If you are among the students who have tried every study recipe available on the internet and still unable to Focus on your studies, you are at the right place.
Firstly, let me explain the reason why studying for an exam is difficult these days and what are the obstacles that stop you from becoming a pro in your studies.
The answer is simple: with so many fun gadgets available, one just cannot help but use them. Even if you manage to open the book, all those social media notifications won’t leave you alone. If you need a solution to this, I have one.
Here are my 7 study tips that will help you to concentrate and elevate the game of your studies.
1. Identify your inbuilt learning style
If you want to develop an effective study technique, you need to know what type of learner you are. To make it easy for you, let me explain what are some types of learners:
- Auditory: They prefer listening to lectures over reading.
- Read & write: is the traditional learning style in which students read books and make notes.
- Visual: in which students prefer to use graphs, colors, images, videos, and maps to communicate ideas & thoughts.
- Kinesthetic Learners: Learn best through real-life scenarios or active participation.
Identification of your natural learning style is important. Once you identify it, your mind will be at ease studying and you will feel much more confident.
2. The Art of Making Notes
It’s time we stop calling notes to copy-paste. The problem with copying a full lecture or book is that it is too much time-consuming. Also, while copying whatever the lecturer says, we forget to focus on the main theme and miss the point that the lecturer is trying to portray.
So how to make notes?
Be attentive during a lecture and note only the most important points. A great way to do that is bullet points. It’s okay if nobody in the world understands what you’ve written down there as long as you understand it.
3. Gathering the Right Study Material
This one is a biggie. Always go through the syllabus before you start studying. Do some research on what type of study material you should use. Confused? Ask your teachers and seniors.
Choosing the right books/lectures will save you a lot of time and effort. Once done, make a timetable and allocate study hours to different chapters based on the difficulty level and your understanding of the chapters.
Besides giving you an edge in exams, it will make you a standardized person which is extremely important to become a qualified professional.
4. Is it OK to Take a Break?
Studies show that breaks in your study routine can positively affect your attention abilities. If you measure your performance by the number of hours that you study, don’t. Always measure your productivity. That could be the number of chapters covered or the number of questions solved.
So, how often should you take breaks? Well, there is a famous report that one should take a study break every ninety minutes, but, I disagree. It depends on you. The moment your mind stops focusing, stop studying, and enjoy your recreational period.
What you do during your break time plays an important role in your productivity. Do activities that don’t involve excessive brain use. Activities like exercise, physical games, a walk or a nap will help you recover brain cells and you will be able to study effectively in the next session.
5. Teachers are the Best Learners
“If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.”
Yogi Bhajan
The quote explains it all. This strategy will do wonders for you in your student life. The moment you learn a topic, explain it to yourself, and then teach it to your friends. Another great way is to search the topic on platforms like Quora and Reddit. Try answering the relevant questions that people ask on these platforms.
6. Learn the Pickle Strategy
Normally, when students cover a chapter, they solve its exercise at the end and tick mark that chapter. It’s easy to solve questions that are more or less the same and that’s where students overestimate their preparation. Exams have a different format. You will face questions from different chapters and even some mixed questions. Therefore, you need to be prepared for that.
Once you solve questions of a chapter, try interrelating the questions with topics of other chapters. Think about what tricks the examiner can play and how you can counter it.
After completely studying your course, focus on solving questions from different chapters. The best way to do that is to solve past papers. Solve as much as you can under strict exam conditions. It will help you in time management and course revision.
7. Obsession is a Sour Candy
Never focus on a single subject. Your brain hates it and you will feel “burned out”. It’s a psychological thing: when you focus on something for too long, your productivity decreases. Longing to watch that movie? It’s time to give yourself a treat.
If you’re short of time, consider changing your study material. Try video lectures or arrange a group study session with your buddies. The point is, don’t let your brain get bored.
