1. keep track of your attention span, plan your study session and study breaks accordingly
everyone has a different attention span. it can range from 25 minutes to 4 hours. to study effectively, time yourself. take note of when you start to feel tired or bored. mark that time to take a break (for about 5 minutes)
5 thirty-minute study chunks with breaks are more effective than 1 three-hour long session without breaks.
suggestion for types of study breaks by @samsstudygram: x
2. reward yourself after a completed study session
plan your day so that you have time for a reward once you’ve finished studying. choose something that you genuinely love and look forward to.
reinforcing your study sessions with something fun makes you more excited about your studying materials, and the activity in general. eventually, you will be able to extend your attention span, going from 30 minutes to 60, 75, and more.
3. have a separate study space
have a designated space for studying, away from possible distraction.
if you can’t have a separate room for it, have a cue. for example, get a lamp only used when studying. once you turn it on, it’s a cue for you to study. you turn it off, and it’s either break time or you’ve finished for the day. leave your desk as well.
train yourself to use the area for studying only.
4. separate facts from concepts
facts are what you can use rote memorization for. you can look it up using google or reference books.
concepts are what stay with you for a long time. you need to understand them.
how to learn a concept:
take notes during the lecture
break them down
ruminate to discover their meaning
relate them to something you already know
5. form a study group
an instructor probably can’t understand why you’re struggling with a concept, because they’ve been spending a lot of time studying and researching it. but your peers are just as new to the whole thing as you are, you can figure it out together, show one another your thought process. also, you can share the same reference points, making analogies easier to understand and remember.
6. avoid confusing recognition with recollection
when you highlight, you highlight the most important parts. but during revision, you confuse your visual recognition with recollection. you recognize the highlighted parts, because it stood out to you visually, but you don’t really remember it enough to take a test.
if you can recite the content in your own words, when looking up at the sky, then you’ve got it.
7. sleep
your brain can store information better thanks to rapid eye movement sleep (rem).
telling people to sleep doesn’t make anyone money, so you don’t hear this advice in the media often, but it’s the simplest thing to do when you want to learn effectively and efficiently.
8. take notes
everyone knows how to take notes, but it is what you do with them that matters.
you should invest about 5 minutes to flesh out your notes right after the class. you can give it more details, write down your own interpretation. if you leave it for too long, you may forget the meaning of what you wrote, then it’s a wasted note.
if you have questions, you can reach out to a classmate immediately, or ask your instructor. it doesn’t always look like that sometimes, but instructors want you to succeed. you asking them questions also makes them feel important, so it’s win-win.
9. recite
80% of your study time should be spent reciting, 20% reading
recapitulate your lectures to someone else. or have a dialogue with an empty chair. try to think out loud so you know for sure whether or not you’ve got it.
you can also write things down in your own words, whatever suits you.
10. SQ3R
how to use your textbooks effectively:
S: survey the entire chapter, looking through things and pose
Q: questions. if you intend to find something, you’ll find it. have purpose while you
R: read. follow this with
R: recite. follow the advice above so that when the test comes close, you’ll only need a quick
R: review
11. mnemonics
use acronyms, coined phrase, or interacting images
example:
to remember the direction to unscrew a screw: righty tighty lefty loosy
to remember how many calories there are in carbohydrate: car-bo-hy-drate (4 syllables, 4 calories) or c a r, there are 4 wheels on a car
Study in chunked sessions: Your ability to retain information diminishes after about 25-30 minutes, so break it up into multiple, smaller sessions. Reward yourself with fun activities during your breaks
Have a dedicated study area: Don't study where you do anything else. Don't study in your bed, where you play games (even if it's your computer), or in front of the TV.
Know the difference between recognition and recollection: Recognition requires a trigger for you to remember something and you may not get that on a test. Study actively with focus on recollection. Quiz yourself and don't just glance over highlighted notes.
Take good notes: Find a note-taking method that works for you and expand on themafter your class lecture to increase retention and understanding.
Be ready to teach what you've learned: If you can teach it to someone else, you have a solid grasp on the material.
Read textbooks effectively: Use the SQ3R Method—survey, question, read, recite, review—to actively retain information. Just reading it is not enough.
why people shouldn't judge k-pop fans about liking k-pop because we in fact DO know what the song is about even if we can't tell you what every single sentence means
