Sean Stewart-Muniz, an 18-year-old journalism freshman, studies for his exams in silence.
“I like to study by myself because I find people can be really distracting,” Muniz said. “Normally, I just sit with the book for a while and just read it straight through, no highlighting or anything.”
A study on Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques found practice testing and distributed practice were among methods that got higher results compared to highlighting, summarization and rereading.
The study, published in a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, found highlighting and rereading were among techniques that students depend highly on but were among the study habits that received a low utility assessment.
Public relations junior Kayla Ellsworth, 23, likes to do things like rewrite her lecture notes and type them on the computer to help her remember them better.
“Highlighting helps me because it reminds me to look back at certain things, but I’d rather make note cards for classes that cover a lot of information,” she said.
Although many students seem to use other study methods such as keyword mnemonics and imagery use for text learning, the study questions whether such methods are improving grades.
UF education professor Eileen Oliver said people learn differently, and highlighting and then rereading can be useful.
“I’ve had students who tell me they buy books that are highlighted, but how do we know if they’re going back and reading the rest of it?” Oliver said.
She said the type of studying depends on the subject.
“If the student is studying something that is required, but he or she doesn’t care at all about it, it’s a very different kind of studying than if it’s something you’re passionate about,” Oliver said.
