How Top Students Study: The Ballard Method

Key vocabulary

• esforzarsev.

  to make an effort, strive

  “Los dos estudiaban un doble grado y vieron que sus notas no eran buenas aunque se esforzaban mucho.”— Both were studying a double degree and saw that their grades were not good even though they made a great effort.

  Pattern esforzarse mucho to try very hard

  Compare luchar to struggle

  Conjugation: me esfuerzo, te esfuerzas, se esfuerza; Past me esforcé

  💡 esfuerzo (effort) is a noun; esforzarse is a pronominal verb, note that the reflexive pronoun cannot be omitted.

• constanciaf.

  perseverance, consistency

  “Scherk añade que la constancia es clave: los mejores se autoevalúan sin los apuntes delante.”— Scherk adds that consistency is key: the best students self-test without their notes in front of them.

  Pattern con constancia persistently

  Compare perseverancia perseverance

  Plural: constancias

  💡 From the adjective constante (constant), remember that 'constant and unchanging' means persistence.

• autoevaluarsev.

  to self-assess, test oneself

  “Scherk añade que la constancia es clave: los mejores se autoevalúan sin los apuntes delante.”— Scherk adds that consistency is key: the best students self-test without their notes in front of them.

  Pattern autoevaluarse sin apuntes to test oneself without notes

  Compare examinarse to test oneself

  Conjugation: me autoevalúo, te autoevalúas, se autoevalúa

  💡 The prefix auto- means 'self', evaluar means 'to evaluate', together it means 'self-evaluation'.

• temariom.

  syllabus, course content

  “Ballard cree que el problema principal del sistema educativo es que se ha reducido el temario.”— Ballard believes that the main problem of the education system is that the syllabus has been reduced.

  Pattern reducir el temario to reduce the syllabus

  Compare programa syllabus

  Plural: temarios

  💡 From tema (topic), the suffix -ario indicates a collection, together it means 'a collection of topics'.

• currículom.

  curriculum

  “Al rebajar los currículos, se ha conseguido lo contrario: alumnos con menos base, menos vocabulario y menos capacidad de razonar.”— By lowering the curricula, the opposite has been achieved: students with less foundation, less vocabulary, and less ability to reason.

  Pattern rebajar los currículos to lower the curricula

  Compare plan de estudios curriculum

  Plural: currículos

  💡 From Latin curriculum (race track), extended to 'learning path', English curriculum is cognate.

• demonizarv.

  to demonize

  “Se tiende a demonizar la memoria, que es la base de todo.”— There is a tendency to demonize memory, which is the basis of everything.

  Pattern demonizar la memoria to demonize memory

  Compare criticar to criticize

  Conjugation: demonizo, demonizas, demoniza

  💡 From demonio (demon), -izar is a verb suffix meaning 'to make into a demon'.

• memorizarv.

  to memorize

  “Cuando un político entienda que hay que memorizar, mejorará la educación.”— When a politician understands that we must memorize, education will improve.

  Pattern hay que memorizar one must memorize

  Compare aprender de memoria to memorize

  Conjugation: memorizo, memorizas, memoriza

  💡 From memoria (memory), the suffix -izar means 'to make', i.e., 'to make enter memory'.

• fiableadj.

  reliable, trustworthy

  “Sin esa base, no se puede buscar bien en Google ni evaluar si una fuente es fiable.”— Without that foundation, one cannot search well on Google or evaluate whether a source is reliable.

  Pattern una fuente fiable a reliable source

  Compare confiable trustworthy

  Singular fiable; plural fiables

  💡 From the verb fiar (to trust), the suffix -able means 'can be', i.e., 'can be trusted'.

• esquematizarv.

  to outline, make a diagram

  “Su método tiene ocho pasos: tomar apuntes, hacer una lectura exploratoria, una lectura de profundización, resumir, hacer una hoja de preguntas, esquematizar, memorizar y repasar, dejando cada vez más tiempo entre repasos.”— Their method has eight steps: taking notes, doing an exploratory reading, an in-depth reading, summarizing, making a question sheet, outlining, memorizing, and reviewing, leaving increasingly more time between reviews.

  Pattern esquematizar la información to outline the information

  Compare resumir to summarize

  Conjugation: esquematizo, esquematizas, esquematiza

  💡 From esquema (diagram, outline), the suffix -izar means 'to make', i.e., 'to make into an outline'.

• impactarv.

  to impact, make an impression

  “Por último, el cerebro recuerda lo que le impacta.”— Finally, the brain remembers what impacts it.

  Pattern impactar al cerebro to impact the brain

  Compare impresionar to impress

  Conjugation: impacto, impactas, impacta

  💡 From impacto (impact), English impact is cognate, remember the core meaning 'impact'.

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• Los mejores alumnos no son genios, sino que tienen un sistema.

  The best students are not geniuses, but rather they have a system.

  No + ser + noun, sino que + clauseYou can replace the subject and the clause, e.g., No es suerte, sino que trabajan mucho.

• Cuando un político entienda que hay que memorizar, mejorará la educación.

  When a politician understands that memorization is necessary, education will improve.

  Cuando + subjunctive, + future main clauseYou can replace the subordinate and main clauses, e.g., Cuando entiendas la importancia, todo cambiará.

• Cuanto más sabe uno, más fácil es recordar lo siguiente.

  The more one knows, the easier it is to remember what comes next.

  Cuanto más + verb, más + adj. + es + infinitiveYou can replace the verb and adjective, e.g., Cuanto más practicas, mejor hablas.

• El cerebro recuerda mejor las imágenes que las palabras.

  The brain remembers images better than words.

  A + verb + mejor + noun1 + que + noun2You can replace the objects of comparison, e.g., Recuerdo mejor los nombres que las fechas.

• Sin esa base, no se puede buscar bien en Google ni evaluar si una fuente es fiable.

  Without that foundation, one cannot search well on Google or evaluate whether a source is reliable.

  Sin + noun, no se puede + infinitive + ni + infinitiveYou can replace the noun and verbs, e.g., Sin práctica, no se puede aprender ni mejorar.