Ever feel like your study strategies aren’t getting you the desired results? Wondering what you can do to do better in class and in the crucial exams? This does not mean that there is something wrong with you; it just means you need to learn more effective study strategies. Fortunately, there are many active and effective study strategies that have proven to be effective in making you understand concepts better.
This article offers some tips for study strategies. If you incorporate these study strategies into your regular curriculum, you can study the material effectively and efficiently.
Your study space should be seen as a place where you feel comfortable rather than feeling intimidated. Your study space should have an ambiance that helps you in focusing on your strategies. Try and avoid keeping your smartphones in your study space as it will help in reducing distractions.
Make your study space clean and free from any form of clutter. A clean and minimal study space helps you in focusing on the task of studying. Take a small schedule out of your week to clean out your study space from any form of clutter.
Have good ventilation and lighting to reduce strain on your eyes and physical body. Place water bottles in your study space so that you need not get up frequently to drink water. Have a clock at your study space to schedule your study strategies.
Set an alarm – Set an alarm to remind you of your curriculum. Regular reminders keep you honest and your study strategies on track.
Use a wall planner – insert a calendar or wall planner so you can always see it while studying. Mark it with important dates like exams and deadlines. Also, use it to block your regular training plans.
Create to-do lists – To-do lists divide tasks into manageable sections. At the beginning of the week, make a list of things you have to do at the end of the week. At the start of each study strategies, make a to-do list so you know what to do with your time.
Set a Time Limit – Before starting a training session, check the to-do list and make time to work on each task. If you don’t finish something in the allotted time, consider whether it’s best to use your time to move on or start working on something else.
A good starting point for your study strategy is a routine. Research shows that short study blocks with frequent breaks are the most effective. Combine this with interchanging your subjects throughout the day for more variety. Also, set clear daily, weekly and monthly goals – this will make it easier for you to track your study strategies until the exam date.
If you’re a full-time student, you can devote an entire day to study strategies, although you’ll still need to plan a strategy – having a lot of time on your hands can be overwhelming, and doing nothing but studying can actually be overwhelming. Or, for those who work and/or have families, study as much as possible so the temptation to study intensively will be great, but you must have some structure in your sessions and allow time for rest and time for reflection.
Regular breaks during your study hours are important, but so is the need to learn and understand the concepts. You need to really rest and not feel guilty about spending your free time doing activities that don’t help you for the exam. Also, think about having a good diet and exercise, not only for physical health, but have been shown to maintain mental performance, to reduce stress, and increase self-confidence.
Multitasking almost always costs your precious time. So adding a second task makes the first task less effective. While students tend to notice that they are putting less effort into their work when they are also playing television, text messaging, or music, they may underestimate the impact of multitasking on the accuracy and duration of their assignments.
Among forms of multitasking, listening to music is one of the common types of things that students do. The disadvantages of listening to music include loss of concentration, daydreaming, and waste of time and resources.
On the other hand, Music can strengthen the autonomic nervous system with uplifting songs that can increase heart rate and blood pressure. This can be useful for athletic and possibly academic motivation.
The influence of music can be based on the student’s interest in the task and the challenge of the task itself – students can advance the game based on their needs and situation.
Trust me, once you close the social media sites you have open on your desktop computer, you will no longer be bothered by them. When it’s time to join your exclusive Zoom class all social media or other non-learning media should be shut down and your attention should be focused solely on your studies.
However, if you want to work harder, you can keep your phone out of reach where you work and study – or ask someone in your house to keep it on until your class or assignment is over.
It may sound counterintuitive, but restricting yourself from using social media is actually a great way to have discipline. Use a calendar or planner and note what time and how long you will be on social media. This is trial and error, so choose a time that works best for you – as long as it’s not during your class time!
Changing something that you are doing for a long time isn’t easy, so start small. Maybe you spend too much time on your laptop watching YouTube videos – why not read a book or take a 30-minute walk?
Sometimes not using social media can help you focus on things that could be more productive. You could try a new hobby or spend more time with your family or roommates.
It is fruitful if you can divide your studies into smaller doable tasks. Rather than taking responsibility for a large portion of your syllabus, you should try and study smaller portions of the syllabus.
One way you can practice this study strategy is to work in small groups to develop a task-sharing strategy. This allows you to divide the syllabus among your peer-group and thereby help you in focusing on one distinct task. This study strategies would also help your friends in reading the syllabus and thereby help in fostering co-operation and bonhomie among your friends.
Later, your study group of friends can share the teachings with each other and this helps in better understanding of the topic. Try this method if you have a study group.
If you don’t have a study group then you can try for an alternate method of studying the topics in smaller schedules and making notes out from them. Later you can revise the notes and then move on to the next part of the study schedule.
This method will help you in focusing on the task at hand. It will reduce your distractions and help you in understanding the topic in a much easier way.
We humans like to challenge ourselves. We want to know that there are good reasons to learn what needs to be learned. You can set up study strategies such as web searches and challenging problem-based activities during your college years. Here are some common activities that can make learning fun.
1. Create flashcards for group research
2. Organize a web search to collect information and data
3. Create short videos on key learning points to share with like-minded people
4. Use your creative skills such as painting, doodling, drawing and highlighting.
5. Create shortcuts or use reminders to help you remember important points
6. Reward-based studying
Having a clear goal and vision of the end point is the hallmark of any successful study strategies. This includes simple learning actions. Allow students to create to-do lists that they can review as they work. There are psychological rewards for completing tasks and eliminating them visually. It gives a sense of organization and accomplishment.
Students studying in groups can create important phases/reporting systems to help them stay motivated and complete their assignments. An online task manager can help with this. On the other hand, you can also reward yourself by giving yourself a dinner treat, a dessert, and a trip to a movie, a phone call with your friends, some playtime on your computer, or going for a leisurely drive.
We believe that the study strategies would help you in being more focused and dedicate to your studies. Try to make studies a lot more fun rather than being rigid and monotonous. By making your studies fun, you will be able to enjoy studying.
This website uses cookies.
