Read: Dartmouth College’s “Steps for Academic Success”

The main purpose of your education is to learn. You can increase learning by becoming an active learner. You can improve your learning by following these three steps: exposure, review, and practice.

First - Exposure: Read the text before class and listen to the lesson during class. However, this is only the first step in learning. If you only get exposed to the information once or twice, such as reading the text at home and then listening in class, you are likely to forget many important ideas. As you are exposed to new information, earlier information can go away. Studies show that forgetting begins immediately after you leave class or finish your reading. Much of what you hear or read goes away within 48 hours. Therefore, it is important to take the second step.

Second - Review: Study your notes from class. Put the most important facts, points, and examples on flashcards. The very act of making these flashcards will help you to remember the information. This step does not take a lot of time. By using an hour every week to review, you will have a greater understanding of the information long before you are tested on it.

Third - Practice: Go over the information every single day. You may be able to learn a lot of information temporarily, but consistent practice can help you remember the information long-term as well. If you only study information to get a high score on a test, you will not truly learn it. This is why consistent practice is so crucial. Here are two specific ways to practice:

First - Say information out loud. Speaking out loud is one of the most effective ways of taking information from short-term memory to long-term memory.

Second - Study with a small group. Get together with two or three other students. Explain the information to each other. Quiz each other. Do practice problems. Discuss possible test questions. People learn better when they explain ideas and teach information to others.