Study Smarter, Not Harder: Techniques & Tips for Online Master’s Students

1. Choose a subject.
2. Pretend to explain the subject to a child.
3. Reflect on knowledge gaps.
4. Simplify and repeat step 2.

For example, a social work master’s student who is studying autism spectrum disorder might explain its fundamental tenets out loud as though they were speaking to a child, then reflect on whether they struggled with simplifying any concepts. From there, they would brush up on those concepts and try again.

1. Survey. Skim through the material in a textbook chapter to get an idea of what will be included.
2. Question. Write down questions based on each heading in a textbook chapter, as well as each photo included in the chapter.
3. Read. Read the section with the main ideas of each paragraph in mind. Look for answers to the questions you jotted down.
4. Recite. Recite the information you learned in the chapter when you’re finished.
5. Review. Review the information in the chapter the next day to ensure that you’ve learned it.

A graduate student new to their degree discipline may use this method to begin building a foundation of knowledge. Students who are familiar with the discipline but new to the subject matter of a class may also find SQ3R valuable. This method can also help answer questions that come up during lectures so you can better follow along in subsequent classes.

1. Title. Think about what the title of a textbook chapter may be about, what information the author will provide, and how the information fits with your knowledge of the subject.
2. Headings. Look at the headings of a chapter and think about the information you’ll learn from these sections.
3. Introduction. Ask yourself how the introduction increases your curiosity about the topic and whether or not it sets up anticipation for what you can expect to read later.
4. Every first sentence in a paragraph. Think about how the first sentence of every paragraph will relate to what you’re about to read.
5. Visuals and vocabulary. If there are any visuals in a chapter, such as photographs, maps, and charts, think about how the author uses them. Do they enhance your learning and explain the points being made? Do they include vocabulary words and other information you should remember?
6. End of article or chapter questions. If there are questions at the end of the chapter, think about how you may be able to answer them when you’ve finished reading it. Also, consider why the questions are being asked and how they give clues to the information you should be paying attention to.
7. Summary thinking. Evaluate everything you’ve read in the chapter and consider what you’ve learned. Also, consider how this chapter may relate to what you’ll subsequently read.

The THIEVES Method is a good way to get a head start if you don’t have a lot of time to devote to reading the chapter of a textbook but want to quickly prepare ahead for when you have time to do a more thorough reading.

1. Write the central theme of what you’re studying in the center of a piece of paper.
2. From there, use lines, arrows, branches, or bubbles to show how this central theme connects to related ideas. It doesn’t have to be visually appealing. Rather, the point is to create a way to conceptualize information and make it easily accessible.

Someone earning a master’s in English may use a mind map to understand the themes and plot points of a Shakespearean play. This technique allows a student to process the plot points in the play while keeping track of major themes to prepare for a test.

1. After reading an assignment, put your textbook aside and write down everything you remember from the chapter. You can do the same after you’ve attended a lecture.
2. Don’t expect to remember everything as you do it. The point is to work on increasing your memory.
3. Continue doing this, and you’ll find that you’ll start remembering more information over time.

If you’re concerned about falling behind in class, you may do self-quizzing after every session to ensure you’re staying up to speed with the instructor’s teaching. A study published in Active Learning in Higher Education suggests that using practice examination questions, along with discussion boards and lecture handouts, will help boost understanding and recall of course information.

1. Make flashcards with each one having one study concept.
2. Get three boxes to store the cards and label them one, two, and three.
3. When you start studying, place all the cards in the first box and review them every day.
4. When you review the flashcards, move the ones you can answer correctly to the second box, which is to be reviewed every other day.
5. The concepts you don’t get right in the first round stay in the first box.
6. During your next study session, start with the second box. As you get the answers right for cards in the second box, move them to the third. Keep the ones you answered incorrectly in the second box.
7. During the next study session, start with box two, moving the answers you’ve gotten correct to the third box, which will be reviewed once a week. The cards answered incorrectly will go back to the first box.
8. Continue this process until all of the cards are in the third box.

This is a good method to use if you’re planning to start studying for an exam early. It gives you enough space to practice remembering concepts over a period to ensure that you know what you’re supposed to learn by the test date.

1. Preview. Before reading a chapter, look at the title, visual images, headings, and the first and last paragraphs.
2. Question. Think about any questions that you may have after doing this preview. Consider what you believe the chapter will teach you when you read it. Write your questions down for later.
3. Read. Read through the textbook. It’s a good idea to highlight sections or add notes in the margins as you go along.
4. Reflect. Reflect on what you’ve learned and think about it in the larger context of what you’ve previously read, the upcoming chapters of the book, and other class materials you’ve gone through. Find connections between the current chapter and the bigger picture of the course.
5. Recite. Think about how you’d explain what you learned to someone else. Tell a friend, a classmate, or even a pet about the concepts in the textbook. It doesn’t matter who you speak to, the important part is that you’re able to explain the information in a way someone else would understand. If you can, that means you learned the material.
6. Review. Take a look at the questions you asked and the notes you took and think about how well you understand the concepts you read about. This is not a one-time activity. You should continually review to make sure you remember and understand what you read.

Graduate students who have started studying early can use this method over time to reinforce the material they’ve learned and fill in any gaps in their knowledge.

1. Plan ahead. You don’t have to wait until exams are coming up to start spaced practice. It’s best to start at the beginning of the semester by planning when and what you’ll study each week, so you have enough time to space out your learning.
2. Regularly reviewing information. A day or two after every class session, review what was covered.
3. Focus on new and old information. In addition to reviewing information from the most recent lectures, go back and look over what you learned in previous classes.
4. Study up until the exam. Make this a regular practice so that by the time an exam comes, you have given yourself enough time to remember the information.

If you’re a busy student juggling your online master’s degree program with a full-time job, this is a great technique to help you stay organized, so you don’t have to worry about cramming for a test the night before. This will ensure that you’re able to handle your learning in small doses and better retain the information.

1. Collect your study materials. Get handouts, textbooks, and other study materials together to begin reviewing course information.
2. Review the content. Use different techniques to review the course material, such as creating mind maps and flash cards.
3. Test yourself. After reviewing the material, test yourself to find out what you remember and understand. You can create your own questions or use any study questions that can be found in the textbooks, or the course materials provided by your professor.

This can be a good method for a student who needs to brush up on certain types of information or to fill in the blanks in their understanding when there’s information they can’t grasp.