Joseph Bowman
Brittani Garcia
Intro to Health Professions
Learning Style: Self-Assessment
09/04/21
My Study Habits
1. As of right now, I study with a variety of methods. I use flashcards, my notes, and practice questions. I prefer to set up my flashcards on Quizlet because it allows for me to practice at pretty much anytime without the hassle of physical paper. Not only that, but Quizlet has practice quizzes and games to help you memorize the material you put in. I find notes to be the least helpful out of all my study options, but I do occasionally look back over my notes to review any material I may have forgotten. I use practice problems to make mistakes without penalty, so that when I do an assignment for a grade, I will make less mistakes. I use each of those methods for all my classes. In the classes that are more term heavy I use more flashcards.
While in class I don’t really study unless given the specific time to do so, but I guess doing practice problems given by instructors could be seen as studying. In that case, I do practice problems in class. I also do use my notes in class to remind myself of material that I forgot when I’m asked a question. That process helps me to reinforce information.
Outside of class I mainly use Quizlet and practice problems. I usually study flash cards for thirty minutes and then do practice problems for an additional 30 minutes. This totals at least an hour per day for most subjects. For some classes, I don’t really use practice problems. For example, history and English don’t really require me to do practice problems for me to remember the information. In those classes, flashcards are generally enough to succeed.
2. One course that I am doing very well in is Chemistry. I believe I am doing well in the course because of my well-rounded study habits. The textbook offers plenty of practice problems and the instructor also puts quite a few in her slides. In addition to the practice problems, I also make sure to make comprehensive flashcards that a good reflection of the material covered in class. I find that not one study method works best for this class, instead studying with a variety of methods insures you have a full grasp of given information.
Identifying and Applying New Learning Techniques
3.
Planning
One class I am struggling would be Interpreting the American Past (ITAP). In this class, I will start making a timeline to help me sort all the information that I have memorized. I will also go to office hours to see if my professor has any tips for making the course less overwhelming. I study for ITAP nine hours each week. Most days I spend one hour studying and 2 hours on the weekend days. One thing I am noticing is I spend too much time memorizing names/dates, when really, I need to understand the overall effect of those names/dates.
Monitoring
As the exam for ITAP approaches I have spent less time memorizing and have spent more time trying to see the big picture of all the information. So, I did deviate from my original plan a little bit, but so far, I am seeing better results. I have also been using all the resources my professor supplies, such as various articles. I will say however, that I have not been doing the extra credit assignments for the class. Thankfully, my motivation for the course is very high so most of the problems I am having should be solved relatively easily.
When it comes to confusion in the class, a lot of people have had the same questions as me. As a result, I haven’t had to really ask for clarification on anything because someone already asked the question in class or sent an email. The only confusion I still have is if future exams will have the same format as the first one.
Evaluating
As for the evaluation of my study habits, I am not one hundred percent sure yet because I haven’t completed my first exam yet. However, if I use my other assignments as a reference, I have gotten one hundred percent on all of them. So, it’s not that I am misunderstanding the material, I just think it is more challenging for me than it should be.
4. In class, I will try to draw more visual aids while taking notes. Even though I can learn in most teaching methods, I am more of a visual learner. Catering to this will help me to better retain information while in class.
5. A new technique I could try for outside the class is forming a study group. I have noticed that I am not the only one who feels very overwhelmed by ITAP. Instead of collectively stating how much we hate the course, we could try to help each other gain a firmer grasp on the material by playing of each other strengths and weaknesses in a study group.