6 Active
Listening Drills To Improve Your Testing Skills
Hearing and listening, as you’re
probably aware, are two different things. Your teachers have said that to you a
million times — at least mine did. What they mean when they inevitably say
those words is that your head is nodding, your eyes are on them, and sounds
have probably entered your ears, or at least hovered like a couple of
pollinating bees around them, but the meat of the information isn’t getting
through. Now grant it, some teachers aren’t that good at making information and
learning sound exciting, but what separates the good students from the bad, is
the ability to actively listen.
If we had to administer a single
definition to the term “active listening,” it would probably go something like
this:
The ability to listen and make
sense out of a person, information, or a learning concept, even when said
material should bore you to tears.
You’ve got to be able to do it,
regardless of the quality of instruction or the difficulty of the subject. Here
are six ways to make sure you get there.
Make Eye Contact,
And Keep It
This is easier to do when you’re
dealing with a teacher or some other person, but on a test — particularly a
standardized test where they try to trick you with the phrasing of questions
and answer selections — it’s more difficult. You’d be surprised, however, at
just how much making eye contact will improve your understanding. Locking eyes
with another person’s or simply with the individual words on the page, creates
a foundation for connection, and that’s something you can build upon. While
it’s not the only answer, as you’re about to find out, it certainly goes a long
way.
Eliminate
Outside Distractions
Outside distractions can quickly
derail the best of intentions when it comes to learning anything. Of course, in
a testing environment, the rules of the test and the proctor pretty much take
care of that for you, but it’s still a valuable skill to have. After all, you
do have to study for the test by watching online videos, attending prep
classes, or engaging with a study guide on your own time. The problem is that
“on your own time” thing. Not sure about you, but when I was coming up, I had a
million things I’d rather be doing than reading over materials or making my
brain hurt from all the thinking going around. And I didn’t even have a smartphone
or online social networking to worry about, so you’ve got it way worse than we
did in the Old Days of dial-up Internet!
Respond
Those little cursory nods and
murmurs that you dish out when a teacher or friend is trying to tell you
something are more important than you realize. When integrated with the eye
contact and the elimination of distractions, they help keep you connected to
what’s going on. While they don’t do much good when you’re on the phone or
focused on something else, they get you involved and lead to greater levels of
involvement and response as the communication continues. From a testing vantage
point, being responsive means that you’re constantly trying to engage with the
material. Asking yourself questions, making connections, and jotting notes as
you work through a problem are all positive ways you can “communicate” with a
test or test preparation materials.
Block Out
Internal Distractions
External distractions aren’t easy
to get rid of when they’re right there in front of you, but you can at least
take steps to make sure that you’re not sharing the same space with them. When
it comes to internal distractions, however, it’s another story altogether.
Where do you go to get away from the thoughts that are in your head? Luckily,
there are things that you can do to help push these disruptions from your head.
Two things that have worked well
for me: setting aside blocks of time that are wholly reserved for work, then
using a timer to make sure that I complete the challenge. Generally, sitting —
as you often do when studying — is bad if done for too long without any breaks
in between. A 40-minute work, 20-minute standing-and-moving option is best if
at all possible. Use your phone. Set the timer. Be rigid about it. Stand up
immediately as the alarm goes off, and then sit down again when your 15 or 20
minutes are up. If you’re testing, then the time scheduling shouldn’t be a
problem. If you’re not, you may want to consider adding some ambient music
played at a low enough volume not to be distracting. Secondly, preparing to
work by listening to relaxation audio and self-hypnosis can be a great helper.
I’m certainly not one to think that hypnotism can work on me in the traditional
sense, but the soothing voice of a trained hypnotist and a little quiet time
laying flat on the couch, can put you in a perfect state for work, allowing all
those worries to melt away before you tackle a big project.
Open Your Mind
Until The Communication Is Over
When some people hear something
they don’t like or something that disrupts their understanding of what they
know to be true about a situation, they immediately freeze on the disruption
and refuse to go any further. This is not active listening. What has happened
is, the mind shuts down because going any further would be breaking new ground
(or offensive to what one had previously held to be true), and that’s a scary
journey. So keep that mind open and free to think. And in our experience, the
only way to do that is to…
Stay Engaged
Know going in that you may learn
new things about a subject or hear something with which you may not necessarily
agree. That’s normal. Warn yourself ahead of time that the best way to
understand where something is going is to stay with it until it gets there. Do
that, and your active listening will be much better than it ever was before.
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