Study Skills: FORCE: A strategy for studying for a test
To maximize this study skill it is best to prepare the information prior to studying by employing effective note taking strategies, attending to task during lectures and reading, listening etc. The Paired Associates Strategy is an excellent strategy to organize the information to be studied on cards (i.e. main points on one card, expansion and related information i.e. definitions, effects etc. on another). Once students organize the information and learn the basics they can now prepare for studying using the FORCE method.
FORCE is a strategy for studying for tests. FORCE stands for:
- F=Find Out
- O=Organize
- R=Review
- C=Concentrate
- E=Early Exam
Students who have difficulties studying often employ ineffective study strategies including reviewing huge amounts of information as a whole, rereading and not engaging in information that he/she doesn’t know, and not anticipating what the teacher will be asking. The FORCE strategy guides the student to organize the information appropriately, review it in meaningful ways and expand and transfer the information appropriately. The information in these stages are compiled into Paired Associate cards for the next steps in the FORCE study process.
Find Out and Organizing the information occurs before sitting down to study. F & O requires the student to attend to the lecture, reading, audio file or video , take good notes and then Organize the information into meaningful, manageable chunks. Review, Concentrate and Early Exam are the actual study processes. Students who study effectively review the information before concentrating and identify known and unknown information. They also anticipate questions that might be asked. For Review the student organizes the Paired Associates cards in 2 piles. He/she picks a clue from one pile and matches it to the expansion/associate card. He/she will also identify the questions helping them study and recasts the information to help them remember. The student then separates the cards with the information they don’t know well from those cards they do know. Concentrate level requires self test procedures over and over in different activities using the cards, specifically of the unknown material. At this point the student is again, thinking more deeply what the teacher is going to ask. In the Early Exam step the student practices questions that have been written for the paired associate. The cards can be used to make other types of questions using different tools including iPod Touches; Worksheet Magic software and so on.
Students who utilize the Paired Associates Strategy and FORCE learn the information extremely well, are able to integrate that information, apply higher level critical thinking and is able to make enhanced connections to prior knowledge and expand on the information in the future.
L. Wehrung-Schaffer (1990). May the FORCE be with you: A test preparation strategy. Academic Therapy, 25,291-300
