Have you ever sat down to study for a test or an assessment with great intentions to cover volumes of material, only to find that time slips by with no significant amount of revision or exam preparation completed? Have you found your mind wandering, daydreaming and contemplating more appealing activities than study? Unfortunately, this is not unusual and many students, who have the capacity to achieve high marks, end up with less than remarkable results because they have simply never learnt how to study. Studying is a skill and, fortunately, it is one that you can learn. Here are ten tips to help you make your study more effective.
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1. Clear a space
It is virtually impossible to study properly in a cluttered space. Clutter is a distraction, it allows our minds to be interrupted, and diverted from where it is supposed to be focused. Before you start your study, clear your space and create a clean and tidy area in which to work. It’s best your study area is sitting at a desk or table – lie down or stretch out on a sofa and you run the risk of falling asleep, definitely not an effective study technique. Make sure your study area is well lit. Poor lighting will make your eyes tired and you’ll find it harder to concentrate.
2. Close the door, turn off the phone
Make sure to avoid other distractions too. Let your family and friends know that you are studying so they won’t disturb you. Turn off the phone, close your Facebook page and your email application, leave the mobile phone in another room to avoid the interruptions of texts and tweets. Close the door and turn off the television. And what about your iPod? Some people find music soothing while they study, others find it a distraction. If you find yourself singing more than studying, then like it or not, it’s impacting on the effectiveness of your study, so turn that off too. The quiet temptation-free environment you create will be more conducive to successful study.
3. Clear your head
You cannot focus on your study if you are worrying or feeling stressed about something else. If it’s not a problem you can sort out quickly, then you will need to discipline yourself to drop your worries outside your study space and clear your mind for the intensive work you are about to undertake. Take a few deep breaths and commit to clearing your mind of any other concerns. Agree with yourself a time frame in which you will focus solely on your study. If you really want to, you can always pick up your worries and concerns once your study time has finished.
4. Break it up
Although a common misconception about study is that more is better, the longer you spend studying on one subject, the less effective your study will be. You need to give yourself regular study breaks throughout the day. Try not to study for more than two hours at a time, without at least getting up, stretching and moving around a little bit. You may like to go and get a drink of water, or a snack to eat. You should also consider getting fresh air, build in some exercise and get a good night’s sleep. Going for a 20 minute walk between study sessions will not only re-energise your body but will give your mind time to digest the first session, and prepare for the next study session. Fresh air blows away the cobwebs and exercise gets the blood pumping, both of which aid study. Breaking up your study with exercise will help you study more effectively. Studying until 3 a.m. is rarely effective, your concentration will not be as sharp and you will not retain as much information. It is far better to study regularly for two or three hours a night for a week, than to have one last cramming session the night before your exam.
5. Review previous tests and exam papers
If you are revising for state exams, you will generally find that there are ample past papers and sample ideal solutions available. It’s a terrific idea to get hold of as many of these previous test papers as you can. You can review the tests and see if there are common questions on core areas of the curriculum that reoccur every year. While not a predictor of the questions that will be on your exam paper, it will give you an indication of the style of questions asked, the standards required for the answers and the core themes that are examined on a regular basis. It is quite useful, therefore, to review previous tests as part of your study. Not only will it give you clues on possible styles of questions for your test, but will also reinforce your learning of the subject matter.
6. Make it visual - try mind-mapping
Most second and third level examinations are written assessments with a high percentage of essay answers. Often students use this written approach to their studies, creating copious revision notes which are essentially synopses of the required course text books. For many students, and in particular for visual learners, this can contribute to inefficiencies in study. For those who find it easier to remember a picture, rather than a paragraph of text, or a face rather than their name, it’s possible that you are a visual learner. Mind-maps are a great tool for visual learners. They are an easy way to convert written notes into a visual representation that you are more likely to remember. You may even be able to quickly recreate your mind-map on scrap paper during an exam thereby giving yourself a visual reference ensuring nothing is missed as you write your essay answer.
7. Summarise
If you need 50 items from the supermarket, how many would you remember without a shopping list in front of you? What about if you only needed three items? No problem! Simply put, it’s easier to remember fewer items. The more words you have to read, the less you are likely to remember. So summarise notes, use bullet points and group items under key terms or simple word references that trigger the memory of the whole topic. Then you only have to recall a few key words in the test.
8. Review your summaries
Read over your summary notes rather than your class notes. Your focus now is on recalling key information for the exam and getting this information into your short term memory. Some students find it helpful to summarise the notes several times as finding they recall more each time. The less you need to trigger recall of the information, the better your summary is working, the more effective your study time.
9. Recreate your mind-maps
Once you have created a mind-map, use the recreation technique as part of your study program. Each day you are studying, start with a fresh piece of paper. The first exercise should be to recreate the mind-map of the topic, without looking at it. If you miss some sections, you will know to focus your study on those areas. This is also a great way of focusing the mind on the topic. Recreating the mind-map will help you to recall the key points of your study.
10. Practise answering questions in the time limit
One of the most common errors people make in exams is not getting the questions wrong but getting the timing wrong. If you have two hours to write three essays, you cannot spend an hour and a half on the first one. Each part of the exam is only worth so many marks, and you will need to complete each section of the test to succeed. Find out the format of the exam, the allocation of marks for each section, and the total time limit, then work out what time you will allocate to each section. Give yourself practice questions to complete within those time limits. This way you will not only practice answering the questions, which is an effective way to study to recall information, but you will also practice writing to the time limits.