Does studying give you tremendous pressure? Do you find it hard to cope with your studies with limited time? It so happens that at times even if we have the entire day we are unable to study either because we are lazy enough to study or because we do not follow effective studying techniques. How much you have studied is not important but the way you have studied will help you write your exams perfectly. Most of us are last minute learners including me. But instead of memorizing things last minute it’s better to organise things for better, faster and effective learning. Here are some tips and tricks you can use to study smart not hard.
- Understand instead of mugging: What’s the point in studying everything but not understanding anything. You can mug up a number of notes but if you are unable to understand you are likely to make a mess. Mugging up everything at times tends to forget some important information and you may end up jumbling all the information together during exams, it’s always better to take time and understand each and every word that you study rather than just eating up the whole book. Quality is better than quantity. Understanding takes time but the information will get correctly stored in your memory.
- Concentrate on a single topic at a time: As most of us study last minute, we do not have any other option rather than just studying everything at a stretch. It is recommended to start well before hand so that you have ample of time to look into each topic carefully and completely.
- Connect each topic to the other: Everything you learn is somewhere or the other connected to each other. So in order to understand each topic effectively you may connect the topic to something you have already learn before, may be something in your previous years or some books.
- Compare it to something: You can also compare your topic to something which you are familiar with like a situation or a person that will help you remember that particular answer.
For example, if you want to memorize dates, you can associate that date to your friend’s birthday or something so that you can remember it when you’re writing your exam.
- Create visuals or mental images: You can also create references or mental images while studying any particular answer. Also you can create visuals and put up information in a table format or make diagrams. So that while studying the answer you can refer to these for better understanding. Do not hesitate to scribble in your books as long as you are able to learn the information.
- Teach someone: Find someone who is unfamiliar with the topic and needs your help. While explaining them you too are revising on what you have studied, this can save your time while revising later and the concept will be prefect in your mind.
- Challenge yourself: Challenge yourself to know whether you have actually understood the topic or no. You can even compete with your friends. Competition which show you your capabilities.
- Find patterns: Find your own pattern of studying. For instance, I can memorize best when I learn the answers loudly while some others memorize things in their mind just. Some choose to study early morning while others are comfortable to study at nights. You may have your own time, place and format of studying. So organize your studying pattern for effective learning.
- Keep yourself open to reading: Reading will help increase your general knowledge and also help create visuals and gives more flexibility in creating metaphors in new topics. The more you know it’s easier to learn.
- Don’t force: Forcing yourself to take in too many information at a time is inefficient. Give yourself a break when you feel you can’t take in anymore. Your brain requires time to grasp and memorize things, pressuring it will not help you remember anything. You can take a short break after every 2 hours to relax your mind to take in more information.
I hope these tips and tricks help you cope with your studies in an easy and effective manner and help you score well in your exams.
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