Education

7 Tips for Studying Smarter This Academic Year

Studying

Tips for Studying Smarter This Academic Year. Starting a new academic year is nerve-wracking and an exciting experience. But regardless of the challenges that lie ahead, studying is the key to academic success. The problem is that students are used to working hard and not studying smarter. If your goal this academic year is to study smarter, here are strategies to use. 

Know When to Ask for Help

While talking to professors or students at higher academic levels may seem intimidating, they might just be the people you need to succeed in your academic journey. Professors are not just for teaching syllabus; they can be mentors or the right people to point out the best study techniques that yield results. Joining a study group is another way of asking for help and making friends in return. 

The trick is to join a study group with like-minded students and those who can keep you accountable. Studying with classmates passionate about your field provides the ideal environment to network and learn a subject in-depth. Outside the classroom environment, students who want to comprehend their course better learn from essay writers who are subject experts. 

Read Notes Different Ways

Did you know that if specific brain parts are activated, the student understands the material better, and it’s stored in long-term memory? However, it takes various methods to stimulate different brain sections. 

As a result, reading class notes when studying, watching videos from a subject expert, teaching another student, and reading from various sources such as textbooks and online scholarly resources stimulate the brain. This doesn’t mean that you incorporate the different techniques when you sit down to study. On the contrary, use a specific method for studying and a different one for revising the notes. 

Don’t Study One Subject Per Day

While studying one subject may look like you’re getting work done, it often leads to boredom. Besides, you have to take different subjects in school even if it’s for the same course. By reading one subject per day, you might end up failing to complete content intended for the whole syllabus. This puts you at a disadvantage during exam time. However, if you study a specific chapter for each subject every day, you allow ample time to the whole syllabus without playing favorites. With this strategy, a student learns faster and better. 

Review Notes After Class

One crucial piece of advice that students in all academic levels are given is never to miss classes, especially the beginning and end of a lesson. This is because special announcements about tests, assignments, and what will be covered in the lesson are mentioned. While attending class is important, what you do after the lesson overplays a critical role in your academic success. 

Good study habits include reviewing notes after a lecture because the information is still fresh, and you have a higher chance of identifying gaps and which concepts need to be reread. Recent research points out that students have a higher chance of remembering the taught material if they review the notes the same day. Those who waited until a month to review the information recalled only 70%, while those who did not review the material completely remembered only 50%. Therefore, revising immediately after a lesson reinforces the information and puts it in long-term memory. 

Talk It Out

Often with a busy schedule, it isn’t easy to find a classmate that you can teach concepts you’ve learned that day. However, family and friends will offer a listening ear which you can use to your advantage to talk about the topic. This strategy’s advantage is that it identifies areas you haven’t appropriately understood and forces you to reread the content. Once you have no trouble explaining the concepts, you will have more confidence in your study method and test-taking skills. 

Don’t Learn the Information Once

Students often make the mistake of assuming they have understood the material as long as they can recall most of it. However, when you study once, the information might be stored in short-term memory, and even days later, you might remember most of what you’ve learned. However, studying smart ensures information ends up in long-term memory. The trick is to keep revising the notes. Read the summary several times in spaced intervals instead of waiting until a day before the exam. 

Adopt an Academic Mindset

Studying is not just for getting good grades; it’s also about comprehending the material at a deeper level and seeing how it connects to other areas. Deeper learning also makes it easier to apply the concepts in future careers and think critically. 

Not all tips will suit your study goals. So go for those that will most likely work for you.

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