Whether you are studying for your first-ever exam or you are learning a new subject as a mature student, being able to focus on studying and knowing the best tips and techniques so you can get the most out of it is a pretty important aspect of undertaking a new subject.
Thankfully, as time passes, we learn more about the art of studying and more knowledge becomes available on how best we can keep vital information in our brains ready for our exams or tests.
This piece is going to take a look at some tips for successful studying, so you can feel confident and ready to take the next step. Let’s get into it.
1) Implement Different Learning Styles
It is often recommended that students find the learning style that works for them and then stick with it. However, mixing and matching different styles can be excellent for helping someone retain information, as it will activate different parts of the brain and truly get that information locked in.
Going over important information in different ways helps to achieve this. For example, write out the information you need to remember, record yourself saying it and then listen to it, watch a video on it, and even use a memory technique such as creating a mind map to help you see it when it is not there.
2) Use Sites and Software Designed for Your Specific Niche
It can take a while to sift through all of the recommended memory techniques and learning ideas, and if you have a niche that you need to learn, such as test prep for CREOGs, then there is some excellent material out there that can give you specific situations and helpful hints that will be directly related to your exam.
This can be incredibly useful, as certain study materials will contain a large amount of information that you will not need, and that will only clog up your memory and reduce the chance to learn the facts you need to know in a study session.
3) Give Yourself Enough Time
Cramming seldom works when it comes to studying and remembering information. One of the reasons is that your brain cannot retain that much in its short-term memory, and it also needs time to process it into your long-term memory to improve your ability to recall it at a later time.
On top of that, you are increasing cortisol in your body when you are stressed, which heightens anxiety and creates an overall hostile environment for studying.
Giving yourself enough time is not just advised as a trick to get you to do more work, it truly will make a difference to how much information you can store and how good your recall is.
Conclusion
These three tips are essential to know and practice if you want to get the best out of studying. Remember not to cram, to focus on materials that are essential to your exams, and to learn the information you need by different methods, so it truly sticks!