Revision Tips Based on Psychology
Hello, I'm Poppy, a second year psychology student at the University of Southampton. As exams are coming up for many of us, I thought I would share some revision tips based on evidence from psychology!
1. There is no evidence that everyone has a different 'learning style', e.g. visual, auditory, etc. (Pashler et al., 2008). It's best to focus on a range of revision techniques which are supported by evidence.
2. Interleaving refers to mixing multiple subjects or topics in one revision session. This is one of the most effective ways to learn information compared to blocked practice, which is studying one topic at a time (Kornell & Bjork, 2008).
3. Practice testing is another one of the most effective revision techniques (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). Free-recall tests are better than cued-recall and fill-in-the-blank tests (Carpenter & DeLosh, 2006).
4. When testing yourself, it's best to repeat the tests until you have answered correctly about 4 or 5 times (Vaughn & Rawson, 2011). This has the best effect when you leave a few days in between each test, which is called spacing.
5. Another very effective revision technique is distributed practice. This refers to distributing study over a long period of time, rather than cramming.
6. Studying the same information but in different contexts (e.g. different locations) is helpful as it creates more pathways in your brain for retrieving the information.
7. Testing yourself on the content before you have learnt it improves learning, even if the answers are all wrong to start with (Kornell et al., 2009).
Sources:
Pashler et al., 2008 - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x
Kornell & Bjork, 2008 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-07914-010
Karpicke & Roediger, 2008 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-02391-002
Carpenter & DeLosh, 2006 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-06718-005
Vaughn & Rawson, 2011 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-20701-006
Kornell et al., 2009 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19586265/
Questions for you:
Good luck with your exams! 😀
1. There is no evidence that everyone has a different 'learning style', e.g. visual, auditory, etc. (Pashler et al., 2008). It's best to focus on a range of revision techniques which are supported by evidence.
2. Interleaving refers to mixing multiple subjects or topics in one revision session. This is one of the most effective ways to learn information compared to blocked practice, which is studying one topic at a time (Kornell & Bjork, 2008).
3. Practice testing is another one of the most effective revision techniques (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). Free-recall tests are better than cued-recall and fill-in-the-blank tests (Carpenter & DeLosh, 2006).
4. When testing yourself, it's best to repeat the tests until you have answered correctly about 4 or 5 times (Vaughn & Rawson, 2011). This has the best effect when you leave a few days in between each test, which is called spacing.
5. Another very effective revision technique is distributed practice. This refers to distributing study over a long period of time, rather than cramming.
6. Studying the same information but in different contexts (e.g. different locations) is helpful as it creates more pathways in your brain for retrieving the information.
7. Testing yourself on the content before you have learnt it improves learning, even if the answers are all wrong to start with (Kornell et al., 2009).
Sources:
Pashler et al., 2008 - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x
Kornell & Bjork, 2008 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-07914-010
Karpicke & Roediger, 2008 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-02391-002
Carpenter & DeLosh, 2006 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-06718-005
Vaughn & Rawson, 2011 - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-20701-006
Kornell et al., 2009 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19586265/
Questions for you:
•
Do you have exams coming up soon?
•
Which revision techniques are your favourite?
•
Did anything on this list surprise you?
•
Do you have any questions?
Good luck with your exams! 😀
(edited 11 months ago)
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