Study Smarter, not Study Harder

 

This is a summary of actual things students can do to study smarter and not just look at the same material for longer. Successful students will choose a subset of these suggestions.

As a parent and former college administrator, I cannot count the number of times I heard the expression “I am going to study harder!” in order to get a better outcome on an upcoming test.

But what does that really mean? I observed students who, in response to the above expression, seemed to actually look harder and longer at the pages in the textbook. Somehow, the student actually expected a different outcome from such a repetitive effort. It reminds me of the saying that the definition of a fool is someone who keeps repeating the same task unsuccessfully and hoping that repeating it will result in a different outcome.

So, my advice to students is that if they want a different outcome, don’t repeat the effort previously attempted. Develop a new set of strategies and tactics. Specifically, start with a list of all the possible tasks one could undertake, and rank them by anticipated benefit. Then, chose the top ones that can be accomplished within the time allocated to studying for the upcoming test. Since everyone learns differently, each student’s ranking will be different as will the estimated time expenditure for each task based on the situation.

One could write a lengthy book on all the tasks students could use to improve their academic performance, and I presume there are already many. Here are my suggestions:

Homework

1. Homework. Thoroughly complete all assignments.
2. Optional Assignments. Complete all optional assignments suggested by the teacher.
3. Unassigned Work. Read the unassigned material within the course textbooks, notes, and problem sets available to the student.
4. Unassigned Homework. Finish any unassigned questions in the texts, notes, and auxiliary materials.
5. Class Notes. Copy your class notes over into well-organized summaries of the material. People who rewrite their class notes and augment them with additional outside-the-classroom studies generally retain the material better and fare better in exams.

Outreach for Data

1. Other Teachers and Faculty. Find out what other texts and materials were assigned by other faculty, and review these for similarities and differences. Complete the assigned and optional work for the same course assigned by other faculty.
2. Get Class Notes from Others. Review the class notes, and look at other students’ class notes.
3. Just Ask. Ask the professor – either during class or office hours or both – what is going to be on the exam. Carefully note the nuances in the descriptions. Repeat with any teaching assistants.
4. Tests from Other Sections. Get previous tests by this professor and from other professors for the same course. Take these tests as practice tests in a simulated environment. Analyze the tests for common features, what was hardest, and what questions took the longest in the simulated environment.
5. Network. Talk to students who took the course before, and ask them their impression of the tests, what to expect, and what surprised them.

Prediction

1. Test Prediction. Use the previous steps to develop a predicted test. Sometimes, tests are available in student resource centers. We used to comb through them and observe the trends and directions.
2. Pattern Analysis. Look for repeating occurrences and favorite topics or questions used by the faculty in their tests. Many professors like to teach something in their exams and not just measure what was already covered. What will it be?
3. Take Sample Tests. Early in the study process, take the test in a realistic setting with the appropriate time constraint.
4. Test Preparation Strategy. Based on taking those sample tests, assess any gaps, and develop strategies to use during the test preparation phase.
5. Special Problems for the Professor. Try to predict exam questions that are important to your professor, and develop a strategy to “knock those out of the park!” These could be the extra credit or discovery questions that are used to separate students from the pack. Also, no matter what the overall score, professors admire students who do well on their ‘pet’ questions, the goodwill of which could be helpful in the future.

Test Preparation

1. Checklists. Create checklists of materials to be mastered, and assess yourself on the completeness of mastery. Develop a plan and a schedule to improve the mastery of each critical section prior to the exam.
2. Classify. Divide predicted tests into easy and hard sections. First, develop confidence in the easy questions, and then create a plan to master the hard ones. Look for the pattern when taking the actual test.
3. Shortcuts. Exams are almost always time-constrained. Developing methods for processing questions quickly is a key requirement for good performance. Prepare shortcuts for key sections of the predicted test. In analytical courses, frequently clever shortcuts can be used for recurring mathematical computations. In other types of exams, outlines, bulleted lists, and sometimes even a clever graphic can be used to great effect. Prepare these in advance, and if needed, commit them to memory.
4. Exam Study Sheet. Prepare an exam sheet containing useful information, formulae, facts, and relationships. I try to make this graphical and well-organized. Even if the exam isn’t open note, I can recall the material better if I created such a study sheet for the exam. Clearly, if the exam is open note, it will help.
5. Drilling Tools. Some exams simply require memorization. Prepare index cards with key formulae, chemistry equations, facts, quotes, and data. Drill yourself and members of your study group so that they are easy-to-access during the exam. I have seen students in Organic Chemistry buy and/or develop drill cards as well as stick models to build key molecules prior to exams.
6. Table of Contents. Even for open-note/open-book exams, prepare tables of contents or indexes so that it will be easy to locate the material that is needed for the particular questions. In timed open-note tests, it’s amazing how many students waste time pouring through their texts and notes looking for something relevant during the exam. Those of us with indexes merely consult our index/table of contents and then turn directly to the textbook or notes page for the relevant information.
7. Prewrite Essays. Write key essay responses based on the predicted test questions. These paragraphs are especially useful if the exam is open note as you can copy the key paragraphs straight into your answers. However, even for a closed-book exam, prewriting certain key sections will make your essays easier to write and flow together with the facts and language you desire. Some people prewrite their answers and then use a few introductory paragraphs to transition the questions to their answer.
8. Purchase Study Guides. Buy study guides for the course. Use those for practice exams and study sheets. When growing up, we had Schaum’s Outlines and Cliff Notes, and I allocated a portion of my limited student budget to ensure I had such auxiliary study material for my key course.
9. Favored Question Prediction. Develop a plan for which questions will be welcomed on an exam. My experience is that one’s momentum builds by answering the ‘comfort’ questions first and then allow the remaining time on the exam to maximize the score on those that are challenging. It helps manage one’s energy and morale during the exam.

Teamwork

1. Study Groups. Form a study group for the course or courses you are taking. When allowed and/or appropriate, study groups can be used to work on homework together and exchange answers to the toughest problems, predicted exams, and prewritten essays. Help each other see the big picture as well as the details. Everyone can have a different opinion of what is important in the course and what the teacher is likely to ask on the exam. Several times, I participated in a study group that exactly predicted the questions on the exam, and hence, we were all well-prepared.
2. Divide and Conquer. Trying to accomplish all the things on this list for each exam is difficult, if not impossible. Use study groups to divide and conquer the list, and then exchange insights and preparation material.
3. Teach It. Arrange to teach the material to someone. It requires a higher level of understanding and comfort to be able to teach the material.

Readiness

1. Physical Preparation. Develop a plan for your physical state going into the exam so that you will be at peak performance. Everyone is different, so decide for yourself what level of rest, energy, caffeine, and last-minute study is best for you prior to entering the test chamber. For example, as a student, I avoided an all-nighter before but would study until late, get up early, go for a quick jog or bike ride to raise my heart rate, then study for about 90 minutes starting approximately two hours before, grab a bite of food, and take some caffeine just before entering the room.

Summary

It’s important for everyone to develop their own go-to tactics and strategies. But every once in a while, a student should formally consult an extended list like this one and decide if things should be added to their arsenal of tools for an upcoming exam.

Bottomline: Studying smarter for a test, probably, can be best summarized as being able to predict what’s on the test and being in a position to completely answer it within the timeframe given.  

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How to Be a Great Conversationalist-Even if You’re Shy

 

How do great conversationalists do it? How do they know how to connect with people and make them feel good? How do they diffuse difficult situations so well and make everyone feel great?

They get people to like them immediately, they have a cool verbal brand and they’re super confident. They also know how to be influential!

We’ve all been here, right? That time on our first date when we had no idea what to say? Wracking our brains for something interesting to bring up? Feeling like an idiot! Or you started talking, and filler words dominated the scene.

How about at the party where everyone seems to be having so much fun. You’re standing by the hors d’oeurves, wondering how to chat with someone–anyone! 

Great conversationalists know what to say.

Before the meeting starts, you’re trying to think of something more creative to say than, “What’s up with you?” “How’s it going?”

Have no fear! You are here! And I’m going to teach you to be a great conversationalist even if you’re shy or an introvert. 

Great conversationalists treat speech as music.

Why?

Because speech is music.

Great conversationalists know that speech is music. And second, speech is power.

Your communications skills cause you to establish strong relationships with folks and have people adore being around you-leading to incredible success.

It’s not your clothes or your hair, and it’s not even your money. You can get people to hang around you if you have a lot of money, but you can’t get them to like you. 

And none of that helps your conversational skills.

What do great conversationalists know that you don’t?

Straight off the bat, they know how to be relaxed and how to convey concise messages. They weren’t born with that information either. They learned it and practiced it. 

Why would they do that? Oh, only because it’s going to help them get ahead in life!

Do you know what else they know? They know how to sound smart, and they know that nobody was born a perfect communicator.

They know that everything they want to do well (tennis, anyone? Playing an instrument, Marketing, IT, Legal studies, etc.) has to be learned and practiced repeatedly.

They’ve studied and put to practice the art of being persuasive and thtye know how to answer difficult questions when they get hit with them.

We live in an ultra-competitive environment.

But it’s something very few actually talk about. I’ve been training people to be incredible conversationalists (and to be persuasive, sound smart, articulate their thoughts into words, be concise, improve the sound of their speaking voice, the whole 9 yards) for twenty-five years. 

Some folks brag about me and tell everyone. Thank you, guys! But most people tell me they’re going to keep it to themselves as a secret weapon. Hey, we live in an ultra-competitive society, and they want that edge.

Maybe you’re as good as that other Marketer, but they crushed that job interview just by talking, so they got the job.

Maybe you’re even a better lawyer than your competition, but they spoke clearly and persuasively so they got the job.

Isn’t the better communicator going to increase the bottom line for your firm?

Of course, you want to hire the smooth-talking lawyer and the well-spoken marketer. Sure you’re going to hire the candidate who is well able to articulate her thoughts into words.

There is no mystery here. Communication is a huge part of what we do for work and in our personal lives. It’s at the top of every job description!

What you may think of as soft skills are really the basis for everything you do!

Yes, great conversationalists who have honed their communication skills are trying to leave you in the dust. 

But you’re here now and I’ve got you. Let’s do this!

To be an incredible conversationalist you need the following 7 techniques.

You want to be a better talker? Here are the steps in a nutshell and when you continue reading you’ll learn the details. I save the best for my clients but these are awesome too 🙂

1. Tell stories containing human emotion.  
2. Be completely relaxed.  
3. Love your audience to extinguish shyness or introversion.  
4. Compliment, don’t comment.  
5. Use influential intonation.  
6. Listen, rephrase & repeat. Show empathy.  
7. Be kind and be brief. 

Read on to learn all the details to be an incredible conversationalist.

The best thing to do is to start with The Voice Spa. It’ll teach you to be completely relaxed during all high-stakes situations you find yourself in. Interviewed by Bloomberg? Cool as a cuke!

Then it’ll teach you to be concise! These 2 things alone are priceless. But the course also teaches you to be persuasive. It’s a no-brainer. Of course, you’ll have to practice the skills you learn.

Ok, here’s how it’s done:

The best thing you can do is to get people talking.

And I don’t mean by asking them questions. Nobody wants to be in the hot seat, except the few that will talk your ear off anyway. All over the internet is the bad advice to start conversations by asking questions. 

They recommend insane questions that invoke unreal scenarios. Ugh! No! You want to tell a very short story that people can relate to.

Want to be a better talker?

Tell short stories that contain human emotion. I recommend arming yourself with an arsenal of anecdotes. Put some time in and think about your life experiences that have a moral or some human interest. 

If you want help arming yourself with an arsenal of anecdotes take a session with me. I’ll extract a couple of good stories out of you, teach you to use the right words, and you’ll walk away with the strategy and the swagger.

Then practice those stories until you’re confident and they feel good. Make sure they’re not longer than about thirty seconds. Shorter is better.

Resist the desire to give a lot of detail. The best stories draw broad strokes so your listener can draw their own picture in their mind. That’s how people feel connected to you. 

You can also apply this to your elevator pitch.

How can telling stories get people talking?

Good question, glad you asked! Yes, it does! If your story contains human elements, folks will jump at the chance to tell their own story, the one yours reminded them of. 

You know the feeling; you’ve done it before. When a friend told you a story you related to, you rushed to tell a similar tale. You can utilize this to your advantage.

Like when you picked your friend up at the airport and she told you how horrifically bumpy her flight was and you followed with a frightening flying story of your own.

People champ at the bit to tell stories that are similar to the stories they hear at that moment.

Be completely relaxed

Social events usually cause quite a bit of tension in our bodies, from the excitement, the anticipation, and the anxiety over the fear of feeling and looking foolish. We all have it. 

Please note that almost everyone at the event feels similarly to you, and most people are too concerned about themselves to be overly observant about what you are doing. So chances are you won’t look foolish no matter what you do. 

You’ll want to keep yourself calm, cool, and collected. If someone upsets you, that means you need to FindYourRelaxedPlace. I can teach you how. Do your Convey Relaxation Exercises until you get to a point where you can rid your body of tension at any given moment.

What if I’m shy or an introvert?

If you want to have extraordinary networking opportunities, establish fun, productive relationships, and enjoy beautiful conversations with others, you’ll want to do like the extraordinary conversationalists do: Look outward, not inward.

Instead of thinking about how you feel inside, think about how the other person feels inside. It’s quite refreshing. Not at all exhausting. 

This shift will take a bit of time and practice, but it’s worth it.

When you spend your time wondering if people like you or think you’re smart, you can feel drained. And you just want to go home and go to bed.

But when you love your audience, have warmth for the people you’re with, that’s when you feel like you could chat with them all day.

You can mention how you feel at a party where you know no one: 

“These functions make me feel awkward; I never know what to say to people I don’t know!” The person standing next to you is going to completely relax and say, “Me too!”

Better yet, have anecdotes prepared.

Speak slowly by using breath groups

Once you are completely relaxed, there will be times during conversations when you want to share your opinion, make a witty observation, or relay a brief anecdote. Leave pauses between breath groups. (A breath group can be anywhere from about 4 to 7 words.) 

Connect your breath groups (linking, don’t drop the ball) but utter them slowly. The same story told twice, once slowly, once quickly, will have two different impacts on the audience. The one told quickly will be confusing and tedious. The one told slowly will leave your audience at the edge of their seats, hanging on your every last word. с

Compliment, don’t comment.

You’ll be the desired companion indeed if you give the occasional compliment. C’mon, there has to be something you admire about that person, or you wouldn’t want to connect with them. You can mention a characteristic, “I love your organizational skills!” or just an article of clothing. 

A comment looks more like, “You got your hair cut.” or, “You changed your office around.” Not sure how those are helpful conversational tools.

Use influential intonation to be an awesome conversationalist.

Here comes that music bit we talked about earlier. Just like a good song, good conversations have rhythm. So give yourself a few beats before you respond, and make sure you vary the length of your notes just like beautiful music does.

Here’s how:

1. Vary the volume of the vowels in your sentence.
2. Emphasize the vowels of the words with a great deal of meaningful content.
3. Significantly reduce length and volume of all other vowels. There should be approximately a 1 to 7 ratio of “big to small.”

Really listen to your conversational partner,

A compelling conversationalist will spend most of his or her time listening. People want to be heard. They want to spend time with people who understand them. So listen to people when they speak. Try to understand them. React during appropriate times by letting them know that you hear them.

“I understand what you mean.” “I know the feeling.” “I gotcha.”

It makes people feel good to know that they are understood. Try not to fall into the trap of preparing what you’re going to say next while others speak. You will have the opportunity to talk, and when you do, you will have a firm grasp on your communicative partners’ feelings, preferences, wit, etc., and you will be well-equipped to speak.

If you can master the art of telling quick stories that inspire people to talk and really listening to folks as they do, the more you’ll make people feel warm and fuzzy. So it shouldn’t lead to exhaustion for the introverted.  

Be kind.

Use kindness and warmth in your voice. Use warm eye-contact. Even on virtual meetings, make sure you’re looking at the person on the screen.

Don’t use negative phrasing that can lead to miscommunications. For example, don’t ask someone what they didn’t understand about what you said; ask them what you can explain better.

By all means, don’t use the expression, “as I said before.” It’s so insulting!

Also, make sure you’re not working so hard to make people like you and respect you that you become bull-doggish in reporting your narrative.

Be brief.

Keep your stories/anecdotes short and sweet. Concise and to the point. Good story-tellers practice their tales. They do so during their free time aloud using the recorder. Then they tell the same stories during real-time situations.

An excellent conversationalist’s goal is to get other people talking.

What about questions?

I don’t recommend starting conversations with questions. I advise beginning conversations with concise stories. The following advice applies to exchanges already in progress. 🙂

If someone’s telling you a tale of woe or excitement, really listen and ask questions. When someone’s telling you a story, you may wonder about more details; be sure and ask for them. It goes a long way to make people feel good.

Segue.

When conversations become boring or trite, segue into something more profound. Simple discussions regarding the weather and everyday activities can end at a brick wall. You can prevent that by considering your emotions as a result of a topic. 

The best communicators understand that humans have feelings that are similar to their own. Know how you feel about something, and you’ll have insight as to how others might feel. Remember that opinions are different from emotions.

Suppose you tell a short story about something mildly embarrassing or scary that happened to you. In that case, your communicative partner will be able to relate to you and will reply, excitedly, with a similar tale of their own.

Great conversationalists pull together physiology & emotions.

They know they need to be warm, kind, and engaging. That’s where the emotions lie. 

Also, remember the physical aspects: that the more breath groups you use, the better your intonation usage, and the more you listen, the more powerful you are, the better conversationalist you’ll be. 

Anything you’re good at, you’ve worked on.

Improving your conversational artfulness shouldn’t be any different. Since your success is riding on it, it should be even more critical.

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