Everyone can benefit from better
study habits not only students. The requirement to recall information does not only occur during
education
whilst at
school, college or university. A lot of employees while at work need to
remember material for presentations and at meetings. A lot of
executives and managers have to recall information at conferences and
speeches. Sales people often need to memorise their pitches. And most
professions require memorised knowledge of their clients, customers,
students, colleagues and patients.
Some people find study so difficult that
they suffer from attention deficit. Others find it a difficult task because they tend to forget a
lot of information that they have taken in or they find it difficult
to remain concentrated. Their mind drifts off to
somewhere nice that they would rather be and the stress of reading
becomes more and more of a strain.
How
can academic study be made easier and more interesting?
There are a few study skills and techniques that can be acquired
to
help retain
information more effectively and this helps recall it
easier when the information is required. For example for exams and
tests while at school, college or university.
Here are some
helpful online study tips for students.
-
Ensure you
are in the
most relaxed and
calm state. Your brain performs best when it is in a mild
trance, like
when you're watching TV. So listen to relaxing music with no other
distractions. And if you're stressed out and worried don't even bother to work.
-
You
should NOT continuously read for more than
increments of 20 minutes. This
is because your brain can only handle roughly 20 minutes of
concentrated
information
and after that you will most likely forget whatever you
revised. This
is the reason why people tend to forget what they have read when
examination time comes. So
make sure you have a break for about 5/10 minutes between each 20
minutes worth
of hard revision.
-
It
is greatly beneficial to suck a sweet or
mint, that you have never tried before, everytime you are revising.
Your
brain is picking up the taste/smell of the sweet while you are revising
unconsciously and so when you take the exam and have that same sweet
then it will trigger off your memory to remember those things that you
had revised while sucking that sweet. But remember to only
have the sweet while revising and then once in the exam and
not any
other time or else you will remember things other than what you have
revised.
-
When
studying your notes, read them out loud. Retaining
information is greatly improved by using more than
one sense. So seeing and hearing the material will give you an
advantage when it is time to recall the information.
-
It
is an excellent idea to record your voice
while you are reading the information out loud. This way
when you have
done an evenings worth of revision then you can play it back to
yourself without having to go over the same material again and this can
save vast amounts of time. This actually promotes more thorough
comprehension.
-
Also,
when
playing back your recorded voice, it
is best to listen to it before you go to sleep. So an
hour's worth of
listening just before bedtime is ideal. This is because your brain will
be integrating the information all the more effectively while you
sleep. Watch out for the study dreams though!
-
Finally,
DO NOT
cram any last minute revision
on exam day, it will trigger off
your nerves and will mess up what you have already revised.
Don't
forget you perform best while relaxed so calm yourself before
entering the exam and remember your sweets!
