【文章摘自 The Professors' Guide Series by Professors Lynn F. Jacobs and Jeremy S. Hyman， 下附中文译文】 For many students, the biggest difference between college and high school is studying: In college, you're really supposed to be doing it. But many beginning college students have habits and strategies that not only don't help their studying but actually thwart it. For them, we offer our best ideas for what not to do if you're going to ace your college studying. Don ' t look for the perfect environment. Many students think if only they found the perfect place to study, studying would be easy. So they spend inordinate amounts of time scouting and trying out various locales—first their dorm room, then the coffee shop, then the library, then the grass, etc. Such elaborate "setup" time can be a major time waster, and even worse, can make you feel that you can't study unless you are in your ideal study spot. Better idea? Find a reasonably quiet place and just get started. You'll get more comfortable as you get going. Don ' t multitask. Believe it or not, some students study for all five of their courses at one session. Fifteen minutes on this subject, 15 minutes on another, 15 minutes on a third—you get the picture. But it's a far better idea to devote your entire session to a single subject. That way you build up speed, and the more engaged you get, the easier the studying will become. Worst of all is to intersperse one subject with another. That's a recipe for guaranteed confusion. Don' t discard the clues. Many professors give study questions or at least say in class what will be most important in the reading. Be sure to consider these all-important (and time-saving) suggestions before you start your reading. If yours is a class with math problems or proofs, be sure to consult the problems done in lecture or section before taking off on the new ones. Often the homework problems are variants of, or extensions of, the work already done. Don' t overestimate the pain. Students often think that the initial pain of resistance to studying will continue throughout the studying. But, surprisingly enough to many students, you'll find that the pain decreases and the enjoyment increases as you get into the material and find you can at least sort of do it. If you plan for an hour of pain, you'll never free your mind enough to get through the studying. Don' t start with the no-brainers. Some students think that starting with the easiest tasks—or the ones they're best at—will "ease them into" the material. Trouble is, when you get to the harder tasks, you still have the leap to make—and you're more tired, too. Suggestion? Start with the hardest or most challenging task. Don' t just memorize. It's useless to just shovel stuff into your mind that you don't understand. If you really are understanding what you're studying, you ought to able to explain the main ideas, in your own words, to someone who hadn't done the studying. Take the time to think about what you're studying—don't just prepare to parrot it on some upcoming exam. Don' t microfocus. Some students think the best studying is slow studying. Reading every word, one by one, writing every sentence of the paper, one by one, preparing one's presentation, one word at a time. But like any cognitive activity, studying is a process that takes place over time and gains strength by building up speed. If you focus too narrowly on the individual elements of what you're doing, you suck the life out of the learning and disrupt the intellectual growth that's possible, even in studying. Don' t do a " trial run. " Many students think they'll do a task—say, reading—once over lightly, then go back and do it again with more focus, and then swing back a third time just to polish it off. Instead of doing the same thing three times, plan to do it once. Save yourself the two half-assed attempts, and just do it right the first time. Don' t count busywork as studying. Some students do a lot of preparing to study or getting organized for studying. But they never get down to doing the studying. Don't give yourself credit for studying when you're actually just cleaning your desk or reorganizing your files on your laptop. Don ' t break yourself to death. Many students think, wrongly, that if they take breaks from time to time (like about every eight minutes) they'll get through the studying easier. But the truth is, each time you stop, you also have to start. And each time you start, you have to overcome the resistance from scratch. Take a break no more frequently than every 20 minutes. Half an hour is better. And limit each break to five minutes. That way you'll actually be able to remember what you were just thinking about. Don' t count " study time " as study time. Some students keep three windows open as they read their E-textbook: one for the book, another for Facebook, and the third for Twitter. And then they flit back and forth from screen to screen, counting all the time as study time. When you're counting up your study time, count only the time you actually engaged with the material (not just the time you sat at your study place). If you can't do this honestly in your head, write it down. The pencil never lies. Don' t count a " study group " as a study group. Many classes have required or optional study groups in which you get together with a group of students from the same course to study the material. If you're participating in one of these, make sure you and your cohorts are actually studying the material, not just each other. If, for whatever reason, you're not studying the material, have a nice time—just don't count the time as study time. Don' t misidentify yourself as an owl. Many students think they can study really well late at night. Very few can. Don' t cram it. Many students think they can study really well the night before the exam ("I'll remember it best if it's freshly studied"). Few can. Don' t be overpunitive. Many students set elaborate study schedules—nothing wrong with that—and then beat themselves up when things don't go according to plan. Maybe some task took longer than anticipated, maybe some additional materials are needed to complete the task, or maybe you were just tired or distracted that day. Don't be too hard on yourself when you haven't kept 100 percent to your plan. Keep in mind that you'll have many study sessions and that remaining in a positive mood about your schoolwork is more important than how any one study session—or indeed series of sessions—goes. Don' t go it alone. If, in spite of your very best efforts, you find yourself hopelessly behind on your studying, always go see the prof or TA. They've had loads of experience with students just like you and can make pragmatic suggestions about how you can get on the right track. Really. Don' t blow off two days in a row. Though nobody quite tells you this, you're supposed to be studying every day of the week at college. That's because the lecture portion of the course is the smallest part of the work to be done. If you're supposed to be preparing, on average, two hours for each lecture hour, and you're taking 15 hours of courses, then you're supposed to be preparing 30 hours a week. Hard to fit 30 hours of studying in only three days a week. Especially if you have lectures on those days. Finally, and most important, Don' t cheat yourself. To get your money's worth out of college, you'll have to do a lot of work on your own. If you don't study—or if you don't study well—you're only cheating yourself. Why do that? 对很多学生来说，在大学里最难的，是找到高效学习的方法——在课外怎么学，才能理解课程，获得高分，完成论文。许多学生的学习习惯和策略阻碍了他们的成功。对他们来说——或许对所有人来说——以下是12件在学习时不宜做的事情。 1、不要浪费时间找最佳环境。许多学生认为只要找到了最佳的学习环境，学习就会变得轻而易举，所以他们花了大量的时间找寻和尝试不同的地方，寝室、咖啡馆、图书馆、草坪……大把的时间浪费于此。更糟的是，你会觉得，除非你找到理想的学习地点，否则你根本无法学习。有没有什么好办法？找一个相对安静的地方开始学习。一旦你投入到学习中去，你会觉得周围的环境还不错。 2、不要把准备工作当学习。一些学生常常“准备好要学习”，却从没有真正开始。不要把清理桌子、整理电脑文件和 “准备好要学习”当成学习。即使在学习的地方，如果你只是泡在Facebook上，发状态说我正在学习，也不是真正的学习。 3、不要从最简单的作业开始。一些学生认为从最简单或者最擅长的作业开始，会让他们更容易进入状态。问题是，完成这些之后，你要花更多的精力来克服难题，可这时你已经很累了。我的建议是，从最难和最有挑战性的工作开始，最后再做那些简单的题目。 4、不要一心多用。不管你信不信，有一些学生会同时学习5门不同的课程，花15分钟学一门，再花15分钟学另一门，再花15分钟再学另一门，相信你已经知道是怎么回事了。在同一时间内只学一门课会好得多。这样，你才能深入理解学习材料，提高学习效率，而且，你越投入，这门课就会越简单。最糟糕的是交叉学习，做10分钟数学，然后该做10分钟经济学，再做10分钟数学……这只会让你混淆知识点。 5、不要忽略提示。很多教授都会在阅读材料中加上课后问题，或者在课堂上和大纲上列出课程重点。在开始学习之前，请一定要认真考虑这些非常重要的建议，这会节省你很多时间。如果有数学题或证明题的话，一定要在课程和章节结束之前解决掉。通常，家庭作业是知识点的变体和延伸。 6、不要抠得太细。一些学生认为最好的学习方法是超慢速学习：阅读一个词一个词读，论文一个词一个词写，展示一个词一个词说。但是像所有的认知行为一样，学习是一个长时间的过程，通过提高学习效率来增加水平。如果你只关注单个的因素，你就没有了全局的视野，学习也就成了浪费生命。 7、不要死记硬背。把你不理解的东西记住是没有用的。如果你真正理解你学的东西，你就可以用你自己的话，向门外汉解释这门课程的主旨（跟你的室友或朋友试试吧）。花一些时间去思考和消化你学的东西，而不是只准备在考试里鹦鹉学舌。 8、不要断断续续。你可以在20秒内看140字的状态或者许多视频，但是学习却跟在Twitter，YouTube和葫芦网上不同。你需要集中注意力，才能理解阅读材料或是解决问题。不要总让自己被打断。依经验而论，学习50分钟，然后休息10分钟是最好的。我们知道改掉旧习惯很难，但是这么做，会减少很多阻力，不会在1个小时里断断续续20次。 9、不要忘了做笔记。所有的阅读材料都要认真做笔记，便于期中和期末考试时回顾复习。尽管每个人有自己做笔记的方式（你该用你认为最有效的方法），但我们发现在笔记本电脑或平板电脑上做笔记（这样你才能回顾这些笔记），比在书本空白处用一两个词概括或是用6种不同颜色的笔在书上把每个词都标注起来，要好得多。 10、不要连续两天休息。尽管没有人会这么要求你，但每个工作日你都应该学习。假定你平均要为每门课准备2个小时，而你总共要修15门课，那么你每周就会有30个小时的准备时间。要在3天里安排这30个小时会很困难。 11、不要太难为自己。很多学生精心制定了日常安排，一旦事情没有如期进行——也许某些工作花费得时间比预计的长，也许完成功课要读一些另外的材料，也许是这天太累或思想无法集中——他们就会有挫败感。不要因为没有完全按计划来而沮丧，记住，学习有很多部分组成，家庭作业要比其他的部分重要的多，因此大可保持乐观。 12、不要单枪匹马。如果你发现尽管你已经尽了最大的努力，但还是要花费大量时间准备一门课程或者远远落后于其他的同学，那就去找你的教授或者助教。他们在这方面有极为丰富的经验，可以给你提供可行性建议，让你重回正轨。如果你看了我们的指南还有学习上的困难的话，找教授和助教吧，他们会是你真正的救星。 【原文出自http://www.professorsguide.com/downloads/SecretsCollege-Ch1.pdf】
标签: 怎么学习
