How to Use the ‘123’ Study Method

Did you know you can customize Google to filter garbage? Follow these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source of technology news.

Studying is much more than just rereading certain chapters and notes. That said, while it’s a good idea to have a strategy for actually retaining what you’re reading, if your method is too complicated, you’ll never stick to it – and then it’s just as pointless as mindlessly re-reading the same section five times.

The best study methods not only rely on research and an established understanding of how memory works, but are also easy to integrate in a practical way. The “123” method meets all the criteria of a good study method.

What is the 123 study method?

Study Method 123 is very similar to method 2357except it’s much easier to stay on top of things and actually execute. With 2357, you review and review your notes and materials on days two, three, five, and seven after you first learn them, which is a difficult schedule to remember and maintain. You can and should, however, use a study planning app, like My Study Life, to help you with this and other time-based academic tasks.

Method 123 is simpler: from day one, you learn your subject. On second dayyou revise it. Watch it again on third dayso don’t think about it for a week, after which you will revise it again. Again, the use of a planner, calendar, or scheduler is encouraged here. These techniques are useful, but only if you actually do them and stick to them, so don’t be afraid to get a little boost from an app or even your phone’s built-in “reminders” feature.

Why Study Method 123 Works

Method 123 is based on distributed practicewhich asks you to review your documents at spaced intervals to better retain them in your long-term memory. It’s a technique that works wonderfully, but often practitioners expect you to deliver the practice in a way that’s difficult to manage. By looking at it for three days, then giving your brain a week and seeing what you picked up, you can incorporate distributed practice into your life much more easily than if you followed an elaborate, tortuous schedule of days off and days off.

It’s best to do this method about 10 days after a big test, so you can study and review those first three days, and then again the day before the test. How you revise is up to you, but you can try memory cardsthat help you recover memory, or blurwhich helps you identify your problems by forcing you to recall as much information as possible without looking at your notes. Whatever method you choose for the actual exam, try to make sure it incorporates an element of active recall or forcing yourself to extract key information from memory.

Just know that the one week interval between assessments is essential. When your brain has almost forgotten something, it works a little harder to extract the information from your memory, which will actually help retain the facts before your big test.