An Expert Told Us: We've Been Studying the Wrong Way

You won’t believe what study techniques actually work 🤯

It’s that time of year again when we’re all inevitably trying to cram and study for those upcoming exams.

And while there is a little bit of dread which surrounds this time of term/semester, there are also ways to smash those exams and study smarter.

We spoke to Doctor Kylie Murphy, a Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology and Pedagogy at La Trobe University.

She debunked some studying ‘myths’, what we’re getting wrong when we study, and how we can study better.

What are we getting wrong?

The first thing Dr Kylie tells us is that what we may think about our ‘learning style’ is probably wrong.

According to Dr Kylie, we should “ignore any advice about learning styles, visual, auditory, etc. because that is disproven mythology,” she told Student Edge.

“What you prefer doing is not necessarily the most efficient and effective way to learn.”

We should be doing ‘retrieval practice’ instead.

Dr Kylie told us our brains have cues in place that cause us to remember things. So, when we are studying and trying to remember information, we should practice retrieving it from our memory.

And we should be doing this “two to three times [a day], again tomorrow, and again in a week,” she said.

This will not only help us retain that information for any upcoming exams but in the long-term too.

If you’re a bit confused as to how this works Dr Kylie explained how this works with a sports metaphor.

“If we want to get better at kicking goals or shooting hoops, it won’t work to just look at the ball,” she said.

“We have to actually practise kicking or shooting the ball. In the same way, just looking at (or hearing or writing) information won’t help us remember it.

“To get better at remembering a piece of information, we have to practise remembering it.”

Learn by teaching others.

@thefitzytwins Wish these guys could do the exam for me #australia #foryou #study #studytok #studytips #medschool #medstudent #medicine #doctor #osce #exam ♬ Too Sweet Hozier - Lizzy

Another helpful study method according to Dr Kylie is one you might have heard before: learning by teaching others.

“Explaining to others or even to ourselves what we are trying to learn is another powerful study technique,” she said.

“…It can reveal gaps in our knowledge or aspects that we don’t understand as clearly as we thought we did.

“It’s very easy to think we understand content we have read or heard. It’s much harder to prove we understand it by explaining it to someone.” 

So maybe grab your sibling or best mate and start trying to teach them something you’re studying.

It might help you level up in those exams!

Header Image: Netflix.