Studying does not equal reading or turning pages or highlighting:

• Studying involves understanding and analysis -- not merely getting words from the text into your head or turning words yellow or pink with a highlighter.
• Studying takes more time and effort than reading.
• Studying means reading material slowly, reading it more than once, and asking yourself questions about the material.

• Remember: for a 3-credit class you should be working/studying about 6 hours a week outside of class time.
• Read the assigned chapters before they are discussed in class; study them carefully after class
• Make a practice of going over your lecture notes very soon after the lecture -- this helps you remember material and it gives you a chance to ask the instructor or classmates about things you missed or didn't understand.
• Use small bits of time -- make note cards you can study while traveling or waiting in line, or photocopy the complex graphs or charts to study in your spare time.

• Read assigned material before it is covered in class to familiarize yourself with the concepts.
• Skim chapter headings before the you read the text.  Most folks wouldn't go on a trip to a new place without looking at a map to get an idea of how to get there; in the same way, you should look over the "landmarks" of a chapter before getting on the road.
• Read with your  mind - not your hand.  Don't use a highlighter: making those colorful marks doesn't get information into your brain and it puts off learning (when you "review" the highlighted material) until later, before the test.  Either: take notes in a notebook or write notes in your text margins (e.g, connections to other related material, examples you think of, etc.).  You'll be more likely to remember and understand information this way.
• Make sure that you can compare/contrast similar theories (e.g., behaviorism vs. cognitivism) and terms (e.g., sensory adaptation vs. perceptual adaptation).
• Make sure that you understand the examples of the concepts given in your text; can you make up your own examples for those concepts?
• Use mnemonics (pronounced neh-mahn-icks) to remember material by associating the meaning of new words with familiar words and clear visual images:
• For example: to remember that the thalamus is the relay center in the brain, associate the word thalamus with the similar-sounding word thermos; then form a mental picture of a relay race where the first runner hands a thermos to the next runner.
• Research shows that using mental images dramatically improves both memory and understanding over just repetition of new words (Carney, R. N., & Levin, J. R. (1998). Coming to terms with the keyword method in introductory psychology: A "neuromnemonic" example. Teaching of Psychology, 25(2), 132-134).

• Concentrate on understanding what is being said -- if you don't understand it when you hear it, madly writing it down probably won't help.
• Write down only the most important points and any associated examples.  One way to do this is to divide your notepaper in half from top to bottom; write down the content of the lecture on the left side and any corresponding examples on the right.
• Reading the assigned chapter before class will help you understand the lectures -- which means less frantic note-taking.
• ASK QUESTIONS -- if you don't understand it, then other people in the class don't either.  Raising your hand in class will certainly not hurt you (really) -- and willingness to ask questions is considered positively in your final grade.
• Some students find it helpful to compare their lectures notes with those of a classmate -- you may be surprised at what you've missed.

• Skim your notes from 1 lecture or topic, close your notebook, and reproduce as much of your notes as you can on another piece of paper.  Then compare your practice notes to your lecture notes.  This way you find out how much information has "stuck" and what parts you need to study some more.  This approach will help you more with memorization than true comprehension, but it's a start.
• Do you understand how your notes, class demonstrations, and video clips all fit together?  How do the video clips provide evidence for what was said in lecture or in the text?  How does the lecture relate to or builds on the text?

• Write sample test questions for each other, especially those where you must apply concepts in examples of situations
• you'll learn both by writing the questions and by answering your friend's questions
• Try to explain material that you find difficult to understand out loud to each other -- you'll find out what you do and don't know, and talking out loud forces you to slow down your thought processes and gives you time to put things together.
• Work together on comparing and contrasting similar concepts (e.g., sensation and perception)

• The exams in this class focus on how well you can apply concepts to new situations. Memorizing definitions without really understanding the concepts will result in poor exam performance.
• Therefore, the examples given during lectures and in your text are important because they illustrate how the concept can be applied in a concrete situation.
• One way to reinforce your understanding is to make up multiple-choice questions and answer choices for each chapter (try to use examples rather than definitions) -- you'll be surprised at how much you learn by trying to come up with believeable wrong answers for the questions.

• You need to correctly answer the most questions (or most points) you can before the time is up
• it is a tradeoff between the number of points you can get and time
• Look over the whole test first to see whether some questions are worth more points than others (e.g., essays)
• answer questions worth more points early, so that you aren't spending most of your time on questions that aren't worth as much
• Skim through the questions and answer the easiest ones first, skipping ones you don't immediately know
• then, go through the test again and answer the questions that take a little more thinking-- skip the hardest ones
• For questions where you have NO IDEA of the correct answer:
• try to  rule out one or two of the answer choices (for multiple choice), then just guess -- IT IS ALWAYS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TO GUESS RATHER THAN TO LEAVE IT BLANK
• Think actively on your test: cross out answer choices that you know are wrong, draw pictures and diagrams, write notes in the margins or on the back, use your test booklet as a scratch pad to outline your ideas before writing the final essay
• If you have time at the end, use it -- NO ONE GETS EXTRA POINTS FOR FINISHING EARLY
• go over your test and make sure you didn't make silly errors while recording your answers (e.g., 2 circles filled in)
• Special multiple-choice test strategies:
• Read the question and try to guess what the best answer would be BEFORE you look at the choices.
• Read through ALL of the answer choices before choosing -- there might be a "both A and C" option that you miss if you just choose A right off the bat
• Be careful with questions that have "not" in them -- the logic of these is tricky

• See the Strategies for Success section at www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/index.html (you'll need to scroll down the page)
• See the Psychology Resources page (e.g., understandable glossary) at  www.alleydog.com/resource.asp (you'll need to register)
• Get ASK center hand-outs on test-taking and study tips
• Set up an appointment with an ASK center tutor or consultant --  e-mail the ASK Center now
• Take psych quizzes on the web where you get your score AND a full explanation of the answers:  www.psywww.com/selfquiz/selfquiz.htm and  www.alleydog.com/quizzes.asp (you'll need to register to access this site)