Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. review
    • ex. She likes to review new English words every evening after dinner.
  2. retrieval
    • ex. Strong retrieval skills make it much easier to answer hard test questions.
  3. space
    • ex. You should space your rest breaks every hour so you do not get too tired before the end of the day.
  4. cram
    • ex. If you cram all evening, you might feel exhausted during the test.
  5. metacognition
    • ex. Checking your own work for mistakes is a basic form of metacognition.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Students can improve their long-term learning by changing how they study, according to research by psychologists. Many students read, take notes, highlight important parts, and review the same information again and again. These methods may help students prepare for a test, but they are not the most effective ways to remember information for a long time.

Experts recommend retrieval practice, which means trying to remember information without looking at notes. For example, students can read a few pages, stop, and write down what they remember. They can also do a “brain dump.” They can do this by writing everything they know about a topic. These activities create small mental challenges that can strengthen connections in the brain and make information easier to remember.

Students should also space their study sessions instead of studying everything at once. Research shows that students who cram can pass a test. However, students who study over several days improve their long-term memory. Students can also use metacognition, or thinking about how well they have learned something. Experts say these methods feel harder at first, but they save time later and help students retain knowledge longer.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Study Habits

  • What was your study habit as a student? Discuss.
  • Many students spend a lot of time highlighting text and reading notes again and again. What do you think about these common study habits? Discuss.
  • Do you think doing a "brain dump," writing down everything you remember about a topic, can work well at work? Why or why not? Discuss.

Cramming

  • The article mentions that cramming can help someone pass a test, but it does not help with long-term memory. Do you agree with this? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Why do you think some students cram before an important test? Discuss.
  • Besides studying, in what situations do people sometimes cram (ex. during a work project)? Discuss.