Making Studying Effective | Blog
Studying can be an incredibly daunting task for anyone and is a learned skill in my opinion. A lot of the time, issues revolving around studying is just the action of sitting down and staying engaged in what you’re studying. But have no fear, I have a system that may work for you!
I struggled with keeping my attention on my homework or test material, and I use the Pomodoro Technique to allow myself time to not study. This isn’t the traditional Pomodoro technique, with time increases and all that – this is a version that is consistent, which is what my brain appreciates.
I set a timer for 45 minutes of study time, after that time is up, and I allow 15 minutes for a break. We repeat this method until we are out of motivation or have finished whatever we had set to do. If I finish a big assignment maybe then I’ll allow a 20-25 minute break.
Something else that helps me study is having a plan, which is not the traditional plan for those who are too stressed out by all the pages and marking up. Instead, I use the “this week approach” in which you write all you have to do for the week and therefore plan study days.
In planning your study days, you are able to complete things without being too overwhelmed over what has to get done, as you’ll be doing only what you’ve told yourself you’d tackle on any given day. This allows for you to remember more of what you studied, since you won’t be cramming information into your brain.
Cramming, while maybe good in the short term, doesn’t assist with any long-term retention. Long term retention is necessary when dealing with classes that have finals, where everything you tackled in the course will be tested.
My last tip is to make studying fun for you to do. No matter how much we’d like the spirit of academia to make us enjoy writing long essays into the night, that won’t be the case.
You have to make your studying engaging for you, which in my case is using an absurd number of colors. I make my studying fun by using all kinds of colors of ink, coming up with title designs and headers. It also helps me write more, and writing helps us remember things better than typing.
I’m simultaneously mixing work with fun, making the left and right side of my brain work together to help me remember things.
