Regan A. R. Gurung - Study Like a Champ

Hi, I'm Rean Grung, professor of psychology here at Oregon State. I've

been studying, teaching, and learning for teen years. And what I want to share with you today is the science behind successful studying. You're busy

successful studying. You're busy university students. You've got a lot

university students. You've got a lot going on. You should know what the

going on. You should know what the science says about how to study so that you can consider what the best ways to do are. Well, let's start with the major

do are. Well, let's start with the major challenge. One of the biggest challenges

challenge. One of the biggest challenges we have is getting stuff into long-term memory. We've got fascinating brains,

memory. We've got fascinating brains, right? About this size. Fascinating. 86

right? About this size. Fascinating. 86

billion to 126 billion neurons. But the

problem is we've just got three types of memory. Sensory, right? Working and

memory. Sensory, right? Working and

long-term. And our challenge if we want to remember anything in life is to get stuff from working memory into long-term memory. Now, that's hard. And to do that

memory. Now, that's hard. And to do that takes a lot of effort and a whole bunch of tricks. So, here's what we're going

of tricks. So, here's what we're going to do, right? some key facts first.

Learning has multiple determinants. It

seems easy. Oh, I want to learn. But

there are many things that actually predict learning. It takes some ability.

predict learning. It takes some ability.

It takes a lot of effort. It takes

skills. And something we don't talk enough about that I want you to hear right off the bat is it takes being healthy. Sleep. Try to get as much sleep

healthy. Sleep. Try to get as much sleep as you can. Get some physical activity.

Practice mindfulness. Right? Cultivate

your social support networks. All of

that is important as you practice the right skills. So skills and effort,

right skills. So skills and effort, that's what I'm going to pick up on, right? Learning takes effort. Whose

right? Learning takes effort. Whose

effort? Mine and yours. Boy, I'm going to work really hard as as an instructor, and all your instructors will, but you, the student, need to put in some effort as well. So, be prepared for that.

as well. So, be prepared for that.

You've got to want it. You've got to want to learn, and you've got to be ready to put some effort into it. There

was this really neat study that took millions of students data and it tried to predict what is the one of the best things for learning and you know what was the biggest single factor? It's what

you the student does. So effort is important. What you do is really really

important. What you do is really really important. Key fact to keep in mind

important. Key fact to keep in mind learning takes attention. Multitasking

slows you down. Right? We've got phones all the time. Mine's here someplace.

Right? And we are tempted by it. But

when you want to learn, whether it's reading, whether it's listening to uh an online lecture or reading material online or even sitting in a classroom, the more attention you pay makes a big

difference, right? So, it takes

difference, right? So, it takes attention and multitasking slows you down. Another huge thing to keep in

down. Another huge thing to keep in mind, and this is probably the biggest thing I want you to to remember from from this little bit that not all methods of learning are the same. John

Dunlowski and colleagues did a really neat study where they took all the ways that students study and they found that what most students do are actually the least effective. What were some of those

least effective. What were some of those things? Highlighting notes, right?

things? Highlighting notes, right?

Rereading and rereading as a form of studying, summarizing, low utility. They

did not predict learning. There were

some things that were a little better.

explaining things to yourself, elaborating things. But two things stood

elaborating things. But two things stood out over everything else. Testing

yourself, what's called practice testing and spacing out your study. And no

matter what class you're in, as you go through college, these are the things you need to focus on. Test yourself on your knowledge, space out your learning.

Test yourself. Instead of reading the material, test yourself on that material. Do you know it? Right? Do you

material. Do you know it? Right? Do you

know it? Look at it. Look at it. put it

away and then see if you can recall it because what the science says to get stuff into long-term memory, right? And

get it in there and for you to be able to bring it back, you need to test yourself. And the more you test yourself

yourself. And the more you test yourself over and over, practice test, the better off you are, right? So test yourself. Uh

build in testing every week, every day or as much as you can test yourself on your knowledge. Another huge thing to

your knowledge. Another huge thing to keep in mind that most college students and in fact most of us don't do too well is space out when we study. The the

average college student studies a lot the night before in a test. That's fine

for the next day, but the problem is that's not going to help you learn, right? So, space out your studying. Try

right? So, space out your studying. Try

and study all the time. Now, one more last thing before I pull this all together. Remember, intentions often

together. Remember, intentions often fail, right? You may have the best

fail, right? You may have the best intentions. You may say, "Oh, yeah. I'm

intentions. You may say, "Oh, yeah. I'm

going to space. I'm going to practice testing." But what studies have shown is

testing." But what studies have shown is that even when students intend to really uh space out studying that they intend to practice, they often fall back on

reading and rereading. So, how can you prevent that? How can you make sure

prevent that? How can you make sure these years and all these classes that you get the most from all of them? Three

big things for you to keep in mind.

Number one, limit your distractions.

Limit your distractions. When you are studying, when you are in class, whether you are taking class material, limit your distractions. Put your phone away.

your distractions. Put your phone away.

Turn it off. Even the presence of your phone can distract you. Crazy study

showed that when students had their phones off off and on the table next to them or even in their bag at their feet, they did not do as well on quizzes that they were taking. When did they do the

best? when they put their phones off and

best? when they put their phones off and put it outside the room. Limit your

distractions. Next big thing to keep in mind, delay grat gratification. Right?

There are so many things that we'd like to do. Learning is challenging. Learning

to do. Learning is challenging. Learning

is tough. Sometimes we may go, "Oh, I don't feel like doing this right now. I

want to I'd much rather scroll some reals or go get a snack." Well, delay your gratification. classic study in

your gratification. classic study in psychology, kids who could delay their gratification and wait before eating something did much better off in life

and in general. So, we're all tempted by a lot of different things, maybe even our phones. Delay your gratification.

our phones. Delay your gratification.

And finally, two big things to keep in mind, right? Let me remind you, test

mind, right? Let me remind you, test yourself often. Put your book down, take

yourself often. Put your book down, take a quiz, ask somebody else about it. Test

yourself often and then space it out.

The more you can space out your studying, the better you will get stuff into long-term memory and get stuff out.

All the best. Go babes. And may you study like a champion.