How to Study (In Five Easy Tips)
I definitely learn best when I have to try to explain concepts to someone, so from that respect I definitely think talking about what you're learning with people is extremely good for studying/learning. It can sometimes be hard to find people interested in what you've been learning, but I do always seem to find that niche eventually. I definitely know that when I became a tutor and TA I learned concepts far better than I had even when I was taking the class I was now trying to teach. I had students who were listening to what I was saying- it had to be right. And on top of that, they'd ask me questions which was a further challenge me. When I realized how beneficial that was, I'd sit down and pretend to teach topics I was struggling with in other classes to my wall, but I took it seriously enough, and even that works just as well. Of course I was never terribly traditional when it came to studying things that were a challenge to me, such as the times I turned inanimate objects in my bedroom into a way to step by step visualize something like a cell signalling transduction pathway. For example, a chair became a specialized receptor. I couldn't leave out a step, even if I forgot it, because there was always that next object in front of me. Even though I'll probably forever have inappropriate visuals tagging alongside scientific knowledge, (I can picture a cell receptor just as easily as I can picture a chair when I run through certain pathways that I had to know for tests) I still remember them long long after I took the test, which is the important bit.
Ember, Feb 15, 2012
