This time, we will introduce the research result that there are only two scientifically effective study methods.
The original paper is a study in which Kent State University examined the effects of various study methods.
Improving Students ’Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology
Not effective for highlighters, memorization, and point summarization
According to this study, the following learning methods were very inefficient.
- Mark important points with a highlighter
- Memorization
- Summary of points
I think these are commonly used learning methods, but they do not seem to be effective.
It seems that the most important thing for improving study efficiency is “whether you can actively engage in learning”.
In that sense, highlighting pens that tend to end with some sort of mark, or memorization and point summaries that tend to be passive, seem to be meaningless.
So, when using the above method, it is necessary to devise a new way, such as copying the place marked with a highlighter to a word card, or thinking about your own memory method.
There are only two scientifically correct study methods: mock exams and distributed learning
There are only two study methods that have been concluded to be effective in this study.
They are “mock test” and “distributed learning method”. It seems that these learning effects were outstanding.
The distributed learning method is a learning method in which the time is cut into small pieces and repeated over time. For example, if the study time is 1 hour, 20 minutes is assigned to mathematics, another 20 minutes is assigned to physics, and the remaining 20 minutes are assigned to history.
Both of these learning methods are a way of actively deciding the time allocation and pace, so they meet the criteria of “whether or not you can work actively”.
Certainly, when I was studying for exams in the past, it was much more effective to solve the problem collection with the same time limit as the actual test than to draw a marker in the reference book.
