Working on your firefighter promotional exam prep as an adult with a full-time job and life responsibilities can be very challenging. Sometimes you may have to get creative when it’s time to study if you are having an extra busy day or week. Here are some tips to study passively.
Passive Studying Explained
Passive learning is the learning of material without the help of anyone else and with limited interaction with the material. When doing passive learning, you are studying just by hearing, or seeing information with little interaction with the material. Passive learning is not recommended to be done alone if you want to pass your firefighter promotional exam prep, but it is a good option if you are short on time and just trying to get some information in your brain or review material.
Ways to Study Passively
Listen to Audiobooks or Lectures
A great way to study passively is to listen to audiobooks when you do anything and everything. Driving? Listen to your textbook on tape. Going for a run? Listen to your audio book. Cooking, cleaning, eating, shopping, and more can all be done while listening to your audiobook on tape. There are so many random times during the day you can listen to and passively study and get some extra information in without even having to do anything extra except hit play. You can also do it basically anywhere so long as you have headphones or speakers. This will add so much extra study time to your day and overall, boosting your performance on your written exam.
Watching Videos or Documentaries
Another option for passively studying for the visual learner is to watch videos or shows about the material you are learning. This can be beneficial to the written exam but also the other portions of the promotion process. YouTube is a gold mine of videos and information, just always be sure the person presenting it is reliable, because it can also be a big source of misinformation. Videos can be accessed basically anywhere and the internet is awake and open 24/7. You can also use videos as audiobooks while you do other tasks and just listen to them if they aren’t demonstrations. Not only that, watching a video about something you are struggling with can be the only way some firefighters get any help with the promotion process. You are your own teacher when it comes to taking your firefighter promotional written exam. If you are lucky you may have a mentor or a group of other firefighters to help you out along the way, but that is not the case for everyone or at all times. Videos can act as a teacher or guide for you if you are on this promotion journey alone.
Highlighting
Highlighting text or notes is honestly not the most effective study method, but it may come in handy and become useful at times throughout your study sessions. Most people say you shouldn’t highlight because it is a passive technique, but it can be helpful if you are a thorough learner. For example, if you are reading your textbook the first time through it may be beneficial to highlight areas you have questions about or are unsure about as a map of things you need to come back to once you finish reading. You can also use highlighting as a simple study guide if you are super limited on study time. You can highlight the important parts and go back and review them without having to sort through the entire text. This will save the busy student a lot of time not having to create an entirely new study guide. Would creating a new study guide be more effective? Probably, but everyone has their own time limits and knows what works best for them. Most people say highlighting is ineffective because it is easy to forget to go back and see what you did once you have finished your textbooks. As long as you passively highlight, then come back and actively review what you highlighted, highlighting can be a very beneficial quick study enhancer.
Re-reading Text
Another simple and quick passive way to study on the go or in a few minutes is to read. Reading alone is not an effective study strategy for most people, but it is the perfect starting point. Reading is also so simple to do when you are limited on time. If you have no flash cards or online practice tests available to you and a few free minutes and want to study reading is your best bet. It may not be perfect, but as said above it is better than doing nothing at all. Especially if you already highlighted the important parts for yourself.
The Takeaway
There are a million ways to study, some much better than others. Studying passively is not the best way to study for your firefighter promotional exam, but it can be if it is all you have the time and supplies to do. Some effort is always better than none. Keeping yourself working toward your study goals and passing the firefighter promotional exam is all that matters.