Study your notes nightly. That was every teacher’s dream for his students when I was in high school. All teachers repeated the same hopeful phrase, which has good intentions and honestly did motivate me. Unfortunately, when I pulled my notes out each night to review, the only way I knew to practice was to read them aloud or rewrite them. But I was a skilled daydreamer. Another strength of mine was falling asleep with notes on my lap and waking up a few hours later (Just closing my eyes for a few minutes so I can focus better…). In my defense, I had work or soccer almost every night and I was beat by the time I sat down to do homework. Students are even more involved today. Knowing how to utilize your time studying will allow you to maximize your learning without draining you. You will become confident, participating and leading the class instead of lagging behind the pack.
The 10-24-7 Model of Remembering, as I learned through Rafael Saragosa’s AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) training, is a proven method to retain 80-100% of the information you learn. AVID specifically focuses on reaching out to potential first-generation college graduates. It teaches skills, promotes self-worth, and amplifies motivation to excel through middle school, high school, and college. AVID instills different lifelong skills and strategies for each subgroup. The 10-24-7 Model of Remembering is one aspect of the Cornell Way of note taking.
In the 1890’s the 10-24-7 Model was developed through the research of German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus. This model includes reviewing your notes for 10 minutes after the initial lecture, revising your notes within the first 24 hours, and then creating a summary with active reading seven days later (10-24-7). The final step is to spend a few minutes between days seven and 30 reviewing the notes. Keeping this in mind, one must be prepared to take quality notes from which to study.
Here’s how it looks:
