What’s your best study style? That’s the question that was addressed at the year’s first Lunch and Learn, held on Thursday, Sept. 15.

Tony Prestby, director of the Hayssen Academic Resource Center, and Liz Pritzl, ARC assistant, both put on the interactive workshop that began with a self-assessment for students to take to attempt to find out their modality strength.

Students could have their answers divided between three strength areas: Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic/Tactual.

After the students had taken the assessments, Pritzl began the presentation by saying, “Everybody learns a little differently.” She then explained each learning style.

Visual learners study best when they have visual aids.

Auditory learners “might prefer to listen and take notes,” said Pritzl. They also tend to do better when reading out loud or have auditory aids.

Kinesthetic learners, Pritzl said, “might need to be moving around” while they are learning. Doing something active, like making learning into a game, might work best for these learners.

It is important for students to know the difference between these learning styles and to know their own style. “We all need to know how we learn best,” said Prestby. It is how each student studies best.

Studying, though, isn’t the only important thing. “Taking college classes seriously, and all your courses, will really benefit you in the long run,” said Pritzl when talking about her own learning style and academic history.

This was a part of the presentation that was different from much of these Lunch and Learn events. The presenters were incredibly candid and talked about their histories and failures, how they have led to their current successes, to show students what hard work can do.

Prestby shared how it took him 10 years to get his associate degree, with math being one of his great enemies during this time. He eventually went back to school through an online program to get his bachelor’s degree at 40 years old and completed it in 13 months with a 4.0 grade point average.

He followed this with a 16 month online graduate degree program, which he also completed with a 4.0. His secret to success was simple: he learned how best to study.

“I would read all my textbooks at the gym on the treadmill,” Prestby said. “I did that every day for four days a week.” On Fridays he would type all his papers.

Prestby added, “I decided to figure out how I study best and how I learn best and I used that to my advantage.”

After this, the presentation went back to the standard format and students were shown several tips of how to make studying easier, such as writing important organizational notes on the Table of Contents of their textbook to keep them on track, or that for every credit hour a student is taking, he or she should multiply that number by three and that is the number of hours they should spend studying each week.

Some other tips included the three most important strategies for students to succeed with their textbook, which, in order, are: buy or rent it, read it and bring it to class and/or tutoring.

Another textbook strategy was the SQ3R Method, which is as follows:

1. Survey the chapter
2. Questions – Turn the chapter headings into questions:
3. Reading
4. Recite
5. Review

Prestby then explained how helpful marking textbooks can be for studying. Whether this is done with highlighters, post-it notes or flags, Prestby said, “These will help you.”

And for those in need of such study aids, he said, “Come see me, I will give you some,” showing his dedication to helping students study best.

For more information on the particular study skills mentioned, such as the SQ3R Method, or for help with studying, students should visit the Hayssen Academic Resource Center or contact Prestby at [email protected].

The next Lunch and Learn will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 11:30 a.m. in Laun 210; the topic will be “The Power of Social Media.”