Connections

by Wyatt
(New Jersey)

A couple of useful study strategies to help you work more efficiently…

Overlaps

One of the most underrated strategies is to find connections between your subjects. This is especially true for your major classes. For example, if you are an Electrical Engineering student studying signal processing and communications, there is a lot of overlap. Using that will cut your study time in half because the connections enhance your ability in both.

Most of the time we take classes with overlap. Find the overlap and it will cut down studying time while at the same time enhancing your knowledge much faster.

This is an excellent idea for studying. Actually, the overlap principle can be applied to pretty much any aspect of our lives. It’s just a question of finding out where the overlaps are!

Notecards

Try using note cards to study. Putting information on a note makes it easy to carry the material with me any where I go and to get people to help me study by quizzing me with the cards. I find it difficult to study by just reading my class notes over and over.

I study everywhere I go since I always have my note cards handy. My greatest distractions are family phone calls and ‘Law & Order’. I don't do anything to get motivated to start except looking at the due date and the clock on the wall.

You’re right to point out that re-reading notes is difficult. Making them ‘come alive’ is far more effective. If you can get other people involved (as long as they’re a help rather than a hindrance), then the notecards idea works well.

Regarding distractions – is there a time of day when you can make or request phone calls? Many people find phones a problem when studying. I’ve written an article about dealing with distractions at work that you may find helpful.