Oh, Happy Day!

Okay, I won't get too carried away.

I just completed day four in operation “Be A Better Pilot”.  I feel like I’ve been at this "study harder" thing for a month.  It hasn’t even been a week.

However, I already have started to see a tiny bit of improvement.  On Tuesday, I was reading Federal Aviation Regulation 119.1, which are certification applications for commercial operators.  Fancy talk for: I was reading the laws that told me what I could, and couldn’t do as a commercial pilot.  Well, earlier this morning when I went flying, my instructor asked me some question relating to this very regulation.  My first reaction was to say, “How the heck would I know?” but then I thought about it.

I started retrieving* information, that quite frankly, I didn’t even remember reading.  I started spewing out words and it ended up being correct.  Unless I have some awesome superpower, I think the studying is working, and it hasn’t even been a week.

It’s a lot harder than I anticipated.  Reading a boring book on laws or how to fly an airplane is no picnic, but in the last two days I’ve found ways to make the time pass quicker.  I set a timer, so I’m not tempted to look at the clock every 3 minutes, and I eat a snack while I’m reading.  For some reason, it makes the time pass quicker. 

I was so excited this morning about the studying working that I decided I would definitely have to keep on top of it for another week or so.  I have to make sure it wasn’t a freak coincidence, or if this “spacing effect” of studying is really helping. (Spacing effect is the idea that, studying in small increments over a distributed amount of time allows for better memory retention that just one massive study session.  I learned that from my Exploring Psychology textbook). 

So, I guess…another week! 

I’m ready for some more days like today.

*Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring Psychology: Eighth Edition in Modules. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.