{"id":1698,"date":"2016-09-08T18:12:21","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T18:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-collegesuccess\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1698"},"modified":"2016-09-15T22:32:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T22:32:35","slug":"text-knowing-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/chapter\/text-knowing-what-to-know\/","title":{"raw":"Text: Knowing What to Know","rendered":"Text: Knowing What to Know"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<em>Jennifer felt anxious about an upcoming history exam. This would be her first test\u00a0in a college class, and she wanted to do well. Jennifer took lots of notes during class and while reading the textbook. In preparation for the exam, she had tried to review all five textbook chapters along with all of her notes.\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\n<em>The morning of the exam, Jennifer felt nervous and unprepared. After so much studying and review, why wasn't she more confident?\u00a0<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nJennifer\u2019s situation shows\u00a0that there really is such a thing as studying\u00a0too much. Her mistake was in trying to master <em>all<\/em> of the course material.\u00a0Whether you take one or more than one class, it's simply impossible to\u00a0retain every single\u00a0particle of information\u00a0you encounter in\u00a0a textbook or lecture. And, instructors don't generally\u00a0give\u00a0open-book exams or allow their students to\u00a0preview the\u00a0quizzes or tests ahead of time. So, how can you\u00a0decide what to study and \"know what to know\"? The answer is to prioritize what you're trying to learn and memorize, rather than trying to tackle all of it. Below are some strategies\u00a0to help you do this.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Think about concepts rather than\u00a0facts<\/strong>: From time to time, you'll need to memorize cold, hard facts\u2014like\u00a0a list of math\u00a0equations\u00a0or a vocabulary list in\u00a0a Spanish class. Most of the time, though, instructors will care much more that you are learning about the key\u00a0concepts in a subject or course\u2014i.e., how photosynthesis works, how to write a thesis statement, the causes of the French Revolution, and so on. For example, Jennifer might have been more successful with her studying\u2014and felt better\u00a0about it\u2014if she had focused on the important historical developments (the \"big ideas\") discussed in class, as opposed to trying to memorize a long list of dates and facts.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Take cues from your instructor<\/strong>: Pay attention to what your instructor writes on the board or includes in study guides and handouts. Although these may be short\u2014just a list of words and phrases, say\u2014they are likely core concepts that you'll want to focus on. Also, instructors\u00a0tend to refer to important concepts repeatedly during class, and they may even tell you what's important to know before an exam or other assessment.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Look for key terms<\/strong>: Textbooks will often put key terms in bold or italics. These terms and their definitions are usually\u00a0important and can\u00a0help you remember larger\u00a0concepts.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Use summaries<\/strong>: Textbooks often have summaries or study guides at the end of\u00a0each chapter. These summaries are a good way to check in and see whether you grasp the main\u00a0elements of the reading. If no summary is available, try to\u00a0write your own\u2014you'll learn much more by writing about what you read than by reading alone.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/605\/2016\/09\/08180922\/5068482159_c0bf58c6d9_z.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1699\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/605\/2016\/09\/08180922\/5068482159_c0bf58c6d9_z.jpg\" alt=\"Woman standing against purple wall, with several textbooks balanced on her head\" width=\"501\" height=\"334\" \/><\/a>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p><em>Jennifer felt anxious about an upcoming history exam. This would be her first test\u00a0in a college class, and she wanted to do well. Jennifer took lots of notes during class and while reading the textbook. In preparation for the exam, she had tried to review all five textbook chapters along with all of her notes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The morning of the exam, Jennifer felt nervous and unprepared. After so much studying and review, why wasn&#8217;t she more confident?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jennifer\u2019s situation shows\u00a0that there really is such a thing as studying\u00a0too much. Her mistake was in trying to master <em>all<\/em> of the course material.\u00a0Whether you take one or more than one class, it&#8217;s simply impossible to\u00a0retain every single\u00a0particle of information\u00a0you encounter in\u00a0a textbook or lecture. And, instructors don&#8217;t generally\u00a0give\u00a0open-book exams or allow their students to\u00a0preview the\u00a0quizzes or tests ahead of time. So, how can you\u00a0decide what to study and &#8220;know what to know&#8221;? The answer is to prioritize what you&#8217;re trying to learn and memorize, rather than trying to tackle all of it. Below are some strategies\u00a0to help you do this.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Think about concepts rather than\u00a0facts<\/strong>: From time to time, you&#8217;ll need to memorize cold, hard facts\u2014like\u00a0a list of math\u00a0equations\u00a0or a vocabulary list in\u00a0a Spanish class. Most of the time, though, instructors will care much more that you are learning about the key\u00a0concepts in a subject or course\u2014i.e., how photosynthesis works, how to write a thesis statement, the causes of the French Revolution, and so on. For example, Jennifer might have been more successful with her studying\u2014and felt better\u00a0about it\u2014if she had focused on the important historical developments (the &#8220;big ideas&#8221;) discussed in class, as opposed to trying to memorize a long list of dates and facts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take cues from your instructor<\/strong>: Pay attention to what your instructor writes on the board or includes in study guides and handouts. Although these may be short\u2014just a list of words and phrases, say\u2014they are likely core concepts that you&#8217;ll want to focus on. Also, instructors\u00a0tend to refer to important concepts repeatedly during class, and they may even tell you what&#8217;s important to know before an exam or other assessment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for key terms<\/strong>: Textbooks will often put key terms in bold or italics. These terms and their definitions are usually\u00a0important and can\u00a0help you remember larger\u00a0concepts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use summaries<\/strong>: Textbooks often have summaries or study guides at the end of\u00a0each chapter. These summaries are a good way to check in and see whether you grasp the main\u00a0elements of the reading. If no summary is available, try to\u00a0write your own\u2014you&#8217;ll learn much more by writing about what you read than by reading alone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/605\/2016\/09\/08180922\/5068482159_c0bf58c6d9_z.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1699\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/605\/2016\/09\/08180922\/5068482159_c0bf58c6d9_z.jpg\" alt=\"Woman standing against purple wall, with several textbooks balanced on her head\" width=\"501\" height=\"334\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1698\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>College Success. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Jolene Carr. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Image of balancing books. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Judit Klein. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/8HTiar\">https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/8HTiar<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":19,"menu_order":15,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"College Success\",\"author\":\"Jolene Carr\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Image of balancing books\",\"author\":\"Judit Klein\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/8HTiar\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"51f5c087-50b4-4ca0-8497-ac9ab21e9e57, 999af863-3e35-4ceb-a3c3-3ddd841077a6","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1698","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":132,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1701,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1698\/revisions\/1701"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/132"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1698\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-buffalo-wmopen-collegesuccess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}