Over the course of Willingham’s Outsmart your Brain, he teaches us many diverse techniques to help the audience on how they can do better when reading a book, studying for an exam, etc. I will now go over the two most important things I took from the text.
The first being how to study for an exam. Exams are a huge part of school, so naturally, essentially gaining a “cheat code” sounds exciting to me. One of the ways to prepare for an exam is to essentially practice, take a pre test, then practice again. This helps the student, as they are simulating the real thing. After a study session, you take a homemade test the following day. This can be done by simply answering questions on the content you have been studying. After self assessing yourself, you get the chance to analyze your mistakes, then study them after, until everything is right. This can be repeated if necessary. Overall, this is defiantly a good way to study, and I will be using this method in preparation for future tests.
The other important technique I found was how to use a study guide. This again, goes back to studying for exams. If a study guide is made, what good is it for if you have no idea how to properly use it? Well, one of Willingham’s ways is to separate the topics you have learned about. If you keep reading your notes or flashcards over and over again in the same format, it isn’t doing to much, as come test day, the order will be completely revamped, and you may forget. Additionally, the topics would all be in order, and mixing those up can challenge yourself, and get you more prepared. Building off of that, answering the questions aloud can really help your understanding. as Willingham says, it is proven that when speaking aloud, your answers will be more developed. So when that big final comes round, you will be 100% ready.
There are many other useful texts displayed in Willingham’s novel, but I found these two to be the most important and I can see myself using these to improve my marks in the future