Category: Study Tips

How to Study Better

I was reading an article entitled “7 Brain Hacks That Will Dramatically Improve Your Intelligence and Success” the other day on Flipboard and it got me thinking.  This would be a great article to read if a person was looking to increase their studying ability.  I have hit the highlights of the article below.  At the bottom is a link to the entire article if you are interested.

  1. A person should learn information in 50-minute increments.  Remember when we used to reset our OWL at school?  That’s because a person’s brain shuts down from overload.
  2. Study the most important information first.
  3. Don’t multi-task, which means a person may not be able to listen and sing along to music.  It definitely means that a person must put their phone away.
  4. Try new ways to memorize things.
  5. Ask the teacher or someone else that knows the material very well to explain it.
  6. Take notes.  Research has found over and over that writing information will help a person learn it better.
  7. Be prepared to get frustrated or tired. AND KEEP GOING.  It studying was easy we would all get As!

 

Read the entire article here!

What do you think?  Have any of the above worked for you?  Comment below…

5 Myths About Learning That Are Wrong!

I was reading a great article from Flipboard the other day about the 5 myths we have about learning.  A really great article about a super important subject.  Check out a bit of the article here and then be sure to read the entire article from the link at the end.

  • We have set learning styles.  In other words just because a person is a visual learner doesn’t mean a person can’t learn using their hearing or their hands.

 

  • Rereading material over and over again is a good way to study.  No way! It’s a good way to not engage with the information and put 0 effort into the work.

 

  • Focus on one subject at a time.

 

  • A person’s first answer is always the best answer.  Not exactly.  I myself can think of a million times I have thought about an answer and changed it because my initial thinking was false.

 

  • The more hours you put into studying the better you will understand the material.  See above.  If a person is mindlessly reading or not engaging with the information nothing will be remembered.  In fact, a person may just be wasting their time.

Read the entire article here!

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree?  Comment below!

How to Study, Part 2

Read How to Study, Part 1 here.

Okay, you are ready to sit down and actually study.  So how do you do it?

1. Flashcards are a great way to memorize information fast. You don’t need fancy card stock to make them.  Simply cut regular paper into squares, write the information you need to memorize and start learning. A great online flashcard tool, that even has a free phone app, is Quizlet.  Quizlet allows you to study other student’s quizzes or you can make your own. Don’t like Quizlet?  Click here to check it out.  There are many other apps and websites that do the same thing.  Comment below if you use something different.

2.  Trying to memorize information quickly?  Write it down, over and over again.  Sometimes writing items down many times helps your brain remember the information better and faster.

3.  Use acronyms to help remember large sets of information.  For example, PEMDAS helps us remember order of operations in math.

4.  Explain the information you are trying to learn to a friend, parent, even your dog.  When you say information out loud it makes your brain make connections to the information.

Do you have a way to study that works for you?  Share in the comment section.

More Study Tips

I have lots of posts on studying because studying will become very important to you once you reach high school.  Be sure to keep these tips in the back of your mind so that you will have them when you need them.

1) Don’t cram — space out your studying

Have a big test coming up?  Don’t wait the night before and study for hours.  Study 10 to 15 minutes everyday.  Not only will you learn the information better but it will stay in your long term memory so that you will not have to relearn it at another time.  That is a good thing, especially if you have to take a final exam.

 

 

 

2) Keep it Positive!

The more you can tell yourself that studying is not so bad, maybe even fun, the more you will be able to stick with it.  Be open to different study routines and be ready to sit down and spend some time studying.  If you can keep a positive attitude you will be much more capable of siting for longer periods to get that studying done.

Study Tips

1) Read All the Information

Whether it is notes, a chapter in a book, review worksheets, or study guides read all of it.  Reading all the information given by a teacher is a great way to study for a test.  Just don’t think that because you have read the information a few times you have studied.  By reading all of the information you are filling in gaps in your knowledge, that is a good thing and may help you remember the information better.  But reading something over and over is not studying and will not help you do well on a test.  So be sure to read all information once, maybe even twice, then set out to memorize it.

 

2) Ask yourself questions

There is a reason you learn to ask so many questions in AVID.  Asking questions actually helps you remember information better.  It also helps you process what you are learning and helps you make connections to what you are learning.

Asking questions helps you figure out what you know and what you don’t know.  If you had to peak at your notes to remember the answer.  Study it again.  If you know the answer very well move on to the next question.

 

3) Make connections to what you already know

The last question on a learning log is asking students to make connections to other lessons.  When a student makes a connection it makes for better learning  because it allows the learner to build on prior information, helping the information stick.

 

4) Draw a Picture

Another great way to help yourself remember something is to draw a picture of whatever you are studying.  Whether it be a diagram, model, or flowchart drawing helps your brain remember.  By creating active learning, learning items on your own by doing something, your brain works harder which in turn helps your remember better.