Ways To Study And Remember is the first thing you will see if you could look inside the minds of students and find out.
Students everywhere are facing almost the same challenges in their studies. After all, studying in an institution is more intense, and it requires building new skills that we usually don’t learn in primary education.
There are different ways to study and remember as a student. Some students memorize best through sound. If you identify yourself as one of them, your option may be reading your course materials to yourself out loud.
You can read to yourself out loud at home, and you can also record yourself. Then, take the recording and listen to it in the car or the train. Sometimes you need to hear things more than once, to fully remember or understand them.
Meanwhile, Studying isn’t fun to begin with, and forcing yourself through a study marathon will only make it worse. Dividing your work into manageable chunks and rewarding yourself when you finish each chunk will make studying (more) fun.
However, to get you on the right track when studying, we have listed some practical ways to study and remember as a student.
Practical Ways To Study And Remember
Below are the practical ways to study and remember what you have studied:
1. Maintain a Good Study Schedule
When making a study timetable, choose a time of day your understanding reaches its peak. Scientifically, it has been proven that your best study time is already hard-wired in your DNA in what is called Chronobiology.
That’s why people understand best at different times of the day. But as a rule of thumb, the best time to study has been shown to be 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., or 4 p.m. – 10 p.m., because that’s when the brain is in acquisition mode.
And again, the least effective study time is 4 a.m. – 7 a.m. Therefore, try to know when your brain is most alert and fix a study time accordingly. You may also adopt the scientifically proven study periods aforementioned.
2. Do More Than What Others Are Willing To Do
In academics – as in any other area of human endeavour – the students who excel are the ones who are prepared to go the extra mile.
Instead of doing the bare minimum to meet the requirements, do more than what others are willing to do.
This might mean doing two or three more questions than the ones that your teacher assigned.
It might mean looking up additional resources, or it might mean proofreading your essay one final time.
3. Avoid Distraction and Concentrate
Many have challenges concentrating, and sometimes the environment in which they study contributes to that problem. Being able to concentrate has everything to do with the mind and studying in a familiar environment is very good for the mind.
Choose the same time and place every day and make sure the environment is free of distraction. Resist the temptation to carry along your phone or computer if you find it hard for these gadgets.
In fact, anyone can be distracted by a phone, like when someone calls texts you. You may also need to carry along your food so you don’t have to take endless trips to the kitchen.
The reason that studying is an activity of the mind is that when you sit at the kitchen table, you expect to eat; in an easy chair, you expect to watch TV, play computer games, et cetera.
Train your mind to familiarize yourself with your study environment such that anytime you sit there, your mind keeps nagging you to study.
4. Volunteer And Serve Others Regularly
This will remind you that education never occurs in a vacuum. Education is always about learning from others or passing on that knowledge to others.
By volunteering and serving others, you’ll start to see that your life isn’t mainly about you. It’s about using your skills and knowledge to make the world a better place.
In turn, this will give you the willpower to persevere in the midst of obstacles.
5. Ensure You Have Required Study Material:
Some study materials and assignments require that you have other materials to help you study faster.
For example, having a calculator, pencil, eraser, or a dictionary will make studying certain subjects easier.
Realizing at the last minute that you have forgotten something important can be very demoralizing.
And it’ll be a good idea to take along some liquid refreshments as well, cos it helps to be able to chill out when you feel like it.
6. Overcome Procrastination
Sometimes you don’t feel like studying even though you have to.
In most cases, there isn’t a good reason safe for laziness or procrastination.
You must force your body to do exactly what is required at any given moment.
If you find it difficult to do this, it’s because you haven’t developed a habit for it.
But as soon as you practice being productive over and over every day, it becomes automatic, and you won’t even realize when you get up to complete things that need to be done.
Being able to study at the right time is critical for good performance.
Always force yourself against postponing things as this typically ends with you in a tight spot with tests and exams around the corner and you are under-prepared.
So always study every day, do your assignments well, and when it’s exam time, you’d find there isn’t much for you to prepare for.
7. Stay Organized
Science shows a correlation between orderliness and high grades. Keep your study materials where you can easily find them because precious time can be lost looking for a pen or a calculator.
Use notebooks in an orderly style. Create a section in your notebook for every subject and a separate section for recording assignments so you don’t forget to do one. Randomly scribbling things across pages is inviting forgetfulness.
Note-taking is an art that has been around since ancient times. There is plenty of literature on the subject of the best methods to capture and organize information in a quick and effective manner.
You may choose to use traditional or digital methods of note-taking. Everything boils down to what you are taking notes for.
For example, a novelist takes notes a bit differently than a university student, and that’s because of the different reasons for which they are taking notes.
A student wants to retain information from lectures, seminars, and capture verbally delivered information that can easily be lost. A novelist may want to secure ideas and thought for use to develop a story later.
8. Be a Professional Student
When you’re in school, it’s easy to think that you’re just a student. It seems like you don’t have a job or profession yet – that’s why you’re still in school.
But you do have a job: being a “professional” student.
As a professional student, you should take it just as seriously as the job you’ll have when you’ve completed your formal education.
Professional students are responsible, focused and hardworking!
9. Create Summary Notes
Create summary notes of each chapter or topic you’re learning.
Condensing each chapter into a handful of key points will make it easier for you to consolidate your learning.
10. Test Yourself Often
Another useful study tip is to test yourself at regular intervals on what you’ve been learning.
This not only enables you to consolidate the new information, but it also ensures that you’re mastering the material.
11. Break Tasks Down
Break down overwhelming tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.
By doing this, you’ll feel more motivated to do your work and to study. You’ll also be less likely to feel discouraged or anxious.
Overall, you’ll become a far more productive student.
