Spencer Colton

Mr. Darrin Broadway

English III-4
9 September 2015
Improving Study Habits: Studying Does Not Equal Learning
I entered junior year thinking that the work would be just as easy as it had been sophomore year.
Contrary to whatever I thought, I was quickly thrown on the floor and beaten up by the very first
knowledge tell given to us by Darrin. At that point, I realized that I needed to quickly change my habits
to align with the doctrine of Dr. Stephen Chew, a cognitive psychologist. I performed a detailed analysis
of my study habits and was interested to find that many strategies that I had previously thought to be
efficient and effective were neither. Although I successfully implemented Dr. Chews methods of
Overlearning and Automaticity, I failed to use most of his other methods, resulting in falling grades
and reduced learning.
In the first of his videos, Dr. Chew outlines his Beliefs that Make You Stupid and discusses the
concept of metacognition. Topping the list is the belief that learning is fast. Those that hold this belief
fail to realize that it takes careful reading, and more importantly, review (Chew) to successfully learn
and retain information. Reflecting on past years, I can see that I do hold this belief as I rarely review
information. I thought that I was a fast learner and thus I read text only one time without realizing that it
was necessary also to review the information after having read it. Next, Chew states that, a hallmark of
students who are struggling is they study by trying to learn isolated facts. He continues to say that good
teachers will test for comprehension of the concept rather than test over isolated facts. I have been failing
to study properly and efficiently because I have used this method in my studying. Quizlet, though helpful
at times, generally forces students to retain only isolated facts and does not help them to learn the
concepts. I have consistently used Quizlet as my main method of study for the past several years, and it is
very possible that it has had a large effect on my exam grades. Chew goes on to explain that many people
who struggle refuse to try harder because they find themselves bad at a subject and refuse to put work

in. Chew believes that anyone can learn anything so long as he or she works hard enough. I have many
times fallen prey to this belief. I didnt think that I was very good at English, therefore I did not put that
much work into assignments and my grades suffered as a result. Had I worked harder, I am certain that I
would have received higher marks. The last Belief that Makes You Stupid in the video is the belief that
one is great at multitasking (Chew). Chew says that many people think that they are great at multitasking
because they have never compared their productivity while multitasking to their productivity while
focusing only on a single task. It seems to me that I do not hold this belief because in order for me to get
anything done, I must rid my environment of distractions before starting to work. I know this area of
myself very well. Finally, Chew emphasizes that metacognition is essential to successful learning and
prevents a study to support his evidence. Metacognition is a students awareness of their [sic] level of
understanding of a topic (Chew). In his study, he found that students with poor metacognition studied
less because they believed that they had mastered material before they had, and thus their grades were
lower than expected. Using evidence from past years, I can conclude that my sense of metacognition is
fairly good with only a few exceptions. Overall, I know when I havent mastered material and I can tell
when I have not done well on an exam. One of the exceptions was our first knowledge tell, on which I
thought I had done well but in reality I received a C.
In Chews next video, he iterates through facts about how people learn. He presents a study by
Hyde and Jenkins in which they determined the most important factor of learning, whether it be method
of processing (shallow or deep) or knowing that there would be a quiz later. They found that it was most
important to use deep processing, and that there was no correlation between score and warning about a
quiz. Chew then elaborates that deep processing focuses on subjective meaning and involves relating
new information to prior knowledge or making information personally meaningful (Chew). I have failed
many times to use deep processing in my studying simply because I did not know that it existed. Using
Quizlet leads to one memorizing information without having to related the information to the self, thus
unintentionally avoiding actual learning. Furthermore, when not using Quizlet, I failed to orient my tasks

such that they would force me to learn effectively using deep processing. Orienting tasks is forming
study strategies in such a way that they force the studier to use a certain type of processing (Chew).
Chews third video explains the principles of how people learn best. He outlines four different
ways to attain deep processing while studying. The first, elaboration, is asking oneself, How does this
concept related to other concepts? (Chew). He suggests making connections to other topics currently
being studied and to topics studied in the past. I have never used this technique. When I study, I tend to
memorize isolated facts and I generally fail to look at the bigger picture and how things relate. For many
classes such as biology and math, this has still been effective because I have an innate sense of the bigger
picture without studying it. However, for other classes, this has had a significant effect on my learning
and has prevented me from completely comprehending the assigned content. Distinctiveness, according
to Chew, is the analysis of two different concepts or facts to find the key differences between them.
Albeit infrequently, I have used this method of study. In Mr. Adkinss class, we are expected to know
how to find the derivative of a function. There are myriad methods to do so, requiring us to distinguish
between each method to decide when it is applicable and when it is not. Carefully reviewing each method
helps one to succeed on the test. It is also stated in the video that information must be related to personal
experience to achieve deep processing (Chew). Once a concept is learned, the student must find a way to
connect the concept to something in his or her personal life to retain the information. Again, this is a
concept that I have employed but very sparingly. In the past, when I had issues remembering something,
I would create a story based on something that had happened to me in order to remember it. As the years
went by, however, I began to forget this method and thus I have not used it in a long time. Chews final
principle of achieving deep processing is Appropriate Retrieval and Application. To employ this
technique is to recall information as one will later be expected to do. Because I never realized that using
this strategy would help my learning, I have never used it. As previously stated, I use Quizlet for most of
my studying. Most teachers do not test as Quizlet does, so learning in this way is not very helpful for my
test and exam grades. After iterating through methods of achieving deep processing, Chew explains the
concepts of automaticity and overlearning. Automaticity is practicing a process so much that it can be

performed without any conscious effort and overlearning is continuing to study beyond just knowing
information to where it can be recalled quickly and easily (Chew). I have employed both of these
techniques in almost all of my studying. Using Quizlet requires that a person study and restudy the
information until it can all be recalled quickly and in one try. For this reason, the studying that I have
done in the past has been at least partially successful because, despite now using deep processing
concepts, I have always overlearned information to that recalling it becomes an automatic process.
.

The fourth video contains information about how to apply the aforementioned concepts to study

strategies to attain deep processing. First, he states that one should generate questions on the material.
The questions should not be questions about isolated facts, rather they should compare and contrast, make
connections, or generate examples. In the past, I did not successfully implement this strategy but for
more recent tests, I have. I try to generate questions mainly that relate content to other content in other
classes but I also try to relate it to my personal experience. The video also suggests creating a concept
map to help organize the information. In addition, concept maps help to link information to other topics.
I employed this method frequently in biology to help link vital life processes for different forms of life,
but I have not used it very often in my other classes. Next, the video suggests recalling without referring
to notes (Chew). I have very often used this study strategy because I know that it will be important on
the test. It has been very helpful because we are not allowed to use notes on tests, so my grades have
been increased because of this strategy. After this, Chew begins to outline how to take good notes in
class. First, he says that it is important to provide a summary of the notes. My notes have always
successfully followed this step, however I dont always refer to my notes when studying. Next, he says to
create a set of retrieval cues or memory cues for information that you didnt record (Chew). Generally,
my notes are far too detailed and dont require me to remember anything, so I was unable to follow this
step. Chew goes on to say that it is important to take notes to remain engaged in the class. I have found
that when I take notes, I am very engaged in the class. Chew does not recommend taking notes on a
laptop because of the distractions that a laptop can provide. When possible, however, I do take notes on a
laptop simply because I am less likely to lose them. I am for the most part aware that I must take good

notes and not be distracted in class so even when taking notes on my laptop, I stay on task and retain
information. At this point, Chew gives advice on how to highlight notes. He realizes that many students
simply highlight bolded terms and thus study isolated facts without deeply processing information, so he
suggests that students highlight connections, distinctions, and applications (Chew). I know that I am
guilty of simply highlighting and memorizing key terms, and this has caused my grades to drop
considerably as evidenced by my history grades last year. Finally, Chew discusses group study
techniques. He states that for everyone in the group to learn, each person must be using deep processing
strategies. Groups that study using shallow processing or have a lot of distractions will believe that they
have learned when they have not. It is for this reason that I avoid group study altogether because I know
that the temptation to be distracted is too great when I am with my friends. I know that I learn best when
I am alone and I can focus on just one task.
Finally, in Chews last video, he discusses how to deal with failing an exam so that it wont
happen again. He suggests that students analyze their previous study habits so that they can be improved
for the future. I have most certainly applied this this year because, after receiving a bad grade on the first
knowledge tell, I changed my study habits so that they would allow me to get a better score on the next.
Next, Chew recommends that students go to the teacher to discuss the failed exam. Being honest with
myself, I can see that I have not employed this method very often because I find it stressful and
embarrassing to discuss a failed test with my teachers. Finally, it is suggested that students dont start
letting classes or assignments slide (Chew). This year, for the first time, I have remained focused on my
schoolwork and I have not been allowing assignments to slide. I have kept on top of things and made
sure that the work is done early so that I will have a chance to review it in the future.
To improve my grades in the future, I have created a plan for learning in alignment with Chews
deep processing study strategies. I will begin studying earlier because learning is not fast. Even though I
know that Quizlet is treacherous in that it promotes only studying isolated facts and not processing text
deeply, I very much enjoy it and I have decided to modify my study habits so that I can continue to use it.
I will make sure that as I study on Quizlet that I am also trying to make connections between the word or

phrase that I am studying and other pieces of information that I am expected to know for the test. This
will help me to see a more broad concept rather than simple isolated facts. Furthermore, I can also relate
the words to my personal experience so that I can form a connection with them and I will be more likely
to retain the information being studied. Next, I will continue to try even though I dont think Im very
good at subjects such as English. My lack of trying in the past has prevented me from continuing to learn
and resulted in my grades dropping. I will also find other ways to study so that I can practice appropriate
retrieval and application. Simply using Quizlet, no matter how deeply I process the information, is not
good enough because that is not how we will be expected to use information on a test. To satisfy this
requirement of successful study, I will try to generate questions like the teacher would and I will answer
them without referring to notes. If applicable, I will create a concept map for the information that we have
been assigned, relating it to previous information and other concepts that we are studying. I will adjust
my notes so that they dont outline each thing said during a lecture. Rather, I will make them much more
simple and I will have them contain memory cues so that I can be forced to remember things that were
said without writing them down. I will also use my notes for review rather than just using the textbook or
not reviewing at all. Because I dont like going to teachers to review failed tests, I will swallow my pride
and remind myself that I need to do it to improve my grade in the future.
Even though the school work in junior year is much more difficult than I expected, I can use Dr.
Chews methods to reduce my stress while keeping my grades up. The process will not be easy, but the
rewards reaped will make overhauling my study habits worth the trouble.

Works Cited
Chew, Stephen. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, Beliefs That Make
You Fail... Or Succeed. YouTube. Google, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.
- - -. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 2 of 5, What Students Should Know
About How People Learn. YouTube. Google, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.
- - -. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 3 of 5, Cognitive Principles for
Optimizing Learning. YouTube. Google, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.
- - -. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 4 of 5, Putting Principles for Learning
into Practice. YouTube. Google, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.
- - -. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 5 of 5, I Blew the Exam, Now What?
YouTube. Google, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.