Find a study space
Where you study is really important, so if you don’t think you will get much done with your friends, then study by yourself.
At home, find somewhere without distractions. Not at the kitchen table while your family is making dinner or when your favourite Netflix show is on. Pick a space that is clean and tidy because cluttered spaces often lead to cluttered minds, and increase stress and anxiety.
Short study sessions
We all have a limit before our attention begins to wander, so study in shorter, more frequent bursts.
Explain the subject to someone
Explain the topic in your own words. You’ll notice where you don’t quite grasp concepts and if you have any points you need to clarify.
Deeply question your subject
It’s hard to remember fact after fact, so here are a few tips to connect the dots. Make your subject ‘real’ and apply it to real life scenarios or picture real people in the situation; try to find links between this topic and others; connect this particular topic with an underlying principle; or see where there are similarities and differences between concepts.
Create concept or mind maps
You scribbled away furiously during lectures, wrote every last thing down, and now have the most beautiful pages of notes. But do you actually recall everything on the page? Probably not.
Create a concept map with the information. Make a big circle in the middle of the page with the main topic, and then break it down into the different topics, headings, or parts. Then write the minor details under each.
Have you left studying too late? Find out what to do the night before an exam.
Study at your optimal times of the day
When are you most alert? If you wake up with a spring in your step in the morning, use that time of day to blast out a study session. You might find you have a great study session in half the time as one at night.
Avoid particular times of the day you know your mind drifts. Most people have a drop off in productivity in the mid-afternoon, so this probably isn’t a good time to sit down to study hard. And don’t persist when you’re dead tired. You would be better off getting a good night’s rest and then trying again the next day.
When you’re very short on time
If it’s the night before an exam, rather than trying to cram as much new information into your head as possible, revise what you do know really well.
Speak out loud
You might feel a little ridiculous but speak out loud to yourself. Saying the words out loud might help you pay attention and absorb the message properly.
Draw diagrams and pictures
Yes, even if one has been provided for you. The act of drawing something with your own hand adds a different element to processing and understanding information.
Repetition
There are lots of different hacks here but what we recommend – above everything else – is repetition and frequency. The brain learns by repeating the same information over and over. This doesn’t mean memorizing by rote, but it does mean revisiting information regularly.
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