The Notebook Recognition lie

For the past couple of nights I have been prayerfully asking Heavenly Father in which ways I can improve my studying for exams. This has lead to a lot of thought the past couple of days on how I can improve. As I was sitting in my humanities classroom about 15 minutes before the class started I was thinking about ways that I can improve my studying. The normal ideas came into my mind, flash cards, reading over lecture notes, meeting with T.A.s, and lecture review sheets. I then tried to think of new ideas that I can improve my studying habits and "break the mold" of traditional studying habits. Then my Professor walked into the classroom.

Just like every class we start out with a review. Instead of jumping right into the review my Professor wanted to bring up an important point when it comes to preparing for the next exam. Her first subject on the matter of studying was "The Notebook Recognition Lie". "The notebook Recognition Lie" is where you do not truly know the material but you can recall where it is in your notes. You notebook could look like this...

but as long as you know where it is on the page you will be able to recall it. This she reminded us is not knowing the martial but just memorizing where it is in our notebooks. When I heard this it reminded me of how I can do this with my scripture, and how I can do it with all my notes and text books, and how she is right that it is not truly knowing the material but knowing how to find it within my notes.

Then came her main point of just using repetition to remember what is taught and the principles that need to be applied. I thought of my mission and how President Ellsworth would always say "Don't fix something if it is not broken!". And there was my answer to the prayer that I have been asking for the past week. "Don't fix something if it is not broken!".

I now understand that learning is nothing more then repetition and applying the things taught into everyday situations. Will it take a lot of repeating, hopefully with only understanding the principle and not applying it. I am grateful thought for how the Lord understands me and is willing to answer my prays to let me know how to become a better son in every aspect of my life.