Techniques of Learning & Remembering

There is no royal road to learning. English proverb For effective learning and remembering, the adoption of psychologically sound techniques is essential. In this chapter we outline such techniques. Cut out rituals A ritual is a preliminary to something else. There are many rituals indulged in as preliminaries to studying. There are personal rituals. Some students must go through the ritual of dressing for the ordeal of study. Some pre-study rituals take the form of special eating. These are gastronomical rituals. Then there are social rituals like talking to some one, making telephone calls. Such ritualistic activities are apparently legitimate reason for postponing studying that is anticipated as both being difficult and disagreeable. Indulgence in them means frittering away of time and energy. They are attempts to put off what you are not at all eager to do. Cut out the rituals. Get on with the work. Spaced v. Continuous method of study In the spaced method of learning, learning periods are distributed in time separated by periods of rest or the periods of very different activity. It is also called the distributed or the studyreststudyrest method. It is contrasted with the method of continuous study. Psychological research has repeatedly shown that the spaced method is superior to the continuous method. The spaced method encourages you to spend more time on studying. You experience less fatigue. The rest pause following a period of learning gives you an opportunity to integrate what is learned. The rest pause not only makes integration possible, it also makes the forgetting of wrong things possible, thus making retention of the right things possible. Adopt the spaced method. The SQ3R system of study The SQ3R system of study has proved of undoubted value in American colleges and universities for effective study. The SQ3R stands for: Survey Question Read Recite Revise. (1) Survey: Briefly this means that instead of picking up a textbook and reading one of its chapters over and over, you should first survey: i.e., find

out all you can about the aims and purposes of the book, read the authors preface, study the table of contents and the index, read the chapter summaries (if there are summaries) and skim rapidly through the book. Keep in mind your own object in study, the syllabus you are trying to cover, and the relevance of the book to your own areas of interest. If the book does not suit your purpose, if it is not well-written, and at the right level of standard, look for a better one that makes the grade. In brief make a reconnaissance before you start your main work, and get an over-all perspective of what lies before you. It is akin to military, naval, etc reconnaissance and its importance can hardly be over-stressed. (2) Question: This step involves asking questions. It entails going rapidly through the chapters of the book which you are tackling and jotting down such questions as occur to you. This is useful as it motivates you and gives you a purpose. It compels you to think and to marshal such knowledge as you already possess. By maintaining a questioning attitude you will, in due course, come to study books critically: No intelligent person merely reads a book. He cannot help dwelling on particular points as he reads, and contrasting or uniting them with other points that he has just grasped. Bacon wrote, Read not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. (3) Reading: The next stepreading properis of vital importance. The first reading of a textbook chapter should be slow and thorough. Most good textbook chapters have a pattern of headings and subheadings which you should keep at the back of your mind as you read. If the subject is illustrated by graphs or diagrams take the trouble to master them. They are much more easily remembered than long verbal statements. This type of reading is analytical reading, the aim of which is to discover the details, the specific results, the facts out of which the general ideas and broader view of the subject developed. It requires you to read more slowly, to re-read sentences and paragraphs that are not clearly understood. It is the reading in which your major study work is done. Avoid (1) Automatic reading, which fails to command conscious attention. Avoid it, for establishing the habit of reading ideas rather than words. (2) Reading as a ritual like reading an assignment three times with the blind faith that somehow three readings of an assignment will lead to success. (3) Recitation: Recitation is defined as an attempt to reproduce in any way that which is being (or has been) learned. Recitation is a very potent and effective factor in remembering (memorizing) for the following reasons: (a) It keeps motivation strong.

(b) It facilitates the use of immediate goals. (c) It tells you how well you are progressing in learning. (d) It gives rise to reward when you are successful or punishment when you are less successful in what you are learning. (e) Finally recitation gives you patience in doing what you ultimately want to do. Bacon wrote, If you read anything over twenty times, you will not learn it by heart so easily as if you were to read it only ten times trying to read it between lines and when memory failed looking at the book. How to recite Following are ways in which you can recite a given material. (1) Write it. (2) Draw things which lend themselves to drawing, e.g., data represented graphically. (3) Picture it, e.g., visualize the characteristics of each of the several types of architecture you are studying. (4) Hear ithear that musical selection you are trying to master. Use other senses also. (5) Tell it to someone. (6) Explain it to someonee.g., a complex theory you are trying to learn. (7) Talk it overdiscussion in a group of two or three. (8) Outline the substance. (9) After reading each major section of a chapter, lay the book on one side and try to recall what you have been reading. Periodic recall is an undoubted aid to learning. (10) Write out abstracts. Studies have shown that time spent in active recitation leads to more effective learning. Its value is further enhanced when there is some device by which you are kept informed as to whether the ideas you are recalling are correct or incorrect. Revision The final step of SQ3R system is Revision. Revision should not be considered something to be undertaken just before exams. Memory experiments show that material that has to be retained over long periods should be studied and restudied. Memories become stronger and stronger with each re-learning and forgetting proceeds more slowly. The first revision should take place as soon as possible after the original learning. Further revisions are often necessary before the final revision which precedes exams. Underlining the importance of review Prof W.W. Ruch says that it is important to review as soon as possible after learning and then to review again and again from time to time. Review should be selective, with

the most emphasis given to those parts which are most important or most difficult. In revision before exams, pay particular attention to the earlier material you have learnt, as more of it will have been forgotten. Leave yourself time to go over all the material you have covered. Research studies have shown that subjective estimates of strengths and weaknesses are often faulty. Active revision, and a few attempts at answering old exam questions should give you a better idea of where your true strengths and weaknesses lie. It needs emphasis that revision should be an active rather than a passive process. Revise by writing down from memory what you know about each topic, then check with your books and notes, is sound advice. Technique of over-learning Over-learning is an important technique in learning and remembering. Overlearning is learning in which repetition or practice has proceeded beyond the point necessary for the retention or recall required. Such over-learning may, however, be necessary in view of the factors likely to affect recall, which are bound to enter subsequently from the circumstances of the case. It is that added time and effort beyond what is required now that you have put into learning what you intend to recall at sometime in the future. It also means that you spend added time and energy learning something which you already know. As Maddox observes, material is underlearned when it has not been studied long enough for you to be able to recall it 100 per cent correctly. It is overlearned when you continue to practise it after you can recall it 100 per cent correctly. For example, it might take you 10 minutes to learn a vocabulary of 20 foreign words. If you then carry on learning and reciting with the same close attention as before, you are over-learning the material. Another 5 minutes would represent 50 per cent over-learning, another 10 minutes 100 per cent. It pays to over-learn because of the distinct gain in retention: it increases the strength of your memory traces. If you want to remember something for a long time, you should over-learn it. Over-learning to be effective, must be active learning. Your attention must be riveted upon what is being learnt. Therefore, over-learn actively and with conscious attention by using various methods of recitation. As Dudley puts it, Do not repeat what you wish to remember until you barely know it, but until you know it really well. Whole v. part technique of learning

In the whole method of learning, that which is learned is always dealt with as a whole. When you memorize a poem by reading the entire poem through again and again you are using the whole method. The part method is a case of breaking the whole up into parts and learning the parts part by part. Learning a poem by the part method means that you learn it line by line or stanza by stanza, not going on to the next line or stanza until the previous one has been learned. As each part is learned in turn, the whole poem is finally mastered. There is a third method called the progressive part method. By this method the poem is learned line by line or stanza by stanza, as in the part method, but after the first and second parts are learned, the two are repeated together thus making them into a unit. Then the third part is learned and subsequently added to the first two and now the three are repeated. This process is continued until the whole poem is mastered. This is a combination of the whole and part learning. Evaluation Each of the two methods, the part learning and the whole learning has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of part learning In rote learning short tasks are proportionately easier to learn than long tasks. Therefore it is easier and quicker to do rote learning in a series of short sections than to try to learn a long task all at once. In part method the learner gets knowledge of progress sooner and is thus encouraged. Another advantage is that each part is learned to mastery and then dropped for the moment. This eliminates spending more time than is needed in going over easy parts. Advantages of the whole method Since meaningful material is easier to learn than non-meaningful material, anything that enhances meaning helps learning. Here the whole method has the advantage. When the whole task is broken up into parts the parts frequently become less meaningful because the continuity or relationship between them are lost. When material is learned by the part method, the parts must eventually be put together. This makes necessary the additional task of learning the transition between parts. The whole method has the advantage of eliminating this step. Logic favours the whole method. Says Martin Rhodes, It is better to learn in

wholes than in parts. Thus you tackle the whole poem every time, not a verse every time. Another expert holds that it is better to repeat the material as a whole than to break it up into parts and repeat each part separately. Sir John Adams also recommends that every unit in learning should be learnt as a whole. When you learn a poem by stanzas, he points out, each is inclined to stand out as a unity by itself, and there is a difficulty at the end of each in getting switched on to the proper one to follow. Flexibility of method As the above considerations make clear, there is no general rule concerning the relative effectiveness of the two methods. Experimental methods do not favour any of these methodsthe whole method, the part method and the progressive methodover the others. In fact in the light of the experimental results, use whichever method you prefer. By preference the progressive method is favoured by most learners. Prof W.W. Ruch recommends a combination of part learning and whole learning: In practical learning situations the best results will probably be attained when part and whole methods are combined. Go over the whole task a few times to get the advantage of meaning and continuity and to detect the difficult parts. Give these parts extra effort, and then practise the whole task again.

Planning Study Schedule

man who does not think and plan ahead will find trouble at his door. Confucius The Importance of planning Planned or unplanned activity makes a difference. Carrying out an activity by fits and starts, spasmodic and desultory dabbling never produces the same result as work carried on with a definite purpose and clear-cut lines. If G.B. Shaw had not made it a strict rule to do first things first, he would probably have failed as a writer and might have remained a bank cashier all his life. His plan called for writing five pages each day. That plan and his dogged determination to carry it through saved him. That plan inspired him to go right on writing five pages a day for nine heart-breaking years, even though he made a total of only ... about a penny a day. He snapped his fingers at circumstances and said, People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I dont believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they cant find them, make them.

No magician ever pulled a rabbit out of a hat without carefully putting one there in the first place. No man can hope to arrive if he does not know whither he is going. He will be like a ship without a rudder, adrift at the mercy of wind and tide or of circumstances. The difference between planned activity and unplanned activity is brought out crisply by Victor Hugo: He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all his occupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, all things lie huddled together in one chaos, which admits of neither distribution nor review. The secret of success in any field of endeavour, including study lies in six magic words: PLAN YOUR WORK; WORK YOUR PLAN How to plan your study-work? In coping with any course of study make yourself (1) a long-term plan embracing the total time you have at your disposal; and (2) short-term plans, monthly, fortnightly, or weekly as may be convenient. For making the long-term plan find out all about the syllabuses you have to cover, the text books and other material you must read and learn, the practical work you have to cover and other requirements which you have to satisfy. This long-term plan may have to be revised from time to time, but you should have an over-all picture of your study-work and the time-range of your plan. The long-term plan may be split up into periodical short-term plans in which you can set yourself targets for important pieces of work. Keep a record of the progress of your plans-in-action. How to work your plans? Your plans will work only if you work them. Give top priority to their implementation. Put your whole heart into them. Strive with both your body and mind towards hitting your targets. Give each stage in your plans your undivided attention. Dont look farther than each stage, thereby following the example of the mountaineer who cuts steps in the ice, refusing to look up at the heights or down into the depths because the sight of either would terrify him. A French sage remarks pertinently, The fool thinks every thing is easy and comes in for many rude awakenings; the sluggard believes that all is impossible, and undertakes nothing; the good workman knows that great things are possible, and prudently, little by little, he accomplishes them.

The homely saying Little by little and bit by bit teaches patience and perseverance. Dont be discouraged by the size of the task you have to do. Stick to it and you will achieve success. The wellknown fable of the hare and the tortoise teaches us that slow but sure, wins the race. The race was won by the slow tortoise, which plodded steadily on while the hare, over-confident of victory, took things too easily. To persist you need the ability to turn a deaf ear to the remarks of other people. Some will tell you that you cannot succeed because you lack brains, brawn, skill, time and so on. Others will tempt you to leave work for more pleasurable occupations. Do what you have planned inspite of discouragement and temptations of others. Then the day will come quickly when you will have the satisfaction of reaching your goals and free time for pleasure while others are still dabbling, wobbling and struggling. You never hear of quitters. They never attain success or happiness. They go through life leaving a trail of unfinished jobswhat can they possibly lead to but frustration and failure? A winner never quits; a quitter never wins. I Frame a time-table: Indispensable need For successful study a time-table is an indispensable need. As the old saying has it, what may be done at any time is done at no time. When you dont work to a time-table but work only when the fit is on you, your study will become spasmodic. Advantages of a time-table The advantages of a time-table are many: (i) The first advantage is the saving in time and effort. Without it you are likely to spend much time in decisionin making up your mind when and what to study. A lot of energy is uselessly consumed in trying to choose between alternatives and in screwing up your resolution to work. As William James has it, There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. (ii) The second advantage is the proper use of time. It is fatally easy to fritter time away. If you do not impose set hours on yourself, you are more likely to spend the time when you should be studying, in watching TV, reading a magazine, conversing idly over cups of tea or in doing any of those hundred and one things which weak and irresolute persons are ready to do rather than buckle to work. If you have a time-table and mean to stick to it, it has all the force of a law which must be obeyed, and in time adherence to it becomes effortless, and you begin to regard it as a natural part of your life. (iii) The third advantage lies in the saving that comes from intelligent dovetailing of your various activities; in ensuring that you do each work at the best possible time; and eventually in the selfconfidence and sense of competence which comes from regular daily work. (iv) The fourth advantage is that a time-table is an antidote against procrastination. Procrastination deferring things from day to daywastes a lot of time and usually ends in nothing being done at all.

Edward Young who coined the famous proverb Procrastination is the thief of time, also exhorts, Be wise today; tis madness to defer. (v) A time-table makes for efficiency. A sense of the value of time, says Arnold Bennett, that is, of the best way to divide ones time into ones various activitiesis an essential preliminary to efficient work; it is the only method of avoiding hurry. (vi) Finally, a carefully worked out time-table will help you to keep up to date, to form good study habits and to persevere. How to frame a time-table? In the light of psychological research, the following guidelines are suggested for making a time-table: (1) A time-table is a guide. It is an aid, not a task-master. It must be flexible. It can be changed from time to time to meet present needs and exigencies. (2) As much as possible use your day time hours for study. During the day our attitude towards work is more positive, and as a rule, we have more energy and are less fatigued. (3) Do not be too heroic: In order that you may live up to your time-table base it on a careful estimate of your capacity for work. A time-table that falls through has its disastrous aftermath. Fix a number of hours that you know to be within your powers. (4) Having estimated the total amount of time to be given to study, settle in what order these subjects should occur in your time-table bearing the following principles in mind: (a) The more difficult subjects should come first and the easiest last. (b) While the hardest subjects should generally come first and the easiest last, there is room for a certain alteration of the easy and the difficult. After a very hard subject a very easy one may be used as a kind of rest after the strain. But the alteration should be according to the different kinds of subject. For example, international law should be followed by sociology and mathematics by history. (5) Introduce a variety of different kinds of tasks: spend some time reading, some writing, some on revision and so on. Follow a period of sociology with a period of geography. As Martin Rhodes observes, Your mind responds to variety which prevents it from becoming stale and helps to keep it alert and lively. (6) Have a target for each period of study, a fixed quota of work to get through, such as a chapter to read, an essay to write. (7) Dont be overly rigid in the use of your time-table. If you cannot finish your target work at the exact

moment when a new subject is due, dont stop when a few more moments might produce all the difference between complete and incomplete task. (8) The length of the study periods to be devoted to each subject will depend upon the nature of the subject and your stage of advancement. Experts have suggested various periods (i) 40 minutes; (ii) 45 to 90 minutes and more. As a general rule 60 minutes forms a suitable average period of study for a subject. (9) It is necessary to give equal time to your subjects. If you find a particular subject difficult allot more time to it than to others. Rest Periods Rest means abstinence of exertion or activity. There are optimum periods of work and rest for every task and for every individual. The art of resting, says Andre Maurois, is a part of the art of working. An individual who is tired and greatly in need of rest cannot do any good work. The human organism cannot survive without alternating work and rest. Work produces fatigue; rest or recreation removes fatigue. Goethe said, Repose is works greatest achievement. In the course of study, rest periods or breaks are essential and invaluable. Boredom, distractability, and dissatisfaction with work tend to set in after about two hours without a break. The following guidelines on rest periods given by an eminent psychologist are commended: During a session of continuous work on the same task, rest periods should be short in relation to the work periodof the order of 5 minutes or so. If longer breaks are taken momentum will be lost and considerable effort needed before you become warmed up to the task again. A rest should be taken whenever you feel that you are slowing down and making errors. A change in activity or posture during the rest are desirable, such as walking around the room, stretching your arms, etc. Rest intervals between different tasks may well be longerabout 10 or 15 minutes. Then a short, brisk walk outside or some light refreshment, often serves to restore energies to their former level. In general, it is sensible to take 15-minute breaks between tasks and smaller breaks in the course of a task. Adhere to your time-table Having drawn up your time-table, adhere to it. You must be ruthless and self-disciplined and permit only special circumstances to interfere with it: See first that the design is wise and just, That ascertained, pursue it resolutely, Do not for one repulse forego the purpose

That you resolved to effect. George Stephenson, when addressing young men, was accustomed to sum up his best advice to them in the words, Do as I have donepersevere. If you want to reach your goal, you will have to give up your giving up and replace it with dogged perseverance. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton once wrote: I hold to a doctrine, to which I owe not much, but all the little I ever had, namely, that with ordinary talent, and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. Planning your work and working your plan will ensure your success. Make it a habit to work to your time-table. Habit is a second nature! Habit is ten times nature, the Duke of Wellington is said to have exclaimed. Keep to this habit till you reach your goal. And dont ever be discouraged if every shot is not a bulls-eye.