This one tip will make you a better test-taker
Posted on August 08 2019
If you take notes while you’re reading, watching a video, listening to a lecture, or engaged in a classroom discussion, when do you review those notes?
The answer to that question is a good predictor of how you’ll do when you’re tested on that material.
If you don’t review your notes at all, you probably derived some benefit from the act of taking notes, but not much.
If you review the notes right before the test, you’ll likely do a little bit better than if you didn’t review them at all.
But if you look at your notes on the same day that you’ve learned the information, you’re most likely to retain the most information.
The best strategy of all, though, is to use all of these strategies — take notes, review them on the same day, and do one more quick review shortly before the test.
Try it out. You’ll be glad you did.
The answer to that question is a good predictor of how you’ll do when you’re tested on that material.
If you don’t review your notes at all, you probably derived some benefit from the act of taking notes, but not much.
If you review the notes right before the test, you’ll likely do a little bit better than if you didn’t review them at all.
But if you look at your notes on the same day that you’ve learned the information, you’re most likely to retain the most information.
The best strategy of all, though, is to use all of these strategies — take notes, review them on the same day, and do one more quick review shortly before the test.
Try it out. You’ll be glad you did.
