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Lesson #15 - Home Study Review

In this lesson you will learn one of the most powerful learning skills discovered by teachers, psychologists, and students. This skill is called reviewing. The value of reviewing has been demonstrated by many students in many ways as well as by research. Reviewing works!

Reviewing is studying again material you have already learned. Notice that it is important to have already learned the material to review it. Effective Systematic Study will result in successful learning. But, to master material in all subjects so you can consistently earn A's and B's, you will have to review. Here's why.

Psychologists have discovered that our learning is very similar to developing physical skills. Olympic athletes and others who excel, practice repeatedly. This kind of practice for learning we call review.

Review builds the strength of your learning. The more you review, the stronger your learning becomes and the better you will understand and remember. Reviewing helps you get more knowledge, understand main points, relate main points to details, and remember details. With stronger learning, you forget less and develop more facts you can use.

There are many ways to review. The basic idea is to study again material from textbooks, notes, lectures, and activities. Here are some specific ways to review.

1. Reread:  Read again material you have studied. Usually, you will read much faster when you review. So, you can move through a chapter or section much faster when you review than when you first studied. You should be sure to watch for ideas, names, issues, etc. you don't remember. When you see these, you should slow down and read more carefully.

   It is also good to think about questions your teacher might ask as you review. Read to find answers to these questions. When you begin to review, make up some possible test questions and think about these as you review.

2. Review Notes:  An advantage of the note taking system we described in Lesson 7 is that it makes review easy. You can review your summaries and questions and you can think about the terms you wrote.

   Be careful as you look at the terms. Say to yourself the important points about each term. Then, check yourself to be sure you are correct. Think about what your teacher said while you took notes. See if you can find other examples, illustrations, and similar issues.

3. Study Groups:  A study group is 2 or 3 or more people who are learning the same material. Study groups have been a very successful way to review. Usually, each member of the group will take a part of the material to study intensely. Each will then teach the others the material studied. This reduces the amount each person has to study and improves the detail and understanding of everyone.

   Usually, each member of the group will take a part of the material to study intensely. Each will then teach the others the material studied. This reduces the amount each person has to study and improves the detail and understanding of everyone.

   It is important to remember that everyone must study and learn all the material first. You don't want to rely on someone else to learn; only to review. During the review session, everyone in the group should ask questions; everyone can help each other master the material.

The simple answer is "often." The more you review the more you will learn. There is no limit to how much learning can be improved by reviewing.

Realistically, you should plan to review regularly. Two ways to make review effective are to space it and do it frequently. It is better to review for 20 minutes three times than to review once for an hour. And, it is better to review four times than three, six times than five, and so on.

To review well you should plan to review regularly as part of your study schedule. A guideline is to review everything at least once a week and the material you are currently studying every other day.

For example, if you had a test covering six weeks of material, you should review everything at least once a week. Review all of week 1 during week 2, and weeks 1 & 2 during week 3, and so forth.

During any week, however, you should also review several times the material you learned that week. For example, on Tuesday you could review what you studied for Monday. On Wednesday, review Monday and Tuesday and so on for the whole week.

It is also important to review difficult material more often. When you do not understand well then you want to increase your reviewing. Also, remember to always concentrate on increasing your knowledge. Don't just "go over" the book or notes. Focus your attention so you can learn more.

Plan a review schedule for two classes in which you have tests. Space your review and be sure to review everything at least 4 times.

For practice, try reviewing a chapter you read several weeks ago. Begin by choosing a chapter and only looking at the title. Now, write down everything you remember from the chapter (you can use Form 15.1). Next, review the chapter as described above and again write down what you remember. You should find that you recall much more and that it is much clearer when you write in your second summary.

Lesson #16
Lesson #14

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