Hi guys! These are the tips that I have for now, the truth is that they work quite a bit at the time of studying and I hope they do the same for you.
1. Make summaries and/or schemas:
I’m a girl more of summaries than schemes (concept maps, or mind maps), but any of these are good to analyze, understand and remember better what one is studying at the time. I know that many people, like me, have the problem to put what they were studied in either of these two methods, for example, I’m not very good with the schemes, therefore I support more on summaries and to make them as small as possible, carefully not to forget anything about what I am summarizing; This is why I want to advise you that no matter how difficult and complicated it seem any of these methods, try it. Eventually, you will handled the way to do it and you’ll not realize when you will be all experts.
Yes, I won’t deny it, I’m 100% a girl of colors. I feel incomplete, weird, as if something will miss me when my notes do not have color, at least highlight my titles, I need it, it’s something that is a part of me.
Careful! Use colors doesn’t mean that our notes are freshly come out from a fairy oven and it looks like a rainbow, no. Use them, but sparingly, as fair and necessary to put your notes look cute and you can difference the titles of the rest, or the term of its meaning… and of course the most important thing, that are organized and clean so that when it comes the time for studying, you can understand everything.
More than for aesthetics, I occupy the colors in order to have a more dynamic vision in my notebook, allowing me to better understand, memorize better and above all to find what I want more easily. However, I won’t deny that I also like to have my notes beautiful and colorful, I say, who don’t like to have their notes organized and beautiful? To nobody.
Sometimes when we sit at our study site we spend hours on the same subject, without advancing in others that also we have to study, so to avoid these types of mishaps that make our work to study more heavy, because it leaves all for after, we must organize our time of study. Some occupy the “bullet journal" method for studies, others, the timer. I used the timer until I met a wonderful applications that help you concentrate and at the same time, takes your time. For example, we have a well known application called “Forest” which is available for both IOS and Android, with the difference that in Android you can download the free version, which in IOS is not yet available, but there are other applications that are similar to “Forest” that are free, such as “Be Focused”, an application that also helps you manage your time , where you can save time and designate them for return to them whenever you want, you also have the option to have breaks. The only difference between “Forest” and “Be Focused” is that the first you have the option of listening to sound of fund for greater concentration, while the second handles you only the time, without the option of background music. These two earlier applications are part of many more that you can find both Android and IOS (if you want, later I will let a post with a list of applications to study that I personally find the best of them).
To organize your time, you must rely on what you are studying, because it all depends on the amount of content. For example, in biology is usually much content, concepts or terms to memorize and understand, so I left a full hour to study everything and make sure that I understood. If the content is very complicated, I can add a couple of more minutes, but without passing me in the hour and a half, because you have to keep in mind that there are more to study.
4. Explains what you studied:
That’s right, explain in your own words what you studied. This may be by voice or video recorder, the idea is that once you’ve explained everything in your own words you can hear the audio, and ensure that you’ve understood all or at least the vast majority. So you will see your failings and strengthen your weaknesses., correct your mistakes and learn from them. Personally, I recorded my voice explaining the best that I can what I’ve understood, and if I’ve doubts about having it explained well or have covered all, I send the audio to my friends or classmates, that way I can have a second opinion and make sure I have done well.
5. Record your classes if possible:
If you need to take notes in a class, but for various reasons, are a - b or c, you can’t be able to complete them, I recommend that you carefully get your cellphone and begin to record the class quietly, and when you will be already at home can play the audio and complete your notes without missing anything.
Although, to tell the truth, I recommend over talking to your classmates and ask for
permission from the Professor, and then record the class, both in audio as an image. If the teacher still not authorized it (because it’s supposed to record the classes within an establishment is not allowed), can get a little rebellious and record, put your cellphone somewhere in the room where it isn’t seen. Sometimes be a little rebellious is not bad, it all depends on the reason why you are, right?
Carefull! This doesn’t mean that you don’t take notes in class or not pay attention because you are recording, if you don’t understand the class less you will do it through an audio or video, where you don’t have the support of your present teacher.
6. Creates memory cards (flashcards):
Although it seems typical, they are quite effective. There is the option of to make them yourself or you can download any application that can make them, as for example Quizlet, an application that is available both IOS and Android. This will help to quickly memorize definitions of concepts, or important dates, people and their works, etc.
7. Transfer your notes in order, rewrite:
If you are one of the people who, like me, prefer to make a draft of his notes, and then pass them in clean (rewrite them), you’ll know that this tip really works. I won’t deny that it is more work, but everything has its reward, isn’t it?
Personally I’m of people who have better visual memory, which read and write helps me to memorize better. Thus I memorize and order my notes, both at the same time. In addition, it said that rewrite is equivalent to five readings, I don’t know if that is true, but I at least feel that I memorize best rewritting, well in my time to study I remember things I’ve written and I can understand them better.
8. Listen to music to concentrate:
The truth is that this tip is pretty ambiguous and personal, because it depends on each person. Many people can’t concentrate with noise, so they only can study in complete silence, and others simply cannot withstand be studying with so much silence. I’m of people who are in the middle.
For me is inevitable listen classical, instrumental music, rain, nature or just a relaxing study melody sounds. It helps me enough to concentrate and accompany me at the time of study. There are a variety of videos on YouTube with relaxing music, classical or instrumental music, or sounds of nature to study, as well as on Spotify playlists that are pretty good.
Personally, I listen to music when I do exercises such as mathematics or physics, and as for readings or review, normally I do without music or with one that does not have too much rhythm, as sounds of rain, wind, etc., to be able to concentrate.
9. Search material of support:
If you feel that you still don’t understand the subject, either because it is very difficult or because you don’t understand your teacher, you can’t stay still and do nothing. You have to auto-teach you, learn and learn any other way what you are passing in classes.
For example, looking for videos that teach you what you are going through, search exercises online, Power Point presentations, PDF documents to help you supplement your notes or your knowledge. There are many channels on YouTube that can help you to study, as also pages with books, exercises, and documents about what you’re going. The idea is to find supporting material that will help you to understand what you’re learning in class, so to be able to reinforce.
10. Stay away from your social networks:
I know that many of us it has happened that from being studying we went from one second to another to be checking our Instagram account. Best for these cases is to put the cell phone as far as possible, if needed elsewhere in your home (obviously, if you’re studying at home), and in airplane mode so that nothing interrupts your time of study. Now, to avoid entering your networks through the computer or laptop that you are using at the time of study, you can download applications that will block certain pages by a certain time, and once activated cannot be it reversed, yes or Yes you should spend that time so that the pages are unlocked. These applications exist for both Windows and Mac.
11. Uses Post-it (sticky notes):
These help me to write down something that perhaps the teacher said in class and would not have seeing completely with the theme that we’re passing, or be any possible question test, any dimension, a concept that I don’t know.
12. If you have any doubts, questions, ask:
As they say the teachers, or at least of my school, “There no are silly questions, only fools who don’t ask”. So, if you have doubts, ask. No matter if you make a mistake, you must solve all your doubts because that will help you better understand what you are seeing. If you are in classes and you don’t understand, ask, solve all your doubts with the professor, because once you get home to study you won’t understand almost nothing, if it is that it is absolutely nothing, by not having asked.
If you’re at home or out of classes, studying, grab your cell and ask your classmates. The idea is to clear your concern in one way or another.
Personally, I really like to be able to solve my doubts with my classmates, because in addition to answer all my questions, we can exchange notes, complementing our notes, we can learn new techniques to solve exercises, etc.
I know that the work of reviewing every day is quite heavy, but it works. It’s truth. At least in my experience constantly review has helped me be able to memorize better what are passing to me in classes, since the constant review helps to retain longer the lessons learned, and a day before the test it doesn’t need to study too hard, ‘cause everything I learned it was be engraved on the head, and just only a small study session will need. Therefore I recommend that when you get arrive home after school review your notes at least 15 minutes that day, and everyday, in that way you will retain in your head more time what they are seeing.
14. Gets emails from your professors/teachers:
In my case, some of my teachers send us documents PDF or PPTs we use during their classes, to study and reinforce what we saw, as well as complement our notes. Course, I recommend that if you are still in school, you can put on agree with your classmates and create an email as a group so that way you will not have problem in contacting your teacher. This is ‘cause in some schools have problems for contact their professors outside the establishment, and there are some schools that are quite strict in that area. If you’re in university, I don’t think that will be a problem to contact you through your personal email.
Carefull! Teachers are not always so cool, or so nice, to give you their mail, some of they put many excuses since in some schools the teacher-student ethics is fairly strict with contact outside the establishment, so they are usually quite reluctant to give them, especially if the teacher is handsome, so you have to prove that you are really interested in the material support and not in him, or in harass him (even while actually are haha, the key is prove otherwise 😉).
15. Lean on your textbooks:
Many times in our schools deliver us books of the subjects that we will see that year (either whether we should buy them or they are delivered by the same school), and either that the professor uses them little or nothing within classes, we must have in mind that the book yes serves us and helps, or at least the vast majority of them because it is a support material that contains descriptions, images and vocabulary, and to answer key in some, that helps us to know in what we were wrong (for example, the books of mathematics, following exercise can confirm your answer with the solution key), this can serve when you are studying for a test, and also the test obviously. So it is best to always bear in mind that texts that give schools if you serve, independent of whether the teachers based their class in them or not, there will always be material that will help you to complement what you taught the teacher in class.
16. Have a fixed study site:
To study well and be able to focus without any impediment, we need a fixed and comfortable place. This place has to be clean, orderly, and as much as possible wide (extended desktop), so we can have all our scope and not deconcentrate us to go for something that you need or miss. The best thing is study in a desk in your room, or in the table of dining room of your house, but is completely forbidden study in bed, as to be overly comfortable us enters laziness and sleep, interrupting our study session, and practically ensuring a long nap.
17. Keep a schedule of fixed study:
Personally, I’m kind of people who aren’t very organized when it comes to schedules or events. Simply plans and me not get along very well, but I don’t deny that for a time I tried it, being constant in my moment of planning what to do later (in my bullet journal) and I found it quite beneficial. Apart from planning everything and organize my time, and comply with what I should do of course, I could see the progress of my studies, but as I said the plans and I don’t we get along very well. But that doesn’t prevent that recommend you organize your time, plan what to do, and between that define a time of day that is dedicated only to study. It can be in the afternoon after school, can be in the morning before going to school, or can be at night before going to bed, no matter the time, what matters is that you should defined a time to study and you can’t move that time, this will help to discipline your brain and accustom him that in this period of the day must be aware, attentive and concentrated to absorb everything, of course without forgetting small breaks in the study session. Over time you’ll see the results, giving you features that you do better absorb the information, that in that period of time your brain will be more attentive to what he reads or exercises, so you can understand much better than before.
+ Bonus: Organize your times.
For this, the best is do the technique of bullet journal, you can also go to the planner, but personally I like the BJ more, although like I said, I didn’t last long because a I’m really bad in planning constantly, but during the time I did it worked perfect, so I recommend that even if you are just as bad planning constantly, like me, try it. Who knows? Perhaps you become experts in the bullet journal.
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