The key to improving your multiple choice preparation lies in retention – what can you recall when the paper is in front of you and the clock is ticking?
What people tend to lose sight of is that the key to retention lies in comprehension, not simply memorizing or studying more. How well do you understand the material? And how well do you understand how well the various pieces of material relate to each other?
A sure-fire way to increase comprehension and retention while studying is in structuring. Try this 7-step multiple choice study system for structuring your course handouts and notes:
- Read the table of contents or outline if there is one. Look at the headings, sub-headings, etc. Is there a logical breakdown of the material?
- Skim through all the pages. Take an hour if you need to. Look for headings, sub-headings. Don’t write. Just get a feel for how things are organized.
- Skim through again with a couple of highlighters. Highlight all the headings you found. Use different colors for headings, sub headings, sub-sub headings, etc.
- Go through again with a pen. Make a structured “table of contents” on a separate piece of paper. Just the headings and sub-headings – no content. This is the structure of the course!
- Start reviewing the content. Use a different highlighter to highlight important content in each section. That way you don’t have to read everything again.
- On your next pass, start writing essential content into the table of contents that you created. This will become your core study document. Keep it concise.
- Use the core document for all studying. Quiz yourself, and only refer to your original notes when you absolutely have to. You’ll notice that this core document starts to bear a striking resemblance to a very long multiple choice test!
