SCHOOL NOTES
What’s Your Child’s Study Personality?
USE IT TO ACE THE NEXT EXAM
BY ANN DOLIN
M id-year exams, unit assessments and
chapter tests — what does it take to
ace them? It’s not just the time that’s
put in, it’s also the method of studying that pro-
duces the best results. It’s often that bright stu-
dents don’t get the grades they are hoping for on
these types of tests. And they almost always fall
into one of three camps when it comes to study-
ing (or not): the crammers, the memorizers and
the absorbers.

The Crammers
These are the kids who do fairly well throughout
the quarter, especially on quizzes, but do poorly
on cumulative exams. They are smart students
who manage to get by during the year without
putting too much time into their homework and
studying. The studying they do is often at the
last minute. If they have a test on Thursday, they
not understand how one situation or circum-
stance affects the whole. So they have trouble
making sense of the bigger picture. In math, they
can learn a skill in isolation but have difficulty
applying it to problems outside of the specific
skill learned. These kids need lots of practice
making connections because it doesn’t always
come easily to them.

The Absorbers
For these students, school has been a breeze.

They never really had to study when they were
younger, and always got good grades. These are
the kids who may not love academics, but they
can sit in class, absorb the information and do
well on the test without much effort.

They’re good at critical thinking and analyz-
ing information. But as the work gets harder
and more complex, they lack the study habits to
Absorbers are good at critical thinking and
analyzing information. But as the work gets
harder and more complex, they lack the study
habits to perform to their fullest potential.

The Memorizers
These kids are very hard workers, and they are
often fairly well organized. They do well on quiz-
zes and some tests that mostly require memori-
zation. They put a lot of time into studying but
don’t see the results because they have a hard
time connecting the dots. For example, in history,
they may learn about two important battles but
may see them as separate events, not completely
understanding how they’re connected. They may
28 Washington FAMILY
NOVEMBER 2019
perform to their fullest potential. These are the
students who could get straight A’s but instead
get B’s because they lack the proper study skills.

They need direct guidance and a study plan to
learn the material quicker and more efficiently.

So, how can studying be tailored to the Crammer,
the Memorizer or the Absorber?
Here’s a quick breakdown of ways that will ben-
efit each of these types of students and some other
tips that work for virtually any kind of learner.

The Crammer:
First, the Crammer has to want to change. In order
for a different way of studying to work, he or she
must recognize the problem and be willing to
make modifications. If it’s not seen as an issue, all
the parental suggestions in the world won’t work.

Often Crammers are willing to plan ahead if they
don’t feel like they have to do any more work than
necessary and if they see the changes result in bet-
ter grades (and they almost always do). The good
news is that they often don’t have to put in more
time, they just need to use it more efficiently.

GETTY IMAGES PLUS/E+/SHAPECHARGE
start getting ready on Wednesday night. These
kids don’t have a strong sense of urgency until
they are right up against a deadline. This type of
cramming can pay off in the immediate term, but
when they need to learn information on a deeper
level, it backfires. Cramming only puts informa-
tion into short-term memory, whereas learning it
over many nights and sleeping on it (by the way,
sleep is a fantastic study tool) stores it into long-
term memory. It’s not uncommon for Crammers
to have two other traits – disorganization and
procrastination.




SCHOOL NOTES
Studies show that when students use a
concept called “distributed practice,” they
are far more likely to do better on tests. For
example, if your child has a test on Friday,
they could study for an hour on Thursday
night, but they would actually get a better
grade if they took the same amount of time
and distributed it over multiple days — 20
minutes Tuesday, 20 on Wednesday and 20
on Thursday. The reason they’ll get a better
grade is not because they’ve reviewed the
material multiple times, it’s that they’ve
slept on it. When you learn information
and then sleep on it, you’re consolidating
that information into long-term mem-
ory. However, when you cram for a test,
that information is learned at a superficial
level, ready for regurgitation the next day.

It’s going into short-term memory. Long-
term memory is more beneficial because
when you have a test later on, say a month
later, you’re much more likely to be able to
retrieve it.

Crammers also respond well to the sug-
gestion of using “weird windows.“ Some-
times, students think they need lengthy,
dedicated time in which to study. And if
they don’t have the perfect time and if
they’re not in the ideal mood, they won’t
do it. In actuality, they can use any chunk
of time to get studying done. An exam-
ple of a ”weird window” is the 15 minutes
they’re waiting at a doctor’s office or that
20 minutes right before lacrosse practice
starts. Those are weird windows, and you
can chunk time for studying by getting a lot
done in short periods of time.

The Memorizer:
Memorizers do best when they study with
others. In humanities subjects that require
lots of critical thinking, listening to others’
points of view and how they connect one
idea to another is helpful. Memorizers need
to study in a multisensory way (auditory,
visual and kinesthetic). When left on their
own, these kids study by rereading (review-
ing their notes or study guide solely by read-
ing the information over multiple times).

This isn’t the best way to retain material
because you’re only using one sense, the
visual mode. By also studying auditorily,
you’re incorporating one more modality —
and now you’re up to two!
You can make learning stick even more
if you add in the kinesthetic (also known
as tactile) modality. Anytime you engage
in “self-talk” by asking yourself, “What’s
important here?” or “How is this topic
connected to the other one?” and jot those
notes down, you’re learning kinesthetically,
by writing. Writing or typing forces the
learner to synthesize the information that
is valuable for retention on test day. Work-
ing with a subject tutor who can help kids
create this “self-talk” and learn to study in a
multimodal way, is highly beneficial.

The Absorber:
The Absorber is usually a quick study, but
like the Memorizer, his or her main method
of studying is rereading. Rereading is by far
the most inefficient way to study since it uses
just one modality. Absorbers do well when
they learn how to use study guides effectively.

When kids are young, teachers provide
study guides in the form of a fill-in-the blank
worksheet with questions about what is going
to be tested. A great way to use a study guide
is to make multiple blank copies of it and to
first fill it out as best you can without referring
to any information. You’re trying to retrieve
what you have in your head and put it down
on paper. Then, when you absolutely can’t
remember anything else, you can go back to
your information, which might include your
notes or the book, and pull that information
out and write it down. Basically, you only want
to study what you know. Use this method three
times on three blank study guides, and then
you’ll really have it mastered for the exam.

As kids get older, teachers don’t give study
guides out as regularly. Instead, students can
make their own. In fact, research shows that
when high school students make their own
study guide, they achieve better grades on
test day. How do you do this? Well, you can
take the main headlines from class notes or
book chapters and turn them into questions
and then jot down answers to those ques-
tions. Maybe there is a section in the book on
the causes of the Revolutionary War. You can
change that into “What are the causes of the
Revolutionary War?” and, in an outline for-
mat, jot down the answers. When you’re ask-
ing yourself these questions, you’re requiring
your brain to consolidate information and
remember the important parts.

At the end of the day, when parents and
kids understand study personalities and tai-
lor the preparation process accordingly, final
exam grades will be a whole lot better. ■
ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS/NELLISYR
By the way, sleep is a
fantastic study tool.

WashingtonFAMILY.com 29