How To Study with Swing

“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.” And so it is— without passion in learning all is for naught. Actively using and perfecting study techniques will transform your grades.

The bleak hours I spent reading through my high school curriculum felt empty because I lacked a perspective known as metacognition. According to McGuire in her book “Teach Yourself How To Learn” metacognition is “...thinking about your own thinking. It’s like you have a big brain outside of your brain looking at what your brain is doing.” (McGuire, 2018, p. 30). As soon as college began, this understanding introduced to me a world of academic possibilities. Many students think they can achieve decent grades with sheer effort, late night cramming, time management, and discipline. However, in science majors, they will run into a wall where none of these are enough, and their methods of study must be refined. This problem led me to discover several key techniques and important principles about my own cognitive process.

A pinch of technique, a dash of mindset and understanding, along with a drop of passion make up what is the recipe for academic success. I will go over each of these in the following paragraphs as well as provide explanations and evidence for their effectiveness. Yet, in order to measure this we must understand Bloom’s Taxonomy. The revised taxonomy organizes learning, from remembering to creating; which represents the highest level of understanding (McGuire, 2018, p. 50). In high school all we really needed was to remember, but in college you will go further, which will require more active study methods and most importantly, the willpower to excel.

As the foundation behind all learning passion for your destiny, your education, your success should not be understated. “Memo ries fade by design; the brain keeps only meaningful ones” (Wong & de Lange, 2018). When memories are tied to meaningful and personal things– when they have passion behind them our minds engage in deeper processing and we can ascend Bloom’s Taxonomy. Passion is the rhythm that mnemonics and retrieval need in order to flourish.

Of the many study techniques, retrieval, teaching, and mnemonics stand out as the pinnacle of active learning. Conversely rereading notes, highlighting, multitasking, going straight to solutions…etc, are examples of weak passive learning. According to Tullis & Zhang (2025), retrieval—actively recalling information—alters memory making it more accessible in the future. It slows the process of forgetting, and relative to the above passive processes; retrieval solidifies and retains more in the long-term. Among the effective retrieval test formats: free recall, cued recall, memoranda, word pairs, pictures, spatial positions, and face-name pairs (Tullis & Zhang, 2025, p. 2). A step beyond retrieval is the very active process of teaching material. “More recent research even suggests that other active study techniques, like learning by teaching others (Wong et al., 2023) or generating one’s own examples (Endres et al., 2024), may support higher order learning better than retrieval practice.” (Tullis & Zhang, 2025, p. 2). Finally, mnemonics are a way of taking information and turning it into a more easy-to-remember format. “Learners can use mnemonics in diverse ways, but common mnemonics include keyword mediators, interactive imagery, acronyms, acrostics, songs, stories, and rhymes (Bellezza, 1996; Putnam, 2015)” (Tullis & Zhang, 2025, p. 3). Since discovering my odd infatuation for mnemonics, especially with abstract material,  I have enjoyed learning more. Additionally, with

retrieval practices such as Knowt flashcards, ChatGPT made tests, and group studies where I can teach others learned material, I have seen improvement in my learning.

The brain is complex and predictable but you can find ways to make memorization easier (Patten, B. M., Ying Zhang, & White, J., 2014, p. 34-35). A fascinating study was conducted by a young German scientist, Hermann Ebbinghaus where he subjected himself to the memorization of long meaningless lists in order to find out if the process of forgetting could be studied. “The human brain quickly loses its focus and becomes bored. When you are trying to memorize something, take frequent breaks and give your brain a rest.” (p. 34). He learned that, “The most useful associations are logical, organized, and patterned. If we don't know a logical association, we can create one.” (p. 35) for instance, “Or, say you want to remember that a certain Mozart piece starts with a high B-flat. Make a mental picture of Mozart slapping a bee trying to sting his head. Mozart flattens the bee with the flat of his hand.” (Patten, B. M., Ying Zhang, & White, J., 2014, p. 34-35).

We should all be metacognitive in our approach to find what works best for ourselves. In “Cognitive Factors in Academic Achievement” , Cuasay (1992) argues, “Since it is assumed that inherited ability is fixed, most pedagogy in higher education, then, is geared toward increasing students' content knowledge and improving their problem-solving skills.” (Cuasay, P., 1992, p. 3). There is nothing we can do about inherited ability; however, if we can make the process of learning as efficient as possible for ourselves by tweaking methods, assessing strategies, adapting– then we can surpass previous limits.

For jazz students, it can take a bit to get the swing rhythm, but once you have it, nothing feels better; it's passion. I would recommend that you read Tullis & Zhang’s article as well as the

book “Teach yourself how to learn” by Saundra Yancy McGuire as these are the foundations for my research. With active study methods, a strong mindset, and some swing, you can achieve anything academically.