Welcome dear Class of 2025! We’re so happy to have you and we’re very excited for the journey that you’re about to embark on known as grad school!
Before grad school, I’ve always heard current graduate students from different universities tell me that grad school is a whole new level and that they’ve had to adjust their learning styles to study. This made me nervous for grad school, but I want to encourage you that grad school is hard but extremely rewarding- you can do it! I’ve had to experiment with a lot of different learning methods while in grad school and I wanted to share with you all some different methods that I use to study and hopefully they will help you study more efficiently and effectively!
There are quite a lot of different learning methods but for simplification, I will divide the methods into 2 different categories: 1) General Learning/Understanding 2) Active Memorization/Recall. I usually like to study by using the methods for general learning/understanding first to make sure that I understand the material and then active memorization/recall to solidify the material for examination time!
General Learning Method 1: Take Good Notes
This method is pretty self-explanatory but good notes can go a long way! Make sure to pay attention during class and write down notes that the professors emphasize on or if they elaborate on a certain topic during class. In my experience those points from the lecture usually find their way on the tests! If they start writing on the board that’s a hint that you should be writing too! There are many ways to take notes but some resources that I recommend if you want to take digital notes are OneNote, Notability and GoodNotes. I love digital notes because they’re easy to organize, you can type and handwrite, and you don’t need to carry notebooks and binders on you! You can also underline, highlight, and circle all text! Alternatively, if you like physical notes, I recommend investing in colored report covers, binders or folders for organization.
OneNote
Notability
GoodNotes
General Learning Method 2: Summarizing
Summarizing is another great way to make sure that you understand the material. If you’re able to put the material into your own words and effectively explain it to yourself or another person, that demonstrates that you have a strong understanding of the course material. At the end of my notes, I like to either write down a summary or mentally note a summary of the main points of the section and what is the key takeaway from the lecture. This helps me keep track of what’s the main concept and prevents me from getting bogged down by all the details!
Now that we’ve covered some of the general learning methods that I use to get started when learning a new topic, here are some active learning methods that I use when I want to focus on mastering a topic. There have been several studies that indicate that active recall and active learning methods are the best technique to make your studying more efficient because when you’re forcing your brain to recall information, it strengthens those connections in your brain which reinforces your ability for memorization and recollection. Highlighting, rereading and summarizing can be good when you just want to get an understanding of the material but active learning is key when you want to master the material!
Active Learning Method 1: Quizlet
Many of you have probably heard of Quizlet but Quizlet has been one of my go-to study sources that I use when studying for exams! You can use Quizlet to make flashcards for yourself and it’s extremely efficient because it groups terms into still learning and mastered so you know your problem areas. You can also create practice tests for yourself to test yourself on the material! If you get Quizlet plus you can also upload your own photos from lecture which may be helpful when you want to memorize conditions/diseases.
Active Learning Method 2: Closed-Note Notetaking
Another method that I use to test my knowledge of the material and my recall abilities is to take notes while my textbooks and notebooks are closed. I like to try and recall as much information as I can on my own and put it into spider diagrams or bullet points so that I have an idea of the material that I remember and can recall. Then I like to go through my notes and write in a different color what points I missed from my textbooks and my notebooks and note that those points are areas that I need to go over and memorize again. This method really challenges me and forces me to focus and recall as much information as I can!
Active Learning Method 3: Make questions for yourself
Another method that I like to use is to make practice tests for myself. I like to go through my notes and make questions from key points. The questions that I like to make range from basic memorization to integration of key points that I can see be a trick question that could be on the exam! I like to either create a practice test on Quizlet or create a Word Document and just start typing questions that I think are important or questions that I’m not sure about the answer to. For the questions that I’m not sure about the answer to, I like to ask my classmates or email the professor to make sure that I correctly understand the material. This is another great way to test yourself on the material!
These are the primary learning methods that I use when studying, but that doesn’t mean that these are the only methods that you should use when studying! Everyone studies in different ways and what works best for you may look different from what works best for your classmate. However, I do recommend reaching out to your professors, fellow classmates, or even upper classmen when you do have questions about the material. You’re in graduate school now so there’s no more competition to get in- we all want to see you succeed! J Good luck with graduate school- you got this!