EFFECTIVE STUDY PRACTICE

As students at various educational levels, we will agree that studying is an integral culture in our academic pursuits. This doesn’t mean that studying is only relegated to students per se. To succeed in life too, we need to study at different points.

Now the big question is; how do you study? Do you have a study pattern and how effective is it?

The effectiveness of the study is shown by the ability to reproduce what you have already stored in your memory (brain).

Here is a compilation of study habits you should adopt if you want to study effectively and Excel.

Follow me till the end and I’ll let you on a very effective study hack.

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1. Identify a suitable environment.

Always study in an environment that is convenient for you. Of course, not everyone loves to study in a library. Personally, I don’t. Weird right?

You should be able to identify an environment that works best for you. It could be a library, a classroom, a study room, your bedroom, under a tree, in a cafeteria just anywhere that is comfortable for you to study. But be sure that wherever you have selected as a suitable environment is a place where you can shun all forms of distractions and concentrate fully on your study.

2. Make up your mind to study

Oftentimes, we tend to take a study to be mechanical and end up forcing ourselves to do it. Studying is really fun but it won’t be fun for you if you do not prepare your mind to study. It’s all about mindset here. When you don’t make up your mind to study, you won’t have the zeal and it will be so boring and stressful for you. So next time when you pick that textbook to study, prepare your mind for the whole process. Don’t just jump into it because you’re obligated to do so.

3. Have a study timetable.

It takes discipline to generate a study timetable for yourself and stick to it. This is a prerequisite for a successful study. Get yourself a timetable that suits your study requirements. Do not leave studying to the last minute before your exams. There is no way you can effectively store everything in your syllabus in your brain in a short space of time.

One crucial ingredient for success is consistency. Your brain is able to retain more when information is passed to it in bits. Spaced repetition is a good practice to adopt and having a study timetable will help you achieve that.

4. Discover your most productive hour of the day.

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Do you study better during the day or at night?

We are different as humans and we all have different hours of the day that our brains are more active. Some sleep all day and study better at night while it’s vice versa for others. You need to identify yours and utilize it.

Have you been able to discover yours yet?

5. Study method

In the case whereby you have more than one course to study, learn how to properly arrange them to avoid mental fatigue. I would suggest you avoid studying similar courses consecutively. for example, studying maths after physics will result in mental fatigue. These subjects are similar and require a lot of brain work. It will also affect the effectiveness of the study of the proceeding subject. Adopt the method of Studying subjects/courses that are different in nature.

6. Breaks

According to research, it is healthy to give the brain 15 minutes of rest after 45 minutes of study.

It is necessary to engage the brain in a relaxing or refreshing activity to help it prepare for another study marathon. Activities such as resting, short walks, games, snacking, chats, and the likes go a long way to relaxing your brain. Have in mind that the kind of relaxing activity you are going to engage your brain in should be the type that is allowed in the particular environment you are studying at.

7. Test for retention.

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How do you know if you have studied effectively?

One method I will suggest is the “Retention Test” this method involves asking yourself questions about what you have just studied. Oftentimes, you may realize that you didn’t really remember most of those things you studied and that is because they were stored in the most “volatile” part of your brain- short-term memory. Therefore, asking yourself questions will help you to go over those things that had escaped your memory and properly retain them in your long-term memory. The hypothesis of the forgetting curve states that 90% of information or knowledge learned will be forgotten within three days. Every time you recall or review learning materials, you will forget less and less over time too.

Also Read: 5 Secret Tips to Help You Stay Disciplined.

Now here is the study hack I promised.

If you want to retain what you have learned for a longer period of time, you have to review it within 24 hours of initial consumption. Those who do this are able to retain about 80% of what they have just been taught. Reviewing it again within 48 hours will help you retain about 90%.  And reviewing again will help you retain about 100% of what you have been newly taught. This is a sure method for effective retention and it is known as spaced repetition.

Studying is an inevitable practice. When it is done the right way, the result will definitely be excellent. Keep these steps as a guide and be sure to adopt them when next you want to study.

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