How to Study History (Or Anything Else)
A number of you have indicated that you are having a little difficulty learning the material for the tests. Thus I am adding this section on how to study history, which I hope will be useful for some if not all of you. This process has worked for me—I hope it will help you.
First, I recommend that you print out the textbook, one chapter to time if you need. I recognize that this has costs and takes time, but it is cheaper than buying a book. I would also recommend that you print out the topic summaries and the required documents. Put them in a notebook in order and when you're finished you'll have a complete text.
NEW: Now that the text is available through Lulu, you can order a print version or download the PDF file of the entire text.
When you start your actual study I recommend that you do two things. First, limit your study sessions to one hour, if possible, and schedule several during the week. Try to set aside a time when you will not be interrupted, and time your sessions if you need. Even if you have good powers of concentration, and are good reader, if you are concentrating hard, your brain will become fatigued after an hour or so. Your best study work will come in the first hour of your time.
Second, rather than highlighting, which is a passive exercise that really doesn't reinforce anything, I recommend strongly that you take notes on your reading. Your text is divided into sections. I suggest that you take a notepad and write down the section headings from each part of the book, leaving 4 or 5 lines between each. As you finish each section, turn away from the text and jot down the main points you remember from that section. Then go onto the next section, read it, stop and take notes. As the textbook chapters are fairly short, you can probably get through them in an hour. I recommend that you save the topic summaries for a second session. Do the same with for each topic summary, breaking the longer ones into sections as with the text, and jot down notes as you go along. Schedule a third session to do the documents and proceed in the same way.
When you begin your second and third study sessions, I recommend that you review your notes from your first sessions. If anything doesn't make sense, go back to the text, clarify the points that you are not sure about, update your notes, and then move on. This review will reinforce what you learned in your previous study session.
This act of taking notes requires you to process the information that you have just read and will help to stamp it into your memory. Because most generations now in school grew up with television, their brains have been accustomed to a passive mode. Study requires active involvement of your brain, and taking notes will train that portion of your mind to process the information so that you will retain it. Working in this fashion can, in the opinion of some educators, reprogram your brain to a more active mode of work. This will serve you well in all your endeavors.
Before you take an exam, take a few minutes to go over your notes, rather than trying to reread everything. Focus on those things that you don't recall very well, go back and reread the parts on which you still have a few questions. As soon as possible after taking the exam, go back and review your text and notes and see if you can make any connections between the exam and what you studied. This will not help you for the exam just completed, but it may give you some tips for yourself on the next exam. Remember that I give extra credit for improvement. (See also my testing and grading section.)
As the last suggestion, try to think of what you are studying as a story that has characters, a plot, drama, conflict, and even some occasional humor. If you can see history as a movie in your head or hear it being told as a story, you will have a good chance to retain it. If what you have studied is nothing more than a collection of facts, it will be hard to recall. History is a story, and most of us can remember stories. Nobody can remember lists of facts.
See also How to Succeed.
Good luck in your study.