Reading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests tha…
Reading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests that much of the common wisdom about good study habits is wrong. For instance, most study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to do their work. Yet in one classic experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms—one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view of a courtyard—did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics. Another research finding that goes against accepted wisdom is that it is better to vary the type of material studied in a single sitting than to concentrate on just one skill at a time. For example, in one recent study, researchers taught a group of fourth-graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation. Then they moved on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets outscored the others, 77 percent to 38 percent. Researchers have found the same in experiments involving adults and younger children. These findings undermine the common belief that intensive immersion is the best way to really master a particular skill. Scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade on a given exam. But they liken hurriedly jam-packing a brain to speed-packing a cheap suitcase. As most students quickly learn—it holds its new load for a while; then most everything falls out. On the other hand, when the mental suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its content for far, far, longer. As dozens of studies have shown, an hour of study one night, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort. No one knows for sure why. It may be that the brain has to relearn some of what it has absorbed before adding new stuff—and that that process aids recall. In other words, forgetting is the friend of learning. That’s one reason scientists see practice tests and quizzes as powerful tools of learning, rather than merely assessment. In one experiment, researchers had college students study science passages from a reading comprehension test, in short study periods. When students studied the same material twice, in back-to-back sessions, they did very well on a test given immediately afterward, then began to forget the material. But if they studied the passage just once and did a practice test in the second session, they did very well on one test two days later, and another given a week later. Of course, one reason the thought of testing tightens people’s stomachs is that tests are so often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty that makes them such effective study tools. None of these techniques—alternating study environments, mixing content, spacing study sessions, self-testing, or all of the above—is guaranteed to turn a grade-A slacker into a grade-A student. But at the very least, the techniques give parents and students a study plan based on evidence, not schoolyard folk wisdom. The main idea of paragraph 3 is that
Read DetailsReading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests tha…
Reading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests that much of the common wisdom about good study habits is wrong. For instance, most study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to do their work. Yet in one classic experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms—one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view of a courtyard—did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics. Another research finding that goes against accepted wisdom is that it is better to vary the type of material studied in a single sitting than to concentrate on just one skill at a time. For example, in one recent study, researchers taught a group of fourth-graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation. Then they moved on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets outscored the others, 77 percent to 38 percent. Researchers have found the same in experiments involving adults and younger children. These findings undermine the common belief that intensive immersion is the best way to really master a particular skill. Scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade on a given exam. But they liken hurriedly jam-packing a brain to speed-packing a cheap suitcase. As most students quickly learn—it holds its new load for a while; then most everything falls out. On the other hand, when the mental suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its content for far, far, longer. As dozens of studies have shown, an hour of study one night, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort. No one knows for sure why. It may be that the brain has to relearn some of what it has absorbed before adding new stuff—and that that process aids recall. In other words, forgetting is the friend of learning. That’s one reason scientists see practice tests and quizzes as powerful tools of learning, rather than merely assessment. In one experiment, researchers had college students study science passages from a reading comprehension test, in short study periods. When students studied the same material twice, in back-to-back sessions, they did very well on a test given immediately afterward, then began to forget the material. But if they studied the passage just once and did a practice test in the second session, they did very well on one test two days later, and another given a week later. Of course, one reason the thought of testing tightens people’s stomachs is that tests are so often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty that makes them such effective study tools. None of these techniques—alternating study environments, mixing content, spacing study sessions, self-testing, or all of the above—is guaranteed to turn a grade-A slacker into a grade-A student. But at the very least, the techniques give parents and students a study plan based on evidence, not schoolyard folk wisdom. Which sentence best states the main idea of the selection?
Read DetailsReading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests tha…
Reading 4 Think you know how to study? Research suggests that much of the common wisdom about good study habits is wrong. For instance, most study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to do their work. Yet in one classic experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms—one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view of a courtyard—did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics. Another research finding that goes against accepted wisdom is that it is better to vary the type of material studied in a single sitting than to concentrate on just one skill at a time. For example, in one recent study, researchers taught a group of fourth-graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation. Then they moved on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets outscored the others, 77 percent to 38 percent. Researchers have found the same in experiments involving adults and younger children. These findings undermine the common belief that intensive immersion is the best way to really master a particular skill. Scientists do not deny that honest-to-goodness cramming can lead to a better grade on a given exam. But they liken hurriedly jam-packing a brain to speed-packing a cheap suitcase. As most students quickly learn—it holds its new load for a while; then most everything falls out. On the other hand, when the mental suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its content for far, far, longer. As dozens of studies have shown, an hour of study one night, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort. No one knows for sure why. It may be that the brain has to relearn some of what it has absorbed before adding new stuff—and that that process aids recall. In other words, forgetting is the friend of learning. That’s one reason scientists see practice tests and quizzes as powerful tools of learning, rather than merely assessment. In one experiment, researchers had college students study science passages from a reading comprehension test, in short study periods. When students studied the same material twice, in back-to-back sessions, they did very well on a test given immediately afterward, then began to forget the material. But if they studied the passage just once and did a practice test in the second session, they did very well on one test two days later, and another given a week later. Of course, one reason the thought of testing tightens people’s stomachs is that tests are so often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty that makes them such effective study tools. None of these techniques—alternating study environments, mixing content, spacing study sessions, self-testing, or all of the above—is guaranteed to turn a grade-A slacker into a grade-A student. But at the very least, the techniques give parents and students a study plan based on evidence, not schoolyard folk wisdom. The author’s main purpose is to
Read DetailsReading 2 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—two signers of the…
Reading 2 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams—two signers of the Declaration of Independence who later became presidents of the United States—had an extraordinary, though unlikely, friendship. In many ways, the two men seemed to have little in common. Jefferson, an aristocrat from Virginia, owned slaves. Adams, a member of the middle class from Massachusetts, considered slavery an abomination. Jefferson—quiet and tactful—was generally well liked by his colleagues. Adams—passionate and outspoken—was often unpopular. The two men differed even in physical appearance. Jefferson was tall and slim; Adams was medium height and somewhat stout. Jefferson and Adams had one very important thing in common, however. Each wanted the best for the United States, putting the fledgling country’s well being ahead of his personal desires. The two men served together on some important committees, including the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Adams was the first and the strongest advocate of independence from Great Britain. However, he recognized that Jefferson—due to his superior writing ability and his popularity—was the best person to write this significant document. Adams heartily praised the document Jefferson drafted, and persuaded the Continental Congress to approve it with only minor changes. Both men served in President George Washington’s administration. Adams was vice president, and Jefferson was secretary of state. Even so, they often disagreed over political matters. Adams wanted a strong central government, an idea shared by others who eventually formed the Federalist Party. Jefferson supported individual liberty, as did others who formed the Democratic-Republican Party. Adams and Jefferson also disagreed about France, which had helped the United States win the Revolutionary War. Jefferson wanted to help the French in their own fight to govern themselves. Adams, however, was reluctant to involve the newly formed United States in a foreign war. The political rivalry between Jefferson and Adams intensified when they vied for the presidency in 1796. At that time, presidential and vice-presidential candidates did not run as a team. Instead, the candidate receiving the highest number of electoral votes became president; the second-place candidate became vice president. With 71 electoral votes, Adams was elected president. With only three fewer votes, Jefferson became vice president—even though the two men belonged to different political parties. The election of 1800 again pitted Jefferson and Adams against each other. This time, Jefferson defeated Adams by eight electoral votes, a defeat that Adams took bitterly. The two men did not communicate for eleven years. Then in 1812, after Jefferson, too, had retired from public life, Adams decided that he had missed his old friend long enough. He wrote Jefferson a letter, the first of 158 letters in a correspondence that would continue for the rest of their lives. These honest, intelligent men enjoyed sharing their ideas and considering viewpoints other than their own. Although Adams was seven years older than Jefferson, he often predicted that he would outlive his younger rival. When Adams died at ninety years of age, his last words were reported to have been “Thomas Jefferson survives.” In fact, Jefferson had died just a few hours earlier. Both men died on July 4,1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. According to the passage, Adams encouraged Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence because
Read DetailsReading 1 Why do we fear some things but not others? After t…
Reading 1 Why do we fear some things but not others? After the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many people feared flying more than driving, even though Americans, according to the National Safety Council, were 40 percent more likely to die, mile for mile, in a car crash than on a plane trip. From 2002 to 2004, there were only 34 deaths among nearly 2 billion aircraft passengers, while in the same period, 128,000 Americans were killed in auto accidents. So why aren’t we more afraid of driving than of flying? Psychologists have determined that there are four factors that influence our personal fears. One reason for our fears comes from our ancestral history. Primitive humans were afraid of being trapped in small spaces, most likely because they would not be able to escape from predators, such as a hungry tiger that followed them into their cave. And they were afraid of heights because—as they learned 100,000 years ago—it was easy to fall from them. These primitive fears of confinement and heights are still with us, and they can be seen in our reactions to modern-day flying on airplanes. On a jumbo jet, hundreds of us are jammed into tiny spaces. What’s more, we’re forced to fasten our seat belts and keep them fastened until the aircraft reaches its cruising altitude . . . which can be 36,000 feet. No wonder we’re scared. Secondly, experts say we fear what we cannot control. Unless we are trained pilots, we do not control flying. When we fly, then, we are helpless passengers: unable to move or change direction, belted into our too-small seats in a huge metal prison hurtling through the skies more than six miles above the ground. However, when we drive, we’re in charge; we can choose how fast to go, what route to take, and whether or not to stop along the way. Therefore, our fear of flying commonly trumps any reservations we have about driving. Another influence on fear involves the possibility of immediate threat. For instance, fears related to flying are mainly condensed into the moments of takeoff and landing, which involve rapid, often bumpy ascents and descents. Once the plane is in the air and flying smoothly, our concerns usually subside. The dangers of driving, however, are scattered over a much longer period—from the beginning of the trip to the end—and therefore seem less threatening. Finally, we fear what is most readily available in our memory. Powerful, still-present memories of the 9/11 terrorist attacks generate a rationale for anxiety over air travel. In addition, whenever a large airplane crashes, vivid stories, including all the gory details and accompanied by gruesome photos, dominate national and local news. Unless we’re picking someone up at the airport, we never get to hear about the flights that arrive safely. In contrast, automobile accidents, unless they involve celebrities, rarely show up on the evening news, and countless safe car trips reduce or even eliminate fears about driving. Considering these fear factors helps us understand our own perceptions of risk. According to psychologists, our mindsets and our memories cause us to judge some events to be greater threats than they really are. What is the relationship of the second sentence below to the first? “After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many people feared flying more than driving, even though Americans, according to the National Safety Council, were 40 percent more likely to die, mile for mile, in a car crash than on a plane trip. From 2002 to 2004, there were only 34 deaths among nearly 2 billion aircraft passengers, while in the same period, 128,000 Americans were killed in auto accidents. ”(Paragraph 1) The second sentence
Read Details