FREE TIPS IMPROVING STUDYING RESULTS
STUDY IN SHORT, FREQUENT SESSIONS.
It has been proven that short burst of concentration repeated frequently are much effective than one long session. So, even if you have 10 minutes, do it. Take a break. Then study another 10 minutes. This Distributed Learning approach is highly efficient because it honors the way the brain likes to work. The brain needs recovery and recharging time for “protein synthesis”. The rest periods are when your brain assimilates your effort. They are powerful tool, which many teachers do not acknowledge. To sit and study for hours and hours is not only boring, it creates fatigue, stress and distraction. You cannot learn if you are fatigue, stressed and distracted.
TAKE GUILT-FREE DAYS OF REST.
This follows the same principle as above, but on a longer daily time cycle. The reason for resting is to refresh oneself. However, if you feel guilty (“I really cant study) then, your precious rest period has been used to create more stress. The brain will not absorb new data if it is stressed. On days off from studying, really enjoy yourself and do not feel bad about studying.
HONOR YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE.
Do not study if you are tired, angry, distracted or in a hurry. When the brain is relaxed, it is like a sponge and it naturally absorbs data without effort. If you are emotionally stressed your brain literally repels data. Forcing yourself to sit and study when your mind is on other thing is a complete waste of time!
REVIEW THE SAME DAY.
When you learn something new, try to go over the points and then make
efforts to review the material it will seem much familiar. However, quick reviews later in the day tend to cement the information into your brain so that next “official” studies session; you will recognize it and it will seem easy.
5.OBSERVE THE NATURAL LEARNING SEQUENCE.
Think of the activities you did when you were in nursery school. Using your whole arm, you probably the song goes: “put your right hand in, put your right hand out”. Then, in kindergarten, using your hand, you might have been asked to draw lines or circles with crayons. Later, in first grade, now holding the pencil with your fingers, you drew smaller lines and circles to create letters. Believe it or not, this natural learning sequence, moving from large to small, coarse to fine, still remains effective even though we are now older. When you study, if you try first to grasp the big picture and then fill in the details, you often have a more likely chance of success.
USE EXAGGERATION.
Why does a baseball batter warm up by swinging two or three bats? Why do runners sometimes strap lead weights to their legs? In both cases, exaggeration during practice makes the final result seem easy. This concept can be applied on studying anything. For example, if you are studying spelling, exaggerate the sound of the letters to help you remember them. So for studying purposes “naïve” would be pronounced “NAY-IVY”. By getting, used to this exaggerated pronunciations, the correct spelling seems obvious.
PREPARE YOUR STUDY ENVIRONMENT.
If you require certain elements in your environment to help you study, try to always make this priority. For example, do you need special lightning, silence, music, privacy, available snacks, etc.? Pay attention to what works for you and repeat it each time you study for best success.
RESPECT “BRAIN FADE”.
It is normal for the brain to have an attrition rate and forget things. This does not mean that you are stupid! Instead of getting mad about this fact, you should expect it and deal with it accordingly. See your self as the depositing layers of knowledge. As you place more attention on top, the lower levels become older and less available to your immediate recall. The trick her is simply to review. Since we can anticipate the eventual fading of our memory, creating a review aspect to your study session will solve the problem. Once every two or three study sessions, simply review older material that you will still need to remember. Often, a quick overview is sufficient. Sometimes, a complete detailed study session of the older material is required. “Brain fade” is completely normal (Unless you are gifted with photographic memory, which is extremely rare). Our brain has two kinds of memory: the long-term memory and short-term memory. The long-term memory is memories that not easy fade like special events of your lives; you may reminisce the special event it takes long time. The memory is already cemented in your brain, while short-term memory is that memory that easy forgotten, for the brain store the data for a while. For example, your lesson in the school you may remember the lesson after you study and while having the test, but as time goes by, what you had studied is already forgotten after few days.
CREATE STUDY ROUTINE.
Generally, if you scheduled certain times of the day to study, you will get into routine and accomplish more. If you just “fit it in” during your day, chances are there will never be any time. An effective way to do this is to literally mark it down in your date-book calendar as if you have an appointment, like going to the doctor.
SET REASONABLE GOALS.
One of the main reasons why people don’t reach their goals that are manageable, even if they seem too simply, you get in the habit of accomplishing them and gradually you can set higher goals. Also, recognize the difference between long-term and shot-term goals. Set your vision on the long-term dream, but your day-to-day activity should be focused exclusively on the short-term enabling steps.
AVOID THE FRUSTRATION ENEMY.
Ironically, the quicker the person’s nervous system, the faster learn. Yet, this fast nervous system also works overtime in being self-critical. So they are the ones who always think they aren’t going fast enough! In contrast, the “type b”, less intense person who learns slower yet is more self-accepting, end ends up ultimately learning the material in a shorter period of time. This is because he/ she doesn’t waste energy blocking, getting upset, and thinking that they are not good enough—they simply keep moving forward at a slower 9but unblocked) pace.
These tips were prepared by Howard Richman and offered for free as a courtesy. http:/www.soundfeelings.com/free/studying.html
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