Power Learning There are no shortcuts about learning, but there are some proven

Power Learning
    Good morning. Today I’d like to share some ideas about power learning. There are no shortcuts about learning, but there are some proven study skills that can really help. Certain dependable skills have made the difference between disappointment and success for generations of students. These techniques won’t free you from work, but they will make you work far more productively. They include three important areas: time control, classroom note-taking, and textbook study.
    First, let’s talk about time control. Success in college depends on time control. (1) Time control means that you deliberately organize and plan your time, instead of letting it drift by. Planning means that you should never be faced with an overdue term paper or a cram session the night before a test.
    Three steps are involved in time control. (2) First, you should prepare a large monthly calendar. Buy a calendar with a large white block around each date. At the beginning of the college semester, circle important dates on this calendar. Circle the days on which tests are scheduled; circle the days when papers are due. (3) This calendar can also be used to schedule study plans. At the beginning of the week, you can jot down your plans for each day. Hang this calendar where you will see it every day.
    The second step in time control is to have a weekly study schedule for the semester—a chart that covers all the days of the week and all the waking hours in each day.
    (4) On your own schedule, fill in all the fixed hours in each day—hours for meals, classes, job, and travel time. Next, mark time blocks that you can realistically use for study each day. Keep in mind that you should not block off time that you do not truly intend to use for study. Otherwise, your schedule will be a meaningless gimmick. (5) Also, remember that you should allow time for rest and relaxation. You will be happy, and able to accomplish the most, when you have time for both work and play.
    (6) The third step in time control is to make a daily or weekly to-do list. This may be the most valuable time-control method you ever use. On this list, write down the things you need to do for the following day or the following week. If you choose to write a weekly list, do it on Sunday night. If you choose to write a daily list, do it the night before.
    The second area for your success at college is classroom note-taking. One of the most important single things you can do to perform well in a college course is to take effective class notes. The following hints should help you become a better note-taker.
    First, attend class faithfully. Your alternatives—reading the text, reading someone else’s notes, or both—cannot substitute for the class experience of hearing ideas in person as someone presents them to you. (7) Also, in class lectures and discussions, your instructor typically presents and develops the main ideas and facts of the course—the ones you will be expected to know on exams.
    Another valuable hint is to make use of abbreviations while taking notes. Using abbreviations saves time when you are trying to get down a great deal of information. Abbreviate terms that recur frequently in a lecture and put a key to your abbreviations at the top of your notes. If you use the same abbreviations all the time, you will soon develop a kind of personal shorthand that makes taking notes much easier.
    (8) A third hint for taking notes is to be on the lookout for signals of importance. Always write down definitions and enumerations. Enumerations are lists of items. In your notes, always number enumerations. They will help you understand relationships among ideas and organize the material of the lecture.
    (9) Next, be sure to write down the instructor’s examples and mark them with an "e". The examples help you understand abstract points. If you do not write them down, you are likely to forget them later, when they are needed to make sense of an idea.
    Also, be sure to write down the connections between ideas. Too many students merely copy terms the instructors put on the board. They forget that, as time passes, the details that serve as connecting bridges between ideas quickly fade.
    (10) Finally, try to get down a written record of each class. You must do this because forgetting begins almost immediately. Studies have shown that within two weeks you are likely to have forgotten 80 percent or more of what you have heard. And in four weeks you are lucky if 5 percent remains! So it is absolutely essential that you write down what you hear in class. And the more complete your notes are, the more you are likely to learn.
    The final area for a successful study life is textbook study. In many college courses, success means being able to read and study a textbook skillfully. For many students, unfortunately, textbooks are heavy going. After an hour or two of study, the textbook material is as formless and as hard to understand as ever. But there is a way to attack even the most difficult textbook and make sense of it. Use a sequence in which you preview a chapter, mark it, take notes on it, and then study the notes.
    Previewing a selection is an important first step to understanding. (11) Taking the time to preview a section or chapter can give you a bird’s-eye view of the way the material is organized. You will have a sense of where you are beginning, what you will cover, and where you will end.
    Then, you should mark a textbook selection at the same time that you read it through carefully. (12) Use a felt-tip highlighter to shade material that seems important, or use a ballpoint pen and put symbols in the margin next to the material: stars, checks, or NB. (13) You should try to find main ideas by looking for clues: definitions and examples, enumerations, and emphasis words.
    Next, you should take notes. Go through the chapter a second time, rereading the most important parts. (14) Try to write down the main ideas in a simple outline form.
    (15) Finally, study your notes, using repeated self-testing. Do not simply read your notes; keep looking away and seeing if you can recite them to yourself. This self-testing is the key to effective learning.
    OK, take a minute now and reflect on your own study habits. Do you practice many or any of these skills in order to control your time, take effective classroom notes, and learn from your textbooks? The skills are not magic, but they are too valuable to ignore. Use them carefully and consistently, and they will make success in school possible for you.