Remembering an Old Study Trick

I had a bit of a flashback at school this week and it reminded me of something I’d completely forgotten.

Tuesday is a pretty long day for me. I teach all day and then I go to class all night. It’s a graduate level program and it’s pretty demanding. The class runs from 4:30 to 9:15 and by the time I get to 8:30, I’m running out of gas.

I find it difficult to concentrate in that last part of the night. 

This Tuesday, my professor gave us the last hour of class to get ahead in our reading. We have a big text book filled with small type. It’s not an easy read under any circumstances, never mind the last hour of a 15-hour day.

I was struggling to get through the chapter. My eyes were moving across the words and pages, but my brain wasn’t engaged; it was just kind of numb.

So, I stood up, went outside without my coat. I walked around the parking lot with a brisk pace, and went back to my book. This time, however, I stood in the back of the classroom and read. 

Studying standing is a trick I learned in college when I was working from midnight to 8 a.m.

It worked in college and it worked Tuesday night. 

I got through the chapter, and I understood what I was reading.