TECHNIQUES THAT HAVE HELPED ME IMPROVE GRADES
MARGIN NOTES:
In every history book or article I'm reading, I underline important points and then summarize them off to the side. Most of my history books are covered with notes. Important dates are underlined and then written off to the side. Important moments or people are also underlined and summarized.
This makes it so simple to remember or locate things when returning to the source.
Here's an example of margin notes from The Lost German Slave Girl, a book I used to assign in HIST 1301.
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RECITATION:
By far the most useful technique I've ever employed, recitation is a truly grade-changing activity. If you really want to remember something for a long time, recite it out loud.
There are several ways to recite. All of them will feel strange when you give them a try. All of them will improve your memory tremendously.
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FAKE TEACHING: Pretend you are explaining a historical event, person or date. When I say explaining, I don't mean just relating the facts. For this technique, pretend you are explaining the significance of something. Make it a thorough explanation, including relevant dates, historical context, and the individuals involved.
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This technique is extremely useful for complex historical situations, like the emergence of the Progressive Movement or the link between Populist demands for inflation and the Depression of 1893. Other complex topics where this technique is useful include the following:
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Hoover's high wages plan and the reason it didn't work to solve the Great Depression.
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The relationship between the destruction of voting rights and the rise of segregation laws in the late 1800s.
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The reasons why young people were particularly affected by the Cold War containment strategies of the 1950s.
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The reasons why Populism triggered Progressivism.
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What's great about fake teaching is that it will expose how much or how little you know.
For this technique, speak your explanation aloud until it is smooth and detailed. Once you get to where the story is easy to say and remember, you've got it.
SIMPLE REPETITION: This technique will lock in the facts you need for understanding. If you have trouble with dates, specifics, people, historical order or any other factual issues, this one is for you.
Simple repetition works best with two or more people. What you want to do is take the study guide and get the who/what/why/when/significance for each item. Then have one person ask questions while the others answer out loud. Don't read the answers. Say them. If you're wrong with an answer, have the questioner make the correct. Then keep the question-and-answer exchange going until the information comes back without hesitation. That often takes up to four repeats.
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Questions should look like this:
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What are the dates of the Gilded Age?
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What percentage of the American population went to college in 1870?
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Name one invention created by American farmers in the late 1800s.
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Who delivered the Cross of Gold speech and in what year?
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What year was the Tulsa Race Riot?
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The Pure Food and Drug Act went into effect in what year? Who was the president who demanded this act?
That's what you want - factual questions asked by one person and answered by others. Keep the back and forth going down the study guide until the answers come easily. Mix up the order. Skip around if you're asking the questions. If the people answering get something wrong, correct them and ask the question again and again until they've got it. Return to that question on occasion to be sure it's locked in.
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Simple recitation is the best way to learn facts permanently. It's fantastic. If this technique is performed correctly, the data stays with you forever. It's very useful for fields other than history, including nursing, pharmacology, anatomy, chemistry, geography. It's great for any field in which you have to KNOW your information on the spot. It's also great for certification exams.
Put simple recitation together with fake teaching, and you'll glide through most classes without a hitch. This is what worked for me in grad school. I'd use simple recitation to memorize, then put all that information into fake lectures. Speaking my way through the subject, I'd see connections that hadn't appeared to me before. The complex became simple.
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Recitation can seem weird when you first start the technique, but it truly works.
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