This week we share some 10 tips that can help you get good grades.
1. Cut study time into chunks
Research on attentional processes and study performance shows that it is better to control the time we spend studying by setting a rather low time limit for each session.
Ideally, study times should not exceed 30 minutes, since we show much more ease in assimilating information that comes to us in short and repeated bursts than in a single long and tedious one. What it is about is keeping the brain at 100% at all times (by the way, keeping sleep at bay is sacred, and for that there is nothing like sleeping well).
2. Create a study routine
Proposing a study schedule and following it is not only useful to offer an image of maturity and neatness, since it has notable effects on study performance. Approaching learning in a disorganized way is a way to end up studying late at night, when sleep and fatigue take a toll on our ability to concentrate.
In addition, getting used to a schedule will make it easier for us not to skip study times and will allow us to dedicate the time they deserve. In that sense, the same that works for gym exercises also works to memorize and assimilate information. Don’t leave everything for tomorrow!
3. Create summary notes on individual sheets
Do not rely too much on the technique of underlining texts. The fact of underlining does not help memorize the text if it is not reviewed several times, and in any case sticking to the memorization of the sentences that have a line below it keeps us anchored to the way in which the information is distributed in the original text. . Instead, making outlines and small summaries on pieces of paper forces us to rephrase the information we have read and also makes it easier to create combinations of notes that are different from those of the text but that help us better understand what we read. since we can join or separate the pieces of paper in the way we want to assimilate the information in the desired order.
4. Keep distractions away
It may seem obvious, but it never hurts to remember it because these distractions can take the most unexpected forms and it is good to identify them. Facebook, mobile phones and television should be on your blacklist, but you can include other elements of your day-to-day life and do your best to isolate yourself from all of them during study times (remember that they are short, so… .not too much to ask!). Doing this before you start studying will help you avoid temptation once you’ve started.
5. Prepare your study material before anything else
Having everything you need ready will prevent you from getting up to go get things and, therefore, distract you. In addition, associating this set of objects to the study will make it easy for you to get into the dynamics of studying every time you see it… although you won’t be able to explain exactly why it happens to you! Therefore, pay attention to the organization of the books and tools you need before you sit down to sink your elbows. If you have everything perfectly organized, it will be easier for you to have all the resources at hand and you can be more efficient during your study hours.
6. Propose (at least) one study unit for each session
Set a topic to study and study it. Organizing interrelated information by sticking to a topic or category of any kind is much easier than studying scattered, messy pieces of information. For that, it is good that you read the lesson once to create a mental map of the location of the topics in the text and then focus on each one of them.
7. Flee from literal memorization
Make the information contained in the texts yours. Relate it to episodes in your life, reformulate it in your own words and use examples you know. In this way you will be able to achieve the significant learning you need, much more resistant to the passage of time than that which is based on the memorization of data that does not make much sense.
8. Run away from linear memorization
Think, above all, about similarities and differences between concepts, pieces of information that in the texts that you have studied do not appear very connected but that could be in certain exam questions, for example.
9. Practice constantly
If you have the possibility, evaluate yourself with exams or quizzes about the subject you study. This may seem like a waste of time if you think that time well spent can only be dedicated to “soaking up” the information to study, but it is not at all, since it will help you detect mistakes and will also help you measure your progress. and, therefore, to keep motivation high, which will also have a positive impact on your performance.
10. Explain the lesson to another person
This is verbatim. Explaining in your own words what you have learned is possibly the most valuable study tip, as it will bring you two great benefits. On the one hand, rephrasing the lesson is a way to mentally review what you have studied, so the time you spend on this will serve to better assimilate what you had studied before. On the other hand, it will help you to self-assess yourself, detect points that you thought you had learned but that give you problems at key moments, and offer you a fairly faithful image of your progress.