So what if I told you that you could cover twice as much in half the amount of time and be much more effective today I am going to tell you 10 scientific proven techniques on how to study smart and not hard?
10 Scientific proven techniques on How to study smart and not hard
Smart Study Technique Number One
It is called study in chunks. The Pomodoro Technique says you should study for 25 minutes take a five-minute break and then repeat these three times over and then take a longer break but 25 minutes may not be your perfect chunk of time.
So how do you find your attention span?
The answer is that I would take up a book and start reading and the moment I find myself getting distracted or dozing off, I will press that timer and bingo that is my perfect chunk of time now.
Chances are that when you complete that single chunk of time which could be 25 minutes for example you haven’t totally finished that topic of concept and that is actually a good thing because now the Zeigarnik effect will come into play which states that the human brain tends to remember incomplete and unfinished tasks much better than it does completed tasks so while you take that five-minute break your brain is going to process that unfinished task or concept and when you get back to it in the second lot of 25 minutes you are going to have much more clarity.
Smart Study Technique Number Two
It is called 20% read 80% recite.
Now sometimes I find that we read the entire day we go from one subject to the next but we are either reading from a book or from a laptop and the brain gets so bone tired that it totally stops paying attention.
Now! how about this you read a concept, close your book ask yourself a question and try to answer it without opening that book back in your own words and relate back to a concept perhaps that you have learned some time back.
Smart Study Technique Number Three
It is called spaced repetition.
Now instead of spending the entire day going over one single topic how about you study one concept and then change the topic and you come back may be later or the next day and go over that concept a little bit and then switch to the next concept.
So, what will happen is that you will repeat that concept over a few days and a few times and that is what we call spaced repetition.
Now the mind learns the concept better when you go over it over and over again rather than spending a large amount of time on a single day trying to attack that concept also varying topics and even subjects helps the brain sometimes to interlink concepts between topics and subjects and that is a great way also to solidify your understanding.
Smart Study Technique Number Four
It is called notes.
Now, one of the best ways to save your time is to go over your class notes.
Within minutes of the class getting over and all you need to do is to just browse over those notes and put whatever is still stuck in your head.
This one is really special smart study tip that will help you save a huge amount of time.
Smart Study Technique Number Five
It is called study like a teacher.
Now instead of studying like a student and trying to remember this tons of information how about you think like a teacher?
Now two things will happen when you do that-
First is that you will begin to anticipate which are the important questions really from that topic and
Second of course it has been scientifically proven that teaching someone helps you learn better.
The smart study tip here is “teach test mix teach someone test yourself frequently” which means take a lot of practice tests or mock tests and mix means mix up your subjects mix up your topics and if you don’t find anyone to teach your favourite stuff.
Smart Study Technique Number Six
It is called sq3r
This is a technique that is going to help you to get the most out of your textbook.
So when you pick up the textbook first survey the chapter just go over browse all the pages in that chapter go right to the question section Q for questions go over the questions just read them once before you start reading the chapter.
The 3 R’s are read recite and review.
Read and recite go back to the 20% read 80% recite tip number two.
Review goes back to the spaced repetition so when you pick up your textbook Browse, go to the questions come back read shut your book ask yourself a question and recite and then review over a period of time smart.
Smart Study Technique Number Seven
It is called mnemonics.
Now we have spoken a lot about mnemonics in our previous blogs. But now in this blog I am going to tell you not only to use mnemonics but you can also use coined sayings and image associations and the smart study tip here is that the weirder the image the stronger the association.
Smart Study Technique Number Eight
It is called place.
Now some people will tell you that you should sit in a fixed place with the table lamp on in the same place every single time to study.
But I don’t believe in that.
Some people work better when they study on a fixed place at a fixed time with the table lamp on and some people don’t.
Some people like to move around they like to go to different places they like to have some action when they are learning so the important thing is when it comes to place is for you to find out what works best for you and once you figure out what kind of places you like to study in just stick to that. Let nobody tell you just stick to only a particular type of place.
Smart Study Technique Number Nine
It is called time table.
There is no smarter tip than planning plans your week, plan your day, in fact even plan down to the last hour and you will be surprised at how much you can achieve.
Because the brain is more productive because it knows exactly what it has to do and for how long we have some great time tables for you.
Smart Study Technique Number Ten
It is called sleep
Now some of you will ask me, “Should I study late in the night or should I study early in the morning?”
And there is no right answer but the right answer is that sleep is brain’s food so you need at least about 7-8 hours of sleep every day and typically 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. is a great slot.
So, no all-nighters before your exam and remember that if you have a theory exam the next day it has been scientifically proven that the earlier you sleep in the night the better you tend to perform.
Thanks for reading this blog.
Please find the link of our other blogs also –
How to prepare for exam in less time effectively
Last 15 days strategy to clear CA Exam
