Yes, I did my homework last night, which is to say I organized my materials, checked when the next things are due, and emailed Bernie the Great to ask him to show me his studying system.

No whining here, but by way of explanation, I've never really known or learned how to study. I was a bright child for whom the requisite knowledge through at least grade nine was already assimilated; I was (and hope still am) a fantastic incidental learner. I also do very well with the direct instruction model: teacher tries it, we try it together, I try it on my own. If I have a puzzle of my own to solve, my motivation, attention span and retention go way up.

I hate drill and practice. I used subtle forms of it as a special ed teacher for pedagogically supported reasons. I find that now, if I can't make myself be oh-so excited about the dry anatomy/physiology text we have to read, I have no choice but to - gasp! - make notecards and simply memorize information for the test. One-step force feeding, no synthesis necessary.

Wonder what I'm buying Bernie for dinner?