Learn study techniques Whether you are a child, adolescent or adult, it is essential to learn better and faster, and of course to succeed in exams. I will explain to you methods that are used for primary, ESO or high school; But if you have not learned these types of techniques before, they will also help you if you are in university or studying competitive examinations. If you make them a habit and also study in the correct way, you will see great results.
Sometimes we think that studying hard means studying better, acquiring more knowledge and achieving higher academic results, however this is not entirely the case. Obviously the more hours we invest in studying, the more time we will give our brain to acquire knowledge, but this does not guarantee a better result..
Like practically everything in life, what is really important is not what we do but how we do it. So, if your academic results are not as good as you would like or you notice that it is difficult for you to acquire knowledge, ask yourself this question: am I studying well??
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The first requirement for your study to be productive is that it contains a structure. You will never study properly if you do it without any type of organization and if you go reading and looking at things in no order.
So, before starting, organize the subject you are going to study, what you have to learn and how you are going to do it. For this, the best technique is to set goals.
For example: during this week I have to study the entire topic 4, so today I will study the first 5 pages until I know them perfectly, tomorrow the next 5 and Thursday the last 5.
With this simple organization of time and content, your study will already acquire a meaning, a purpose and you will know what you have to learn.
If your study pace is slow or you need more time than planned to learn some aspects, nothing happens, adapt the objectives to your abilities, do it more little by little if you require it but do it in an organized way.
Once you have your study time and content well organized, the next thing you should do is prepare yourself. And that is nothing more than making sure that you have the necessary concentration so that when you start studying you do not have your mind thinking about other things and you are really attentive to what you are doing.
To do this, the first thing you should do is create your study space. Try to have an orderly, clean, silent space in which there are no elements that can easily distract you, such as mobile phones, internet, television, etc..
Likewise, it is necessary that at that moment you are calm, relaxed and that you are not thinking about other things.
If by the time you get ready to study you are nervous or restless, take a few minutes to calm down and settle down.
When you start studying, don't do it "crazy" and follow a specific methodology. To begin with, the most useful thing is to carry out an enlargement preview. It consists of reading in a general way and more or less quickly all the content that you want to study during the day without paying much attention to the details.
This exercise is ideal for you to underline the most important things that you are reading and that you will acquire a general meaning of the syllabus.
The objective is that this reading provides you with a broad knowledge of everything that you will learn in detail later, you can underline the most important aspects and get an idea of everything you will have to study.
If while doing this reading there is a section or detail that you do not understand perfectly, nothing happens, let it pass, we will have time later to stop and examine it.
In this way, with relatively little time we will already have an idea about the entire agenda and it will be easier for us to do the deeper reading that we will do next..
Once you have the general reading done, you will have to go on to do a comprehensive reading. Comprehensive reading, as its name suggests, has to allow you to understand all the concepts contained in the syllabus.
Therefore, this reading should be slower than the previous one, stopping and examining those parts that are difficult for you to understand and ensure that there is no aspect to review.
But be careful! That we understand everything does not mean that we have to memorize everything.
With this reading the objective is to understand not to memorize, since if we try to memorize everything at once it will be impossible for us.
Thus, this reading will help us to have the whole agenda clear and to obviously learn several things about what we are reading, but it is not necessary to remember everything, we will do this next.
Once all the information is understood, we must go on to analyze it. This consists of looking at what is on that agenda that we have just read.
Is there a lot of information or little? Where are the most important things? What are the key parts that I have to learn?
Analyze the text and mark the most important parts, putting numbers, sections or subsections, and writing key ideas next to each section.
In this way, the next time you read the text you will have the information much clearer, you will know which are the most important parts and you will acquire the meaning of each section more easily..
Being hungry will make you distracted and out of energy, making concentration much more difficult. Therefore, it is very important that you have had breakfast or lunch before starting to study..
Among other foods, almonds and fruits are good options.
If you alternate the places where you study, you will improve attention and retention of learning. In addition, studying for weeks in one place can become tiring and boring..
Alternating between different libraries or study rooms and your home is a good option.
If you are disgusted by what you are studying, you will advance like an ant.
But if you have a real interest, it won't take any effort to study. It will be like spending free time informing you about what you like.
Although the agenda you have is very good, with all the complete information and with a good structure, it is always recommended that you make your notes yourself.
So, at this point you should take the text that is already underlined, organized and with key ideas and important concepts marked, and start writing your own notes..
It is important that the notes you make take the form of a summary, so they must be shorter than the original text, although without failing to note any important aspect of the reading.
You can do it by hand or by computer. If you do it by hand you will make sure you memorize a greater number of things while you transcribe the agenda to your notes, however if the agenda is very extensive it may not be profitable, so you must decide for yourself which modality will be better for you..
When you have your summary done you will already have the necessary material to be able to memorize in detail, however if you synthesize it more you will learn a greater number of things and with less time. So, do a "summary of the summary".
Depending on the agenda you have, it will be more useful to make a summary with the same form as the previous one, an outline or tables with content.
Here there is not one that is better than others but people who prefer to carry out a type of synthesis or syllabuses that are easier to synthesize in one way than another..
You must choose which form will be best for you and will be most useful, the important thing is that all things are well synthesized.
Another effective technique to perform after you have synthesized all the information is mind mapping. A mind map is a diagram in which you write down the key words that allow you to understand and memorize all the content of the syllabus.
For example, the mind map for this article would be:
This technique is excellent for learning names, data and in general anything you have to memorize. It consists of associating what you have to learn with something striking or that you already know well.
For example; if you want to learn that dopamine is a neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, you could imagine "a gold mine that is in the center of a country".
If you have to learn difficult names (like in medicine, physiology, pharmacy, biology ...) it will solve a big problem for you and you will remember them easily.
You can learn more about her in this article..
If you make the notes by hand you will retain a greater number of information since writing favors memorization.
So, take those really important and hard-to-memorize key concepts from your subject and write them over and over again. However, if you do not like to write and find it boring, it is not advisable to use this technique, since you may associate studying with boredom.
If when trying to memorize something in addition to thinking about it, we say it out loud and therefore listen to it, our retention capacity will be greater.
So, as in the previous step, dedicate yourself to repeating aloud those concepts that are difficult for you to memorize
If we draw a picture next to the concepts, our visual memory will come into play, which will reinforce the verbal memory that is working..
Draw something related to the concept that you have trouble remembering and you will memorize it more easily.
A technique that helps a lot to learn and above all to consolidate learning in a global way, is the performance of tests. If you have exams or tests available on the subject you are studying, do not hesitate for a moment to take them and take them.
By taking test exams you change your way of memorizing, since you will not remember through the parts with which you have been studying, but you will do it in a global way, which on the other hand will be the type of memory that will be required in the exam.
You don't have to be bitter, sad, or nervous before exams. If you have studied in advance you should go safely and calmly. Being nervous will only make it easier for you to forget what you have learned.
So try to relax before your exams; with physical exercise, taking walks, being with your pets or friends, etc. Studying just before an exam is useless most of the time.
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