Students of all levels often have difficulty developing strong study skills. Knowing how to study correctly is very important in order to become a good, successful student. If you are having some trouble catching up with your peers don’t worry. Here are some tips that can help you.
If you take the time to improve your study skills you’ll not only get better grades. You will be able to remember the information you studied much better. That’s what studying is all about, learning. Not just remembering stuff for some test.
Start Improving Your Memory Skills
The first thing you should focus on when trying to improve your studying is memory. Many students have a hard time remembering information. Or they end up with gaps in their memory. It’s important that you learn everything properly. Studying is quite similar to putting a jigsaw puzzle together. When you first start out you put the edges together. After that you work on the easier parts in the middle. And finally after you’re more familiar with the puzzle you work out the hard parts. If you treat your studying like this you’ll form patterns which make remembering things easier. Don’t be discouraged if it takes time to see improvement; things like these are a gradual process.
Taking Notes is Useful
Another thing you’ll need to work on to become a better student is taking notes. Lots of people have trouble writing fast enough to keep up with their teacher. This is much easier when you pursue your high school diploma or a college degree online but still you need to learn to write things down shorthand. This will allow you to write quickly while still maintaining legibility. There are many ways to do this. Some people will simply write some of the longer key words and work out the meaning later. Other people find skipping the vowels to be a good technique. Experiment and see what works best for you. Check out the various shorthand techniques and use the parts that work for you.
Text Filtering
The third thing you need to work on is retaining the information you read. A good way to do this is to first give the chapter a quick read. The faster you get through it the better. After that your brain will be ready because you have an overview of what’s in the chapter. Armed with that info, you can check each page for the most important information. Finally you will want to go back and read each page carefully. Combine this exercise with note taking for maximum effect.
Don`t Overstudy
Try not to study too long. You only want to study for periods of around 30 to 45 minutes. If you try to study for too long you’ll get grouchy. During your 30 minutes of work don’t stop. You are not allowed to chat or check Facebook during this time. After your time is up you can take a 10 to 15 minute break.
Pick your Most Productive Time for Studying
I have one more tip to help you study effectively. We all have certain times of the day when we feel the best. Try to match up your study to time one of your most productive periods. If you try to study hard while you are feeling tired getting good results will probably be out of reach. If this ends up being an unusual time of day that’s ok. Some people are natural night owls, so a later time would suit them better.
Getting these tips down could help you immensely throughout every level of your school career. Not just for getting good grades or passing tests, if adopted these tips could help in your future professional life as well.
