Among the many topics of interest to psychology is that of how students can improve their academic performance.   Educational psychologists have been searching for and refining the answers to this question for many years.  Their research along with the experience of many educators has resulted in numerous findings and the development of many strategies based on these findings.  One thing is clear, students are usually able to improve their educational performance by better understanding the factors that promote learning and by taking an active role in learning to learn.  The findings of memory researchers are directly relevant to improving academic performance.  These findings along with other research by educational psychologists form the foundation for the guidelines which follow.

Weiten & Lloyd (2000) summarize many of the strategies that have been demonstrated to make a difference in the classroom performance of college students.  Their summary indicates that success in college is most often a result of  several different factors which work together to enhance academic outcomes.  The first of these is developing sound study habits.  They suggest that the first hurdle which many students must leap is realizing that studying effectively involves hard work . A student doesn't have to look forward to studying but a successful student does have to accept that he or she must make an effort to put in the necessary time and energy.  Based on the research that they have reviewed Weiten & Lloyd make the following suggestions regarding study habits:

Good Study Habits:

• Allocate time specifically for studying and plan ahead.
• Allow time for study breaks to avoid fatigue.
• Write down your study schedule - begin by setting up a general schedule for the semester which includes all of your time commitments (e.g. work, study, and class times).
• Then at the beginning of each week make a specific schedule of how you will use your study periods during the week.  This will help assure that you are able to get tasks accomplished on time. Avoid putting off major tasks like papers and reports - break bigger projects down into smaller steps.
• Find a place to study where you can concentrate.  Choose a place that will help you to avoid distractions (i.e. a place away from TV, telephones, stereos and distracting conversations).  It would be ideal to select one or two specific places for study and try to use these places for nothing else.  That way they will become associated with studying and will serve as cues to encourage good study behaviors.
• Reward your studying.  The payoffs for studying often are rather far removed from the behavior necessary to perform well.  For this reason it  is a good idea to set up a system to reward yourself for doing what it takes to perform well in your classes.  Consider tangible payoffs such as a snack, a TV show, or a phone call to a friend when you finish studying. Set realistic goals for your studying (such as reading a specific number of pages or spending a specific amount of time reviewing for a test) and then reward yourself when you accomplish your goal.

To get the most out of your reading you must read actively.  Reading (even if you do such things as underlining or highlighting) is not useful unless its done selectively and actively.  There are a number of methods for active reading.  One of the most effective is the SQ3R method developed by Francis Robinson, a psychologist at Ohio State University (1970 cited in Weiten & Lloyd, 2000 and Myers, 1999) . The techniques developed by Robinson are designed to facilitate the transfer of information into long-term memory.  SQ3R includes five steps: survey, question, read, recite and review.
 

• Survey.  Before you begin reading look over the topic headings in the chapter .  This will help you get an overview of the material and an understanding of how the segments of the chapter relate to each other. If the authors provide you with a summary or outline of the chapter read it.
• Question: After surveying read through the material one section at a time. As you read each heading translate it into a question. This gets you involved in the material and helps you pick out the main ideas of the chapter.  For example on page 46 of  Myers (1999) one of the section headings is "Spinal cord and Brain."  You might ask yourself before you read, "What is the spinal cord and what is the brain and how do they relate to each other?"
• Read: Read each section as if it was an assignment unto itself.  As you read keep in mind the question you have devised and look for the answer to it. Read and (if necessary) re-read until you can answer your question.  Along the way notice (and write down) any other questions raised by the section and answer them as well.
• Recite: Recite the answer to your question out loud to yourself.  Put the answer in your own words.  That way you will  assure that you understand the answer.  Rote memorization is not an effective strategy to improve long-term memory. Don't move to the next section until you understand the main ideas of the current section.  Write them down for later review.   When you do move to the next section repeat the question, read and recite steps.  Do this with each section until you complete a chapter.
• Review: After you complete the chapter test your memory by going back over the key points.  Review your questions and try to answer them without using notes or the book. Then go back and review  the material related to any questions you have difficulty answering.

Getting More Out of Lectures:

Researchers have produced ample evidence that attendance at class is related to better academic performance.  Even if you find lectures boring and tedious you can benefit from paying attention to them.  If nothing else, you may learn what is important to the instructor and how he or she thinks. This can help you in preparing for exams.  Taking accurate notes has been found to be related to better test scores.  Weiten & Lloyd (2000) summarize the results of research on note-taking strategies and make the following suggestions:
 

• Use Active Listening Procedures: Focus full attention on the speaker, try to anticipate what's coming next and seek to understand deeper meanings. Attend to any non-verbal signals (tone of voice, gestures, etc.) which may suggest what the speaker considers important or hint at his/her intent or meaning.
• Read Ahead: You will be better prepared if you have read the material that the lecturer will cover in advance.  In this way the lecture will help you clarify and reinforce material with which you are already familiar.
• Write Notes in Your Own Words: Try to translate the lecture's thoughts into your own words.  This is a way of actively and deeply processing the material.  You will be organizing the material in a way that works for you.  Pay special attention to those areas that the lecturer indicates (directly or indirectly) are important.
• Ask Questions: This will not only assure that you stay actively involved but will allow you to clarify confusing or difficult points. Remember, if you are confused, the chances are good that other students are as well.

Psychologists have been interested in memory since the very early days of the field of psychology.  Weiten and Lloyd (2000) review research on memory principles  The following memory principles based on these research findings may help you perform better in your classes:
 

• Practice: Repeated review of information usually leads to improved retention. Rehearsal also helps improve understanding.   It can even help to "overlearn" material.  Overlearning means to continue to rehearse material even after you believe you have mastered it.
• Distribute Your Practice: If you are going to spend six hours studying for an exam should you put those hours in all at once (i.e. should you cram) or should you spread the them out, for example, by  studying two hours at a time for three days in a row? Research says that spreading the time out (distributed practice) is more effective than cramming (massed practice).
• Minimize Interference: A major cause of forgetting, according to memory researchers, is interference.  Interference occurs when one set of information competes with another.  You can minimize interference by allocating study for specific courses to specific days and times (with a break in between). This is especially important if the material from one course is similar to the material from another.  Other types of interference (besides studying for another course) also occur. Therefore, it's a good idea to conduct one last good review as close to exam time as you can.
• Organize Information:  Research has shown that people are active learners. One way to improve our understanding and retention of material is to organize it in a hierarchical fashion.  One common approach to such organization is outlining.
• Use Mnemonics: It's always a good idea to try to make information personally meaningful as a means to improve memory.  Since this may not always be possible, an effective alternative which memory researchers have demonstrated  is the use of mnemonics. Mnemonics are formal strategies and tricks for helping to store and retain information.  They take a variety of forms. An acrostic may be an effective mnemonic.  Many music students remember the order of musical notes by using such devices ("E very Good Boy Does Fine").  An acronym is a similar device. Acronyms are words formed out of the first letters of a series of words. HOMES is an acronym for the names of the five Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior). Another form of mnemonic is the narrative method. You might consider memorizing a group of words by creating a story that includes the words in the right order.  This seems to work by making the words more meaningful and linking them in a specific order.  This can be especially helpful when the terms you need to remember are not meaningfully related to one another already. Finally, rhymes can serve as a mnemonic. Organizing words or terms into rhymes (even into songs using familiar tunes) may help in retention.  How many of us remember the number of days in each month by reciting "Thirty days hath September..."?
• Visual Images: One memory researcher cited by Weiten & Lloyd (2000) suggests that using visual images helps improve memory because by doing so we are encoding information in two ways so that we have a "back-up system" available to us. We can use the link method in which we form a mental image of items to be remembered in a way that links them together.  The more unusual or bizarre the image the better it may work.   The method of loci operates by imagining yourself taking a walk along a familiar path.  Along the path you have associated images of certain items you wish to remember with particular locations. Begin by memorizing locations in a familiar area such as your home or neighborhood. Then visualize each term or  item you wish to remember as being in one of these locations. When you need to remember the items imagine yourself strolling along the familiar path.  The locations you have chosen should serve as cues to help you retrieve your memory of the items. This is especially helpful when items or terms need to be remembered in sequence.

The following links will take you to sites where you can learn more about developing effective study skills:

Virginia Tech's Study Skills Self-Help Information  http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
Columbia University- Study Skills  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/study/
Las Positas College-Learning Skills  http://www.clpccd.cc.ca.us/lpc/services/learningskills.htm
University of California-Berkeley Student Learning Center  http://slc.berkeley.edu/calrenhp.html

References:

Myers, D.G. (1999). Exploring psychology (4th ed.). New York: Worth.

Weiten, W. & Lloyd, M.A. (2000) Psychology applied to modern life (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.