The most common study techniques — marking up the textbook with yellow highlighter, rereading and cramming at the last minute — are the least effective, writes John Dunlosky, Kent State psychology professor, on the AFT blog. Taking practice tests and spreading out studying over time is much more likely to help students learn and remember, researchers have found.I don't cram, but I do review notes and my highlighted text. Actually, that constitutes the vast majority of my studying. I find that what is most useful, though, is actually understanding the material!
Among the less-useful strategies are: rereading the text, highlighting and underlining, summarizing, using mnemonics and “attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening.”One wonders what I could have accomplished academically had I used those other methods!