Many people think that studying for long hours is the best way to succeed and get the highest grades, but studies have shown that the most successful students spend less time studying than their peers because they study effectively and intelligently.
You can easily learn smart and effective study habits to improve your ability to retain material, as students often face many problems and competitions that limit their abilities and self-confidence.
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all method when learning, as abilities differ from one person to another, so it is necessary to determine which methods will work for you, so that you stick to them and do not overburden yourself and waste your time that does not benefit you.
There are ineffective methods, as some students resort to learning techniques that take a long time and give them an illusion of mastery. These methods cause them to forget what they learned within a few weeks, among these methods of studying for a long time.
In this method, the student studies one subject for a long time with repeating phrases for the purpose of memorizing them and reviewing topics before moving on to another subject, with important concepts underlined, highlighted, and then reviewed.
Study problems
There are 3 main problems that everyone faces while studying, whether they are students in schools, universities, or even in postgraduate studies.
Procrastination and procrastination
Procrastination feeds on itself, when you start, it will last for a long time and waste a lot of time, so start quickly or deceive yourself and plan to study for just a few minutes until you indulge in the matter, browse the lesson before you start studying, this will interest you and push you to continue.
Concentration
Some people have impaired ability to concentrate, so it is important to eliminate or reduce external distractions as much as possible before studying, read the material out loud or act as a teacher and explain it to yourself to increase focus.
Boredom
If you suffer from boredom quickly, set a schedule with short study periods to avoid boring and wasting time, and try to generate some interest with colored pencils or illustrations. Speak out loud when studying to get your mind’s attention, and you can study in a group to get rid of boredom.
Effective study methods
Choose from among these methods the most successful ones for you, it is not necessary that you follow them all.
Create a plan and goals
Use a suitable calendar to determine the study plan for each day. You can set a weekly or monthly plan while maintaining a degree of flexibility so that you do not feel frustrated when an emergency situation occurs. The plan must include everything related to studying, including homework and tests.
Arrange the materials according to the appropriate time to study them better according to your abilities, for example if the subject requires great concentration, set its date in the plan at the most focused time of the day for you, and set the goals of each subject and each study session so that the study becomes effective and you feel accomplished when it is achieved.
Use paper books
Although studying from tablets and e-learning media is more easy, printed materials are more effective when it comes to studying, a professor of psychology found that it is difficult to remember the material when reading it on the screen, as it takes to read it many times more than reading from printed books.
Choose a suitable location
It is important to choose a place that helps you focus and is characterized by relative calm, with attention to lighting and ventilation. Stay away from the bedrooms and living rooms when studying from home, as these areas contain a lot of distractions.
Studying for short periods
Limit your study sessions to short intervals of about half an hour, for example, with a break of ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. Short sessions help synapses process information much better than long sessions.
Test yourself regularly
Decades of research have proven that self-testing is essential to improving the academic level, so after studying each lesson, be sure to test yourself on basic concepts and answer as many training questions from different sources, as this method helps stabilize the information further.
Make the links
Experts believe that the difference in the difference in the study method has a big factor in the comprehension of the material, the fast learners make connections between ideas in what is known as contextual learning, where the information becomes related to each other and logical greatly, which facilitates the retrieval process.
The perfect mind in healthy body
Finally, the most important thing before all, is to pay attention to nourishing the mind and body by eating healthy foods and exercising regularly. Also, make sure to sleep an appropriate number of hours, as lack of sleep affects concentration and absorption greatly.
Be easy on yourself and let go of stress and don’t rush the results. What comes fast goes fast.