Studying Smarter is far better than Studying Harder.
Sometimes our study habits simply aren't sufficient. People always wonder about study tactics for excelling in exams.This is also suggested by many that the high school study habits are not enough when you reach college. School and college are the two completely different aspects. There's no spoon feeding by teaching, professors are less involved, strength increases and so the exam pressure too. Syllabus,classrooms, atmosphere everything changes. There's nothing wrong with you but you need to change some strategies while studying. There are many effective studying strategies that can be adapted for studying in colleges.
Here we'll be describing a few of those tactics. You can simply choose some which you can implement for studying .
Reading again and again isn't considered studying.
Re reading the written notes doesn't involve active engagement. Just going through the notes that you have made in your class, it's just considered as reading. This sort of reading the notes leads to quickly forgetting.
Reading can be considered as an important part of pre-studying. Whereas learning needs active engagement with the study material.When a student is actively engaged in studies,he constructively builds the meaning out of the text and reconnects it with the lecture along with mentioning a few examples to facilitate proper understanding of the topic.
Rereading, highlights, and underlying the notes are not involved in active engagement. Although they keep you engaged but cannot be considered under the active studying techniques. They improve learning weekly.
Active studying ideas includes-
Study guide by topic should be created. Formulation of questions along with solving them can be done.
Saying out loud your learned topics enhances your memory power. You can simply teach the learned topic to a group of your friends. Being a teacher in this way could help.
Deriving examples relating to one's experiences should be done.
Creating concept maps along with diagrams and symbols is a fabulous tactic.
For English, History, Psychology(non technical subjects) big ideas can be figured out along with their explanations,re evaluations and contrasts.
While for technical subjects write the explanatory work procedures and steps.
Study should be done on the basis of question, evidence, and conclusion.
Properly scheduled and organised planning helps in active engagement in studies. For test preparations, organised study material should be prepared and then reviewed by actively engaging with the topics. Many times professors provide sub topics too. Sum up all the topics togetherly and pile them up. Then study by topic names from the pile.
Understanding the study cycle-
Frank Christ's developed Study cycle can be divided into several parts that includes-
previewing, attending class, reviewing, studying, and checking your understanding.
All the mentioned steps seem very simple but few of them are oftenly skipped by students to get short cuts.
For inference, take the example of a kid who skips reading a topic which is to be taught in the lecture ,as he thinks the professor is going to teach it somehow so that reading can be avoided.But such behaviour misses the opportunity for learning in a different mode, also a revision process is skipped.
When you understand the importance of each component of the study cycle, you will not miss any of them to study effectively.
Spacing out is beneficial-
Distributed practice is among one of the best learning strategies. It includes spacing out the study over consecutive short time periods over various days and weeks. Everyday working a short time in each class is an effective practice.
The time spent in this technique is comparatively lesser than that of the continuous long hours library sessions.
But the knowledge retention is long term and is much more. It would definitely help you to excel in your exams. The thing that matters is how well you study, not how long you study.
Long study hours cause a lack of concentration power whereas spacing out is beneficial.
For such a programmed Study( in short periods for several days)you should make a proper controlled schedule. List of daily tasks should be planned and followed, this will help you study effectively. Plan statistically and realistically regarding time spent on every topic.Try to add time according to your schedule. It should not be a burden. And also the tasks should not be skipped.
For example, try to solve a few problems regularly in contrast to solving them all an hour before the class. 15-20 min study of class notes is sufficient for history subjects. Thus you will be preparing not only for one class ,but for all classes in short time stretches. This is how you enhance your focus, retain the information and you remain on the top.
Spacing out the work helps stave off procrastination. Rather than struggling for 30hrs in a single day, you can schedule your work for 3 hours per day .This will ease your work and enhance concentration along with less chances of delay in submissions. Making flashcards for learning names, dates, formulas of class material, reviewing them periodically throughout the day rather than taking them as a burden and studying for 2-3 straight hours.
To be intense is a good thing-
All studies are not worth it. Studying intensely is only worth it. Intense study sessions will help you accomplish more. Short intensive study sessions are much more effective, they will help you in doing your work in minimal wasted time and less effort.
Distributing study over multiple sessions is one of the most impactful study strategies. These are more effective than lengthy scheduled study hours. 30-45 minutes study sessions can be included in intensive studies, which is included among active studying strategies. Study intensity and learning efficiency can be improved by self testing. But spending multiple hours testing yourself is not beneficial, rather it will only cause distraction.
Whereas if you plan to take your own quiz for 45 minutes on study material followed by a short break , you will be benefited by more concentration and knowledge retention .
Also the shorter and more intense study sessions will create pressure on which is needed to stop procrastination.
Silence is not Gold-
It is not necessary that silence will be best for studying. It depends on different choices, some may like silence while few need chirping of birds around to stay focused. It is shown that background noise can also play a role in increasing concentrations.
To some people classical music in the background creates more focus and concentration while the same can provide hindrance for others. To some people silence is also a huge distraction. So if you are distracted by silence try to find a place where there is more background buzz.Usually active study requires silence background only because it includes saying out the topics aloud.
Problems are not always your foe-
For technical courses like mathematics and economics rapid reworking on problems is required. Understand the steps and reasons for the working of problems.In such subjects working on the problems is much more important than reading the texts. One should write in detail the problem explained in steps by the professor during the lecture.
Always ask questions to clear the doubts and confusions. Do not forget to write the correct answers to the problem.During test preparation, solve a large list of relatable problems from the course. Also go through explaining their working and steps.
Multitasking should be reconsidered-
Research shows that multitasking doesn't improve efficiency, rather it has negative results. Studying smarter should be preferred over studying harder. For this purpose, elimination of distractions while studying is a must. The intensity of your study will be drastically affected by social media, web browsing, game playing, texting, etc. Research shows responding to the texts while studying affects the study intensity. Multitasking decreases the quality of learning and increases the time required to learn a topic.
If distractions are completely eliminated, one will be fully engaged in the studies. If a computer is not required for homework, then it should not be used. Use apps that set limits over social media usage. Phones should be turned off.
Switch up your setting-
Find a perfect place for studying . Change places around your campus and choose the one which is best for you. Focus can be different at different times. You can be more focused at a coffee shop with background noise ,or in the study lounge in your residence hall. Whereas if you try to study on your bed you will fall asleep.
There used to be a variety of places in your campus which offered a good study environment. All you need is, find your best suited study place. You can also feel like changing your study spot as your earlier one doesn't make you feel focused.
Becoming a teacher-
You can explain your study material in your own language. This could be done alone,in a duo or in a group also. When you say the material aloud you come across your faults and areas of improvements. While explaining the concepts relating examples should be included. In start you will depend on your notes for explaining the topics but eventually you get prepared for teaching without notes too.
When you create a quiz for yourself your thinking becomes like that of a professor. Self quizzing is a highly effective study technique.
Try to keep your study guide notes along with your for quick decision sessions . For technical subjects, explain the steps on working in a simple manner. Adapting these techniques actively engages the brain with the material and you study much more effectively.
Take control of your calendar-
Goals can be accomplished by controlling the schedule and avoiding the distractions. If the schedule is properly made the work will be always done on time and you will remain on the top.
Plan your weekly schedule on Sunday nights or Saturday mornings.
Decide separate tasks for each subject for the entire week.
Keep an eye on the clock to see if your schedule is going up to the mark or not.
Circle down the dates for completion of assignments.
Try to complete the work in the scheduled time. If it's getting difficult try to manage it somehow but do not disturb the consecutive events off the prepared plan. Completion of all reading is luxurious.You can use multiple sources for reading a single topic.
Make a plan for the next day before going to bed at night.
Downtime can be used as your advantage-
Easy weeks should be considered as calm before the storm. Use easy week's work on extra lengthy assignments and big projects to stay future prepared. You should work on every class every week even when nothing is due . You spent 30 minutes on every class to make the grand total of three hours per week. One long three hour session can be replaced
out over six days more effectively. If work is completed prior 30 minutes try to complete the lengthy upcoming work in that time.
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