How To Study

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. Henry L. Doherty



I guess this post is a bit late because the exams are over and the holidays are here soon. Nevertheless, this can be information for you when thinking about your children’s study habits and may help you plan what you can do to help their learning in the coming year.

The New York Times published an article on Sept 6, 2020 entitled “Forget what you know about good study habits” and in it, Benedict Carey dismissed some long cherished notions about how we should study. Here is a summary of the key findings:

1. Psychologists have found no support for the belief that children have specific learning styles i.e. they are either visual or auditory learners or they are left or right brained learners. Catering to their specific learning styles does not help learning.

2. Studying consistently in a specific place, room or quiet corner of the library does not promote learning. Scientists found that students remember better when they study in different locations. They believe that with a change in contexts, the information to be learnt is enriched and that slows down forgetting.

3. Students who study different types of material or different subjects in one sitting recall more information than those who study just one subject at a single sitting. So, it might be better to do a bit of each subject than just all of one subject.

4. Intensive immersion in a subject does not help retention. It’s better to space out the studying, for example an hour a day, an hour over the weekend etc. Such spacing out of the learning allows the brain to pack the information in carefully and gradually. Students don’t have to put in extra effort and they end up remembering more.

5. Testing helps recall because tests not only measures knowledge but they change it. Students who studied some material twice, in back to back sessions, did well on a test given immediately afterwards but they also forget the material after a while. Those who studied the material once and did a practice test in the second session, did well on a test two days later and another given a week later. So there’s something to be said for the teach-test-teach model.

6. The harder the material is, the harder it is to forget. Don’t let difficult material scare your children.

These are interesting claims, and there may just be some truth in them. But some of you may say that we grew up with the old ways of learning and we did okay. True. Indeed, nothing can take the place of motivation and the hunger to succeed when it comes to getting good grades. Without the motivation, these insights may just well be a waste of time. But then again, these ideas may just be what your child needs to go the extra mile.

On a separate but related topic, read what Dr Marvin Marshall has to say about sitting up straight. This is taken from his newsletter Promoting Responsibility and Learning.


When you were growing up, your mother may have told you to sit up straight. She gave good advice because good posture helps you look confident and make a good impression.

It turns out that sitting up straight can also improve how you feel about yourself, according to a study in the October 2009 issue of the European Journal of Social Psychology.

Researchers asked college students to rate themselves on how good they would be as job candidates and employees. Those who were told to sit up straight before filling out a form gave themselves higher ratings than those instructed to slouch while filling out the rating form.

Once again, Mom was right.

Source: MarvinMarshall.com

Once again, we have much unlearning and re learning to do.