation: the more enthused you are about a course, the better you're likely to do. OK, so how do you do that? Choose your courses carefully, and take courses that you want to take, as much as possible. If you're in law school and hating every second of it, how much fun is it going to be when you're a lawyer? (Granted, there are also external or "extrinsic" motivators. Getting filthy rich is an extrinsic motivator for some people. Hmph.)

Study skills include your time management skills, your ability to handle demands, and your capability to organize, summarize, and integrate material. If all you do is memorize stuff, your study skills could use an upgrade. Can you see the big-picture, or patterns in the things you're trying to learn? Study skills also had strong relationships with GPA and individual class grades. (Didja know you can get help with this?)

Next, study habits were also found to be predictive of performance. This includes having discipline in how you study: how often, whether your review, and even your choice of an environment that's conducive to studying (i.e., iPod turned off, no TV or computer, no other distractions).

Lastly, I wanted to mention that having study anxiety was a negative predictor of performance; that is, if studying or writing an exam freaks you out, you're less likely to do well. (Didja know you can get help with this, too?)

Here's the reference for this study:
Crede, M., & Kuncel, N. R. (2008). Study habits, skills, and attitudes: The third pillar supporting collegiate academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 425-453.

Why aren't you studying?

The Importance of Sleep

OK, so this is on my mind all the time: sleep. I want it. I need it. The more the better. Cuz babies are sleep-stealers, you know. Waa, waa, waa, all night. Then they close their li'l eyes and drift off to sleep the moment your alarm goes off and you have to go to work and they end up sleeping all day. *sigh*

If you've gone through intro psych, you know a bit about sleep: circadian rhythms, stages of sleep, that kind of stuff. I hope your prof also talked about the psychological effects of sleep as well. Research since the mid-1990s has shown the critical importance of sleep to learning and remembering.

One study looked at neural activity as rats learned to go through a maze. Based on the pattern of neural activity alone, the researchers could tell where the rats were in the actual maze, tracing their route from start to finish. The electrodes were still in the rats as they slept, and the researchers continued to examine neural activity. The pattern of brain activity in sleeping rats was the same as when they were actually running through the maze. The brain seems to be replaying experiences at night when you sleep.

Studies on people show improvements in all kinds of tasks with sleep, including visual and language tasks, logic puzzles, and generally improving memories. When cut back on sleep (e.g., by staying up late or pulling an all-nighter), you're not helping your brain do it's best to form, consolidate, and strengthen the things you're trying to learn. If you're a sleepless, tired student trying to pack as much as you can into your cranium, you're missing out on a great, free, useful tool to getting better grades: blissful sleep.

Want to read more? Scientific American Mind has a great article (I love the title): Sleep on It: How Snoozing Makes You Smarter.

Why aren't you studying? (Or sleeping?)

The Memory: 1

I've been lecturing on memory recently. It's a great topic because you can apply the results of research to your own memory and studying.

First, if there's anything the research tells us, it's that memory isn't one thing. As I've talked about before, we can remember specific memories (called verbatim traces), but we can also store more general information related to the memory (called gist).

This gives us an important clue about memory: it's not just about the memory--it's also about things related to the memory. It suggests that memories in our heads are very different from those in a computer. In a computer, each memory occupies a lonely little memory location on a chip--whichever one is available. In our heads, in contrast, incoming memories look for a good place to land. They want to stick to things that they are similar to. This is why it's hard to remember things if they don't make sense to you: the memories have nowhere to land.

Second, there's a neat effect known as context-dependent memory. It's the fact that where you are will influence your ability to remember things you learned in that location. If you come to class, you'll learn all kinds of neat psychology-flavoured bits (at least, if you're in my class you will). The words I say and the words that appear on the big screen do no exist apart from their context; rather, they are a part of the context (clever, innit? ;-) This is good reason to come to class--especially if the exam is held in the classroom. If you're just mooching the lecture notes off someone else, you're missing that experience. (Real keeners are known to study the textbook in the classroom as well.)

Again, this tells us that memories are more than just random bits that get stuffed into your brain. Yes, they do get stored, but the situation matters. Why? Recent research has used brain scans to analyze the brain while it's learning (or encoding memories) and again when it's remembering (or retrieving memories). The patterns in both cases are remarkably similar. If you learn something in one environment and then try to remember it in another environment, it will be more difficult because the patterns of brain activity (partially produced by your environment) will be a bit different.

So, here are the upshots. First, if you're trying to commit a definition to memory, try to remember an example of that as well. If you want to remember that episodic memories are about your personal life events, think of some significant event from your own life--like the last party you went to (if you can remember it).

Second, go to class. Maybe your final exam isn't in the classroom (although mine are--that's my choice), your midterms are. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bit of a free memory boost when you're writing an exam?

Why aren't you studying?

The Exam Prep: 1

Midterms are fast approaching. Here's some advice that's a bit obvious, but maybe also helpful:

• Do read the textbook. Stunningly obvious, no? Unfortunately, some first-year students don't realize that at university, you're expected to actually read the textbook. In my course syllabi (academic word for "course outline"), I have a table which lists my lectures by week. There's a separate column for assigned readings. Typically, each lecture topic corresponds with a textbook chapter.

• Do read the textbook in the right environment. TV on? Rockin' your iPod? Tickling your sweetie? No. No. No. All of these things use up your attentional resources and distract you from reading your textbook. Sweetie will have to wait.

• Don't use a highlighter. Take a look at past chapters: have you just been "painting" your textbook? Highlighting is laziness; you're just going, "This looks important. I better remember to actually learn that--later." If there's an important term, it's already in bold.

• Do take active notes. After reading a section of a textbook, try to summarize what it was all about in your own words. Don't just copy definitions word-for-word. Yes, this takes a lot of time and effort. Know what? The learning takes place not when you review these notes, but when you make them. If you also have time to review them, so much the better.

• Do review your lecture notes. Sometimes things make perfect sense when you've just heard my explanation of it in class. But a month later, you might look at the same stuff and go, "What?" If you don't understand something, your instructors (or the teaching assistants) can help--if there's enough time left before the exam.

• Do make up flashcards. You may feel like an x-treme keener, but it works. On one side of a card, write an important term. On the other, write the definition. Shuffle the cards, and pick one. Do you recognize the term? Can you write down the definition on a separate sheet of paper? You may be able to do both of these things, and conclude that you're wasting your time. Not so: you added to your learning when you made the flashcards.

• Do get enough sleep. There are so many studies that show how important sleep is to learning (and other things), it's not even funny. And why are you pulling an all-nighter anyway? Aren't you keeping up with the assigned readings?

These should be enough tips to keep you busy until your midterms. Tips for writing exams are coming up!

Why aren't you studying?

The Fuzzy Trace Theory

When students come to see me after after doing badly on an exam, I ask, "Did you feel you were familiar with the material?" The response is usually, "Yeah, I thought I knew it." (Students who bomb an exam they didn't study for don't come to me for advice on what went wrong ;-)
So the student clearly studied--what happened?

The answer must lie in either the quantity or quality of studying. Let's start with quantity: the more you study, the better you'll tend to do. But there are only so many hours in a day. You have a bunch of courses to study for, you want to have some downtime, you want to sleep. Telling students to just spend more time studying is disingenuous.

What if you could study better?

Fuzzy trace theory (Brainerd & Reyna, 2002 [pdf]) was originally about the development of children's memory, but it can also be applied to adults. It says there are two parallel memory representations formed in your mind:

• verbatim traces: remembering things exactly, word-for-word, and
• gist traces: remembering the general meaning of things

For example, if you hear the word spaniel, a verbatim trace would consist of actually remembering the word "spaniel"; a gist trace would be things that you know about spaniels (e.g., spaniels are hunting dogs, with long coats and drop ears). So, generally, verbatim memories are more specific than gist memories.

What does this have to do with studying? If you study, say, the definition of "structuralism" so that you form a verbatim memory, you will be able to write down the complete definition. However, a gist memory of "structuralism" would be more vague, like "something about consciousness," "an approach in psychology," or even "a word from my psych class." Which of these two memories would you prefer to have during an exam?

If you're studying for an essay/long-answer exam, you will work to form verbatim traces so you can put down the actual definition. You may use flashcards, or even practice writing the definitions of important terms and concepts.

When it comes to multiple-choice exams, however, there's a tendency to be more complacent: "The answer will be right in front of me, all I have to do is recognize it." Unfortunately, multiple-choice exams tend not to have gist questions like this:

1. Do you recognize this word from the textbook: structuralism?
a) yes
b) no

Instead, questions are designed to test your verbatim traces:

1. What is the fundamental basis of structuralism?
a) Analyzing abnormal conscious processes to treat clients.
b) Focusing on observable behaviours, and how they are modified by the environment.
c) Decomposing conscious processes into basic elements.
d) Studying the purpose of certain mental processes.

Forming verbatim traces requires more intensive study. That means making your own notes as you read the chapters, and using aids like flashcards. Now you've got a conceptual understanding of why familiarity with material is not as good as actually, thoroughly knowing it. (By the way, the answer is "c." UWO has some resources about "when in doubt, pick c" under Relying on Myths and Misconceptions on their Writing Multiple Choice Tests page.)

Why aren't you studying?

Reference: Brainerd, C.J., & Reyna, V.F. (2002). Fuzzy-trace theory and false memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 164-169.