Everyone has their own ideas on how to study and what helps them study more effectively. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to information retention, we can all agree that successful study habits are based on planning and organization. Let’s look at some tried-and-true strategies for learning and retaining information. We’ve all had that experience of reading a few pages of a book and realizing we have no idea what we’ve read! Therefore, active participation is so crucial to remembering information when learning. Let’s look at a few ways you can engage in active learning while studying for your next course.
- Study in intervals: One of the most common myths is that to cover a large amount of content, you must study for long periods of time. Your brain’s ability to remember information is hindered by this, therefore its important to study in intervals so that you give your brain time to load the information without feeling like an overload.
- Be consistent with your study schedule: Set aside specified hours during the week for dedicated studying to assist your brain prepare to retain information. Your brain will recognize the pattern and become more receptive to new knowledge during these study times if you have a set study plan.
- Try using flash/key cards instead of rereading notes: Using flashcards is a better practice & the reason behind this is, you are not challenging your brain to truly understand the concepts if you constantly reread things. When you use flashcards, your brain is forced to learn about the subject to remember the answer to the prompted question.
- Test yourself with practice questions: To help you test and retain knowledge, use the quizzes contained in your course units or modules. These activities are an important aspect of our teaching and learning strategies since they aid in the development of long-term memory. Pay close attention to the questions you had trouble with and go over the material again to review it. You can also use your course materials to create questions and complete responses. This is something you might want to do if you think you’ll need additional time to study and recall a specific piece of information. You might make your quiz ahead of time and revisit it a few weeks later; you’ll be surprised how much knowledge you remember, and you’ll be wanting to improve each time.
- Eliminate distractions: Cell phones are undoubtedly the biggest distractions anyone students can experience when attempting to study. Turn off your phone, close social media tabs, and do whatever else it takes to minimize distractions and keep your attention on your work.
- Teach someone else: Not only will this help solidify the material in your own mind, but teaching someone else is also one of the best ways to learn something yourself! If possible, find someone who knows less about the subject than you do and walk them through the material step by step.
- Set goals: Having specific goals in mind will help you stay focused while you study. Break down what you need to accomplish into smaller tasks so you can better measure your progress along the way.
- And finally,believe in yourself – The most important thing of all is to believe in yourself! Have faith that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, and know that with hard work and dedication, you will be successful!
