1. Use a personal dry erase board. You can purchase these online from Amazon or at Walmart along with some dry erase markers. Dry erase boards can be used to practice problems, foreign vocabulary memorize equations and more. Plus, they prevent paper waste! Go green!
2. Handwrite your notes. If your lecturer speaks fast, try to print their PowerPoint slides with the 3 slides per page option that’s has the set of lines next to each slide. You can take notes as you go as well as mark the important info on the slides. If no Power Point is available, mind map your notes. Even if you write your notes sloppy, you can still rewrite them later. The more times you write and expose yourself to your notes, the better you will retain the information.
3. Complete practice problems ASAP. Especially in STEM courses, the more you test yourself after learning the information, the better you will retain said information, which will help in the long run.
4. Find other teaching materials. Search the internet for other notes/problems. YouTube is free and full of helpful instructional videos. If you want more practice, find a video solving a problem, pause it before the demonstrator finishes it, solve it on your own, and compare your answer. Also check VU’s library catalog for online practice workbooks such as “Chemistry for Dummies: 1,0001 practice problems.”
5. Review material as if you are teaching a class/student. Convey the material you just learned as if you are the instructor. Go somewhere free of distraction and speak out loud, explaining the concepts you have retained. Use the dry erase board hack as your “chalk board” to write and explain equations/examples. Take note of sections where you feel you need improvement on as you continue to speak aloud.