Bold Study Strategies Scholarship

Finding the right study methods for my personality has changed the game. When I realized studying didn't have to be an arduous, time consuming task, the sustainability of my performance in school drastically shifted. I have always been a "exceeds expectations" student, but somewhere along the way I realized I couldn't fly by with easy A's anymore. After throwing out flash cards, rewriting notes and studying with big groups of people, I came across strategies like active recall, idea dipping, and flipping my experience by attempting to teach the information to others. These have all served me well by keeping my mind engaged and processing on a deep level. Last year I took a course taught by Jim Quick, an accelerated learning coach, who transformed the way I approached productivity, retention, focus and creativity. My favorite strategy is attempting to teach others - usually a to the detriment of an unfortunate family member in the vicinity. It builds connection between myself and those around me through education and creativity. Not only are these study methods are more productive, but I genuinely enjoy integrating the material, which, in the end, should be what school is all about. I am dedicated to consistently showing up as an engaged student, excited to learn and grow.

What do the Genie from Aladdin, the old man (Eustace) from Courage the Cowardly Dog, pies, a basket of raisins with a beta fish, and a donkey have to do with Microbiology, specifically with the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes? Absolutely nothing. And yet arranging all of these subjects in such a way helped me recall random details about the S. pyogenes species that I am still able to recall months later. Arranging the pies in a chain with the Aladdin genie on them symbolizes the S. p(ie)yogenes, which are gram positive and grow in chains. The old man (Eustace) standing behind a table with DESS written on it reminds me that the bacterium is en(cap)sulated (since the old man wears a cap), the M protein is the main virulence factor which inhibits phagocytosis and the complement system, and DESS stands for DNase, exotoxin, streptokinase, and streptolysin. If you are not in a microbiology class, none of these virulence factors matter to you... but you can memorize them if you're good with visual learning. Next, the basket of raisins represents the fact that this bacteria is Bacitracin (an antibiotic) sensitive, and the beta fish means is BETA hemolytic, which leads to the complete lysis of red blood cells. Lastly the donkey is named auntie Denis because the bacterium has anti-DNase B antibodies during an infection. The "other" name for a donkey reminds me that the "ASO" titer is used to measure antibodies against streptolysin O, which is usually an indicator of S. pyogenes infection. And there it is. You now know enough random details about S. pyogenes that if you were to be on Jeopardy, or in your microbiology class, you should be able to answer some of the questions. Visual learning is an excellent way of memorizing material in a crunch.

As a student involved in multiple higher-level courses—some of which are online—effective studying strategies are a must. Many of my favorite study tactics involve several of my friends in an almost game format. For example, when we’re truly stuck on a topic, we play “assumption busting,” but make it follow a similar structure to Cards Against Humanity, where each card must logically connect to the line/question, and points are given for the more creative answers—this was an incredible help in AP Human Geography. When reviewing many terms/theories/etc., we’ll sometimes print out each term and try to arrange them into a quilt where each term must logically ‘link’ to another in a version of “concept mapping.” I’m also rather fond of “brain-sketching,” where the group will be given a term/theory/question and make a sketch within the allotted timeframe before passing it to the next person once time is up. It really makes sure we know the topic (and it’s also funny to see who the artists of the group are). Perhaps my favorite activity, however, is “exaggeration,” which is very helpful when it comes to creating and applying solutions to real world problems. In this strategy, you can ‘magnify’ or ‘minimize’ the problem or characteristics of the problem, testing unspoken assumptions about its scale. Not only is it funny, but it helps you think about if the solution would be appropriate if the problem was operating on a different scale. Also, in relation to problem-solution topics, “fishbone” is extremely beneficial. You simply start by drawing one horizontal line—this is the backbone of the fish—and spurs from the backbone, representing each problem in your topic. This technique discourages partial or inadequate solutions while demonstrating the relative importance and interactions of a problem. These effective methods prove learning can be fun, too.

When achieving academic success, I always try to focus on short-term goals and gradually set long-term goals. I tend to try to set my long-term goals before my short-term goals. But I’ve learned it doesn’t help me in the long run, because if I don’t meet my long-term goal, I feel discouraged. One of my short-term goals for my academic year was to end my high school career with a GPA of 3.0, and the way I achieved that was by taking extra classes because my schedule was so lenient. When setting myself up for academic success, I try not to obsess over the little things that I can’t control. Because, during my freshman and sophomore years, I would stress myself over seemingly insignificant things to the point where I would over-exhaust myself. During the beginning of quarantine, I learned the importance of patience with myself. I learned that I cannot beat myself up until I achieve my dreams. This is because I cannot take care of my dreams if I am not well. I also realized that if I want to put my best foot forward, I shouldn't procrastinate. This in turn leads me to over-obsess that I didn’t put my best foot forward. When I attend college, I will continue to use these strategies, while also learning effective strategies to achieve academic success. However, I will also continue to use these strategies in my daily life to further achieve my dreams in music and photography. Setting my academic goals showed me that I’m stronger than I think. And that I should be kind to myself no matter how challenging anything gets.

College challenges us to retain large amounts of information and it's all quite overwhelming at times. I feel this especially when it comes to many nursing topics and the way you choose to study can make a huge impact in how easily that information gets retained. Although there are many good study techniques, there are two ways I study that I particularly love and find extremely helpful. Writing notes can get boring, tedious, and cause you to lose interest fast, but there is a way to write notes more effectively. My favorite type is block note taking and its especially helpful with nursing topics because there is usually a main subject and then much smaller topics about that main subject. For example, the heading could be the medication Metformin and in smaller blocks sectioned around the paper you could put Indications, Side Effects, Contraindications, and so on. It's also helpful to color code them so each block of information and beautiful and colorful. Lastly, one of my absolute favorite study techniques is teaching someone else! You could talk to your mother, father, siblings, spouses, or even your dog! Just talk about it out loud like you're teaching a class yourself. You could also get together in a study group and teach someone else who isn't quite getting it as easily as you. Explaining the topic to someone else will reinforce the information that much deeper into your own mind. Thank you and happy studying!