Marty Lobdell's video, "Study Less, Study Smart" remains excellent advice for college students on how to study. Here are answers to some of the most common questions that come up when you follow his advice.

0:00 A brief introduction
0:23 What kinds of study breaks should you take?
1:59 Where should you study?
3:34 What kinds of notes should you take?
4:38 Deep processing, shallow processing, and transferappropriate processing
7:11 How should you structure study groups?
10:17 Ways to study that avoid confusion between recognition and recall
11:49 The skill of reading textbooks

If you want to be the first to know about the courses I'm releasing, sign up here: https://forms.gle/px7ZmXkvJW26uFWp8

Sign up to my email newsletter here: http://www.benjaminkeep.com

RELATED VIDEOS

Marty Lobdell's Study Less, Study Smart is here:    • Marty Lobdell  Study Less Study Smart  

For alternatives to highlighting and flashcards, see:
How to do free recall    • How to do free recall (AKA active rec...  
How to Use Free Recall to Learn More Effectively    • How to Use Free Recall to Learn More ...  
A simple study tip: stop highlighting    • A Simple Study Tip: Stop Highlighting  

For my take on notetaking:
The surprising truth about notetaking    • The Surprising Truth About Notetakin...  

On reading textbooks (and reading more generally):
Three simple tricks to read textbooks more effectively    • Three simple tricks to read textbooks...  
Learn more from every paragraph    • Learn More From Every Paragraph | Act...  

On attitude and framing:
The most common obstacle to effective studying    • The Most Common Obstacle to Effective...  

REFERENCES

On restful periods, see: Wamsley, E. J. (2019). Memory consolidation during waking rest. Trends in cognitive sciences, 23(3), 171173. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

The screenshot of the graph showing wakeful resting benefits to wakeful active groups comes from research on auditory learning, here: Gottselig, J. M., HoferTinguely, G., Borbely, A. A., Regel, S. J., Landolt, H. P., Retey, J. V., & Achermann, P. (2004). Sleep and rest facilitate auditory learning. Neuroscience, 127(3), 557561.

On eyestrain, see: Kaur, K., Gurnani, B., Nayak, S., Deori, N., Kaur, S., Jethani, J., ... & Mishra, D. (2022). Digital Eye StrainA Comprehensive Review. Ophthalmology and Therapy, 11(5), 16551680.https://link.springer.com/article/10....

On the benefits of selftesting study strategies, see: Roediger III, H. L., Putnam, A. L., & Smith, M. A. (2011). Ten Benefits of Testing and Their Applications to Educational Practice. In Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 55, pp. 1–36). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978012387...

On the weak benefits of highlighting and a fantastic review of study strategies more generally, see: Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266

On the value of teaching (or preparing to teach) others, see: Okita, S. Y., & Schwartz, D. L. (2013). Learning by Teaching Human Pupils and Teachable Agents: The Importance of Recursive Feedback. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 22(3), 375–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2013...

The classic piece on transfer appropriate processing is here: Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., & Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16(5), 519–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/S00225371(77.... For a more modern view in the context of an experiment, see this piece: A. de Winstanley, P., & Ligon Bjork, E. (1997). Processing Instructions and the Generation Effect: A Test of the Multifactor Transferappropriate Processing Theory. Memory, 5(3), 401–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/741941392

On deep and shallow processing, see: Craik, F. I. M. (2002). Levels of processing: Past, present... and future? Memory, 10(5–6), 305–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965821024400...

On the memory benefit of learning in different environments, one of the classics is: Smith, S. M., Glenberg, A., & Bjork, R. A. (1978). Environmental context and human memory. Memory & Cognition, 6(4), 342353.

On links between exercise, sleep, and learning, see: Roig, M., Cristini, J., Parwanta, Z., Ayotte, B., Rodrigues, L., de Las Heras, B., ... & Wright, D. L. (2022). Exercising the sleepying brain: exercise, sleep, and sleep loss on memory. Exercise and sport sciences reviews, 50(1), 3848.

On links between walking and creative thinking, see: Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: the positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of experimental psychology: learning, memory, and cognition, 40(4), 1142.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Spanish Inquisition clip from:    • NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!