Unlike conventional beliefs, long hours of studying don’t always translate into success. Long hours of nonstop studying might lead to burnout and less effectiveness.
Some of the research shows that successful students spend
less time studying as compared to their fellow students. The trick is to study
effectively. In the era of social media, getting distracted is getting easier
by the day, and staying focused is equally hard.
One thing that students miss is that high-intensity studying
is more important than long hours of studying. While time continues to play a
role, the key is to focus on one thing at a time rather than multitasking.
Here are some of the research-backed techniques that will
help you study smarter and not harder.
Thwart The “Curve Of Forgetting”
Back in 1885, scientists started the exploration journey
of the “curve of forgetting”. While this concept was relevant in the 19th
century, it remains useful in today’s study habits for students as well.
The basic concept of the “curve of forgetting” is – when you
hear something for the first time, be it a fact, a lecture, or a lesson, you can
retain up to 80% of that if you review the information within 24 hours of first
listening or reading it.
This technique tends to be cumulative, i.e. after a week,
you might be able to retain 100% of the same information even if you review it
for just five to ten minutes. This technique is the opposite of “cramming” and
promotes the practice of “interval studying”.
Active Recalling
Active recalling, if put simply, is the technique of searching
your brain to find an answer to a particular question. For example, if someone
asks you what you had for lunch yesterday; you tend to put a thought to it and
then answer. This technique tends to trigger the ‘testing effect’, which allows
your brain to retain more information for a long period.
This technique is more of a revision technique and can be
used in case you need to review something you have already learned. Instead of
watching a lecture again, or re-reading the chapter related to a topic, active
recalling helps one remember the answer better.
You can use flashcards to facilitate this practice. Try writing
questions during note-taking related to the topic. The ‘Cornell note-taking
method’ has proven to be effective for this practice.
Blurting Revision
This technique has proven to be the most effective so far
and is very popular on social media study accounts. This is a combination of
active recalling and re-reading texts. It is very simple and many people claim that
this is one of the few techniques that work.
To follow the blurting revision technique, first, read
the text you want to memorize or learn thoroughly. Once you are done reading the
topic, put away that book or piece of paper with original information and take
a fresh page. Take a black pen and start ‘blurting out’ everything you remember
regarding the topic.
Fill up around 80% of the page with all the information
you remember regarding the topic. Then, take the original information and
compare the two. For any information or point that you might have forgotten, write
that in the 20% of space left with a red pen.
The color differentiation makes it easier to review the
points that you earlier couldn’t retain. This technique is also ideal for note-taking
combined with active recalling.
Connecting The Dots
Researchers argue that the difference between ‘slow learners’
and ‘quick learners’ is their ability to draw connections in the information
they read. Instead of memorizing, quick learners make connections between ideas,
also known as contextual learning.
This process motivates students to focus on their learning
style, and make connections between different information, kind of like a
story, that will make sense to them individually.
The combination of studying and storytelling makes
studying for students more interesting and aids their learning process.
Feynman Notebook Method
Feynman's trick is popular for simplifying difficult
topics. This learning style requires you to have a notebook, titled things that
you don’t know about. Further, try identifying the things you want to learn
about. This is the first step of this learning process. For example, cryptocurrency.
Once you have identified the topic, go through the
available information related to that topic. After skimming through the information,
try explaining that to yourself as if you are teaching it to a little kid.
For example, cryptocurrency can be used to buy things, but
cannot be touched in the form of cash or coins. This helps one illustrate the
topic more simply, building up to the point when one is ready to retain more
complex information.
Teach What You Want To Learn
Another popular and proven method of learning something
new is to take up the role of a teacher. We know that the role of a teacher is
not merely to teach available information; it is also to seek out key elements
and points of importance in a given text.
Teachers also organize the information available in a way
it is easier to grasp and retain by the students. Studies have shown that when
a student tries to teach a topic to someone else or himself only, he gains the
ability to mentally organize information and retain it better.
The trick is that – how you ‘teach’ a certain topic is
how you want to ‘learn’ that topic.
Written by – Simran Mahon
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