The Secret Behind Studying

Senior year. I’ve learned a lot of things, but one of the most important I am about to share with all of you. Mind blown!

Some Data

According to a study done by the University of Waterloo, “You are more likely to remember something if you read it out loud.”

In longer words, Noah Forrin states “When we add an active measure or a production element to a word, that word becomes more distinct in long-term memory, and hence more memorable.”

Some Context, Some of the story

Recently, I had my CP Economics Unit #1 test and my AP Precalculus Quiz. For my Economics Test, I spent 2 hours explaining to my best friend and my father about each lesson from memory. Not everything was perfectly memorized. In fact, I struggled to mention a disadvantage to the Market economy. My best friend told me “Well, what are flaws in our own system?”

These discussions and this out-loud explanation landed me a higher score on my economics test than on an APPC quiz. To study for an APPC quiz, I did some practice problems, wrote a lesson for a blog post, and read over my notes. Despite more time being dedicated, and having various techniques, the a APPC quiz did more poorly.

Some of Playing the Devil’s Advocate

There are a variety of things that would affect these two subjects. For one, I struggled in APPC, and it’s a new class, so the materials haven’t been adjusted to be maximized for students. My economics teacher has us verbally participate in every class when we do lessons, while APPC lessons are videos. My point is, that there are a variety of variables that could affect this “experiment.”

The methods I used for APPC still gave me a solid score on the quiz, however, from this experience, vobally expressing the lesson is the best secret to studying.

The Rest of the Story and Data

Albert Einstein — ‘You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.’
Explaining a lesson aloud doesn’t just help you remember things better. It demonstrates your understanding of said lesson. If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it.

It seems so simple, but in all actuality, most students don’t seem to know this. In fact, 4/5 surveyed around me take their confidence in receiting the notes as complete understanding in the subject.

Concluding thoughts

I believe my case has been made enough, that the secret to studying to verbally practicing/reviewing the material. However, I understand some subjects it will be more difficult to implement this. Either way, give it a shot. Worst case scenario, you spend more time studying, just in a different way. Thank you for reading, and as always, I’ll see you next time :)