Study Hacks that Actually Work

Have you ever studied for hours only to realize you don’t realize a single thing? That is because you are studying, but not studying effectively. Today, we will discuss why students fail to study effectively and the techniques they can use to utilize time efficiently.  

Why do students fail to study effectively?

1. Poor time management- Students often struggle with the transition to a more independent work system in high school. 

Students with poor time management skills often delay tasks, leaving them with high-stress study sessions right before the deadline. If you are one of these students, you know you fall behind and struggle to catch up, only because you could not estimate the time it would take you to complete a task. Without a clear study schedule, students lack direction and miss key deadlines.

2. Passive learning- Mindlessly highlighting test or rereading notes is useless, and you know that. 

Simply copying information from a slideshow or textbook is ineffective because it does not engage the brain. Relying on rote memorization enables information to be easily forgotten since you do not have any understanding about the topic whatsoever.

3. Lack of motivation- Students often lack the intrinsic motivation to study effectively. Fear of failure or depression affects a teenager much more than an adult because of the hormones. 

4. Constant distractions and multitasking- In the digital age, students face constant distractions from their phones or other electronic devices. Multitasking, like texting while studying, severely impacts the quality of a study session. You are essentially disrupting your dopamine cycle; your brain starts releasing the pleasure hormones during a hard task. This reduces dopamine sensitivity and productivity, resulting in less production of dopamine even after completing a hard task.

5. Fatigue and stress- Mental and physical well-being significantly impact a student’s ability to study. Being tired, stressed, or depressed can lead to a lack of energy and emotional distress, making active study impossible.

Your excuse to not being able to study effectively could be any one or more of the above reasons. However, your ability to live your dream life depends on you, and the sooner you realize that, the better it is for you. Identify your problem and find some effective study steps to include into your study sessions from this blog.

How can you study effectively?

Studying effectively requires years of practice and knowing what works best for you. Something that works for your friend may not work for you, and vice versa. You should try out 3 or more of these ‘tips’ starting today and find out what works the best for you. These are the following ‘tips’ to study effectively:

1. Use Flashcards- To use flashcards effectively, create them with one concise idea per card, incorporating images and keywords to enhance memory, and say words/terms aloud for practice. Flashcards promote active recall and spaced repetition, which strengthens memory and help in the long-term storage of important information. You can add diagrams, terms, or questions to these cards. Additionally, they are portable, allowing for study sessions anywhere.

2. Make Cornell Notes- To take Cornell Notes, divide your paper into a main note-taking section on the right, a smaller questions section on the left, and a summary section at the bottom. During a class, fill the right-hand section with main ideas. Later, while you are going through your notes while studying, add some questions you may have that need to be addressed. Finally, write a one or two-sentence summary of the entire page at the bottom section. This structured format helps promote active learning by dividing notes into different sections. It enables the condensation of information and promotes questioning the content. 

3. Use a Pomodoro Timer- Set your timer for 25 minutes and focus on one task without any interruptions until the timer rings. After 25 minutes, take a 5-minute short break. Repeat this cycle, and after five work sessions, take a longer 15-minute break. This system helps break down large tasks into smaller sessions. It increases focus and motivation, helps overcome procrastination, and reduces mental fatigue. Additionally, you feel less overwhelmed when you have a clear plan that will help you complete the big task.

4. Use Mnemonics- Apply memory techniques like acronyms; for example, ROYGBIV for the colors of the rainbow. Use acrostics, which is the use of the first letters from a sentence; for example, the HOMES mnemonic is used for the Great Lakes. Use rhymes and songs to memorize lists, for example, the periodic table. Create keywords or imagery to link new concepts to existing knowledge. Mnemonics work by creating more organized memory pathways by leveraging the mind’s ability to remember attention-grabbing, visual, and short words over the long run. 

5. Utilize the Feynman technique- The Feynman Technique is named after the Physics Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, who developed a technique to master complex topics. Feynman’s technique consists of four key steps:

   1. Define the topic you have to learn

   2. Explain the content to someone, or pretend you are explaining to a 10-year-old

   3. See where you have gaps

   4. Refine your knowledge and explanation

The Feynman Technique helps with learning by forcing you to simplify complex concepts, which helps you identify gaps in your understanding, leading to deeper comprehension of the topic. This active process of explaining concepts in simpler terms prevents rote memorization and builds a stronger understanding.

6. Learn by chunking- Break down large amounts of information into smaller, more manageable groups. Identify similarities or relationships between the different topics in the material. Then, organize these chunks to create units that are easier to remember. This reduces cognitive overload, which is the amount of mental effort used in your working memory to process information and complete a task. By grouping information based on similarities or patterns, chunking helps the brain process these clusters as logically unified concepts.

Sources:

1. https://www.superprof.co.uk/blog/common-causes-of-exam-failure-and-how-to-avoid-them/

2. https://fs.blog/feynman-technique/

3. https://sunysccc.edu/Current-Students/Academic-Advisement/Tips-for-Using-Flash-Cards.html

4. https://www.coursera.org/articles/chunking