Ways to Learn

When studying, how to transfer a large amount of knowledge from the books in front of you into a reliable corner of your mind? You will need to create good study habits for yourself. At first, changing the way you study requires a lot of effort. However, after a while, it will become second nature and learning will be an easier task.

Table of Contents

Prepare for learning

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Manage your time . Schedule a week and dedicate a certain amount of time each day to studying. This will help improve your score. This amount of time can vary, depending on whether you’re in high school or college, and also varies across disciplines. Make sure you stick to your schedule as much as you can, and don’t hesitate to deviate from it at one time or another to study more for the upcoming exams. Also, make sure the plan is realistic and workable. ^{[1] X Research Source}

You need to balance study, work and extracurricular activities. If you’re really having a hard time studying, maybe you should give up your extra-curricular or extracurricular activities until your grades improve. You need to prioritize your time. Remember: learning is the most important thing. ^{[2] X Research Source}
In college, the time spent on each subject should be based on its difficulty and number of credits. For example, if you have a 3 hour physics class and it’s really hard, you should study 9 hours a week (3 hours x 3 because of the difficulty). If the literature course is 3 hours long and relatively difficult, you should study 6 hours a week (3 hours x 2 for medium difficulty).

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Don’t rush. Find the learning pace that works best for you and adjust accordingly. Some concepts or subjects will come to you more naturally and as a result, you can learn them more quickly. Others can take you twice as long. Take the time you need and adjust to a pace you feel comfortable with.

If you learn more slowly, remember that you will need more time to learn.

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Get enough sleep. Set aside enough time in your schedule to get enough sleep. Sleep well every night and you will make good use of your study time. This is important when preparing for the test and is especially important right before the test. Research shows that sleep has a positive effect on exams by enhancing memory and concentration. At first glance, staying up all night might seem like a good idea. However, ignore the white nights of cramming knowledge. Anyway, if you’ve been studying for a whole week, you won’t need to do it. A good night’s sleep will help you do better. ^{[3] X Trusted Source TeensHealth Go to Source}

If you end up lacking sleep despite your best efforts, get some sleep before you start studying. Limit sleep time to 15-30 minutes. After getting up, do some physical activity (similar to taking a break) right before you start studying.

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Remove anything unrelated to the topic you are studying from your head. If there’s too much going on in your head, before you start studying, take a moment to write yourself a few notes about what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling. It will help clear your mind and be able to focus all your thoughts on what you do.

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Eliminate distracting electronic devices. One of the worst distractions for learning is electronic devices. They connect to social media, you receive messages through your phone and laptop connected to the internet. Put your phone on silent or keep it in your pocket so it’s not right there, distracting when someone calls or texts you. If possible, don’t open the laptop or connect it to the internet.

If it’s easy to get distracted by social networks like YouTube, Facebook, and the like, download one of the available apps to instantly block some distracting pages on your computer. Once you’re done, you can unlock access to every page as before. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Organize your study space

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Find a good study position. Take control of your study space. You need a comfortable space to make studying more comfortable. If you hate sitting at a table in the library, find somewhere more comfortable, like a sofa or a bean bag chair on the floor. Try to study in comfortable clothing like a loose sweatshirt or yoga pants. ^{[5] X Study Resources} The study site should be relatively quiet and free of distractions. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Don’t choose a place that’s so comfortable that you’ll fall asleep. You need to be comfortable, not oversleep. Bed is not a really good place to study when tired.
The traffic outside the window and the quiet conversations in the library are white noise and they are perfectly fine. However, interference from family members or music bouncing in from the next room did not. Maybe you should go somewhere, away from people who might distract you.

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Choose background music carefully. Some people like quiet when studying, others want background music. Music can be helpful because it calms you down, improves your mood, and adds motivation. When listening to music, use only instrumental music – instrumental music such as classical, soundtrack, trance or baroque. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

If you’re not distracted, listen to music with familiar lyrics. Get rid of everything that distracts you from studying. Maybe not soft music but rock music with lyrics is the genre for you. Find out what works for you.
Make sure the volume is adjusted to medium to low. Loud music can distract you while music at a moderate volume can aid in your studies.
Don’t listen to the radio. Ads and DJ voices can pull you out of your learning state. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Listen to background sound. Background sounds can help you stay in a good mood and focus on studying without distractions. Natural sounds like waterfalls, falling rain, thunder, and mountain sounds can create enough white noise to maintain focus and, at the same time, drown out other sounds. There are many sites online, including Youtube, that provide this type of audio. ^{[9] X Research Source}

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Turn off the TV. In general, turning on the TV while studying is a bad idea. It can distract you a lot and instead of books, you will focus on TV shows. In addition, the voice is extremely distracting because it interacts with the language center of the brain. ^{[10] X Research Source}

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Snack smart. Use healthy, nutritious foods when studying instead of things full of sugar and fat. Choose energy-boosting foods like fruits or filling foods like vegetables and seeds. If sweets are needed, use dark chocolate. Drink water to stay hydrated and drink tea if you need a caffeine boost.

Avoid foods with high sugar and carbohydrates such as instant noodles, chips and candy. Don’t go for energy drinks and sugary sodas: they’re high in sugar, which can make you dizzy. If using coffee, don’t use it with a lot of sugar. ^{[11] X Research Source}
Prepare snacks before the start of the lesson so that you don’t get hungry and run around looking for food.

Use effective study techniques

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Use SQ3R. SQ3R is a learning method that involves active reading to understand and begin to learn material. With this method, you preview the document and read it proactively, thus, better prepared when reading a chapter or article.

Start with a Survey , which means looking through the entire chapter, looking for tables, figures, headings, and any bold letters.
Next Ask (Question) by turning each item into a question.
Read the chapter while trying to answer the question posed by the section heading.
Recite out loud the answers to important questions and information that you remember from the chapter you just read.
Review the chapter to make sure all the main content is included. Next, think about why they are important.

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Use the THIEVES strategy. When starting a new chapter, previewing with the THIEVES strategy makes the information contained in the chapter more meaningful and easier to learn.

Start with the title . What does the title tell you about the section/article/chapter? What do you already know about that topic? What should you think about as you read? This will help you shape your reading.
Go to introduction . What does the introduction tell you about the passage?
Skim through headings and subheadings . What do these headings and subheadings tell you as you read? Turn each heading and subheading into a question that will help guide your reading.
Read the first sentence of every paragraph . They are general topic sentences and help you think about what the paragraph wants to convey.
Look at pictures and vocabulary . Includes tables, graphs and charts. More importantly, look at italicized or bolded words, underlined words, different colored words or paragraphs, and a list of numbers.
Read the end of chapter questions. What concepts should you know by the end of the chapter? Keep those questions in mind as you read.
Look at the chapter summary to get a good idea of what the chapter wants to convey before starting to read the whole thing.

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Highlight important details. Use a highlighter or underline the most important points in the text so they can be easily found when reviewing the document. ^{[12] X Research Source} Don’t mark everything – that will lose the purpose of the action. Instead, highlight only the most important phrases and words. ^{[13] X Research Sources} It is also helpful to make pencil notes in the margins in your own words to summarize or comment on important points.

You can also just read these sections for a quick review of the material you’ve just learned, while they’re still fresh in your mind and embedded in key ideas.
If the syllabus is from the school, you can use regular markers or sticky notes. Quickly jot down your notes on a sticky note and paste it right next to the text.
When you need to remember a large amount of knowledge for a long time, such as for a final exam, an industry comprehensive exam, a graduation exam, or an entrance exam for a major, review this way Periodically is also a good way to keep the main content of what has been learned fresh in mind.

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Summarize or outline the document. Rewriting the course material in your notes and textbooks in your own words is a good way to learn. That way, you can think of it in your own words instead of the textbook language. Combine summaries with notes if there is a link between them. You can also create an outline. Arrange them by main idea and only the most important sub-points. ^{[14] X Research Source}

If there’s enough personal space, it’s also helpful to read the summary aloud to yourself for more awareness. If you’re an ear learner or are better at reading aloud, this method can help.
If you have trouble summarizing material so that it sticks in your mind, try teaching it to someone else. Pretend you’re teaching someone who knows nothing about the topic or create a wikiHow about it! For example, How to Find the Least Common Denominator was created as a study guide for elementary students.
When summarizing, use different colors. The brain remembers information more easily when it is associated with colors.

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Make flashcards. They are usually made from informational cards. The question, term, or idea is written on one side and the answer on the other side. They are convenient because you can carry them on the go and study while waiting for the bus, waiting for class time or in your spare time. ^{[15] X Research Source}

You can also download a computer program that can reduce the space and cost of information cards. You can also just use regular pieces of paper folded in half (vertically). Put the question on the side you can see when you fold the paper and unfold it to see the answer inside. Continue to test yourself until you have answered every question with certainty. Remember: “Hundred or not equal to familiar hands”.
You can also turn notes into flashcards, using the Cornell note-taking system – which involves grouping notes around keywords that you can check yourself later by covering your notes and trying to remember them. what was written just from seeing the keyword.

Learn more effectively

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Rest. If studying for several hours at a time, take a 5-minute break every half hour or so. Thanks to this, the joints are moved after sitting for a long time. At the same time, the mind is relaxed, helping you to remember the lesson more effectively. Rest will also help keep you from losing focus.

Do physical activity to help blood flow and increase alertness. Do some jumping jacks, run around the room, play with your dog, do some squats or whatever it takes. Just do enough to feel elated without getting tired.
Try incorporating standing while studying. This could be walking around a desk while rereading information to yourself or leaning against a wall while taking notes. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

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Use keywords to refocus. Find a keyword related to what you are studying and every time you lose focus, feel distracted, or have something else on your mind, start repeating this keyword in your mind until you Back to the current topic. The keyword in this technique is not a fixed word that can change according to your lesson or work. There are no rules for choosing keywords and any word that a person feels will bring their focus back can be used as a keyword.

For example, when reading an article about guitar, the keyword guitar could be used. As you read, every time you feel distracted or unable to understand or concentrate, start saying the key words guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar until your mind Go back to the article and now you can continue reading.

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Take good notes in class. During class, make sure you take the best notes you can. This does not mean taking neat notes or writing everything in full sentences. You want to keep all the important information on hand. Sometimes you can write down a term the teacher said and then go home and copy the definition from the textbook. Try to rewrite as much as you can.

Taking good notes in class will help you stay alert and attentive to everything that’s going on in class. It will also keep you from falling asleep.
Acronym. This makes it possible to write quickly without having to spell anything. Try to build your own abbreviation system or use common abbreviations like ko for zero , h2o for water and h for hour .
Ask questions in class as they come to mind or contribute to class discussion. Another way to ask questions and make connections is to make notes in the margins of your notebook. You can find the question when you get home or reassemble the link when you study that day. ^{[19] X Research Source}

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Rewrite notes at home. When taking notes, focus on recording information rather than understanding or being clean. Rewrite notes as soon as possible after class, while the lesson is still fresh in mind. Thanks to that, you can completely fill in any gaps in your memory. This rewriting process is a more active method of learning because it makes you actively engage your mind with the information. You can easily lose focus while reading. Rewriting makes you think about information. ^{[20] X Research Source}

That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to understand or organize your notes at all. Just don’t waste time in class doing things you can learn or reorganize at home. Treat class notes as a “rough draft”.
You may find it easier to maintain two notebooks–one for the “rough draft” and the other for the rewritten notes.
Some people type their notes, but others find handwriting enhances their ability to remember.
Express yourself as much as possible. Same with drawing. For example, when learning anatomy, “redraw” the system from memory.

Advice

Instead of just memorizing what you just learned, you should also make sure you understand enough to be able to explain it to someone who doesn’t know anything about it.
Studying with teammates who are as serious about their subject as you are can motivate them to become more diligent. Organize the session into sections: review notes, summarize chapters, and discuss concepts (Try to teach them to each other to make sure you both understand).
Don’t procrastinate – start studying early to avoid stress. Get used to not procrastinating. It’s a bad habit. You’ll be happy to learn right away instead of waiting until the last minute.
Most textbooks have a review section at the end of each chapter. You should take advantage of them and it’s a good way to test yourself. At the same time, some teachers also use the same questions in the test.
Make sure you understand the concept of what you are learning. Otherwise, it may be more difficult to understand what is being learned.
When taking notes in class, do it clearly and colorfully. Thanks to that, it will be more interesting to study them again at home.
Organize your space and have everything you need with you so you don’t have to get up or waste time looking for them.
Turn off your cell phone while studying.
The surrounding space should have some noise when you are studying. It will be harder for you to study when the surroundings are too quiet. If you’re feeling tense, take a deep breath, because you’re probably breathing in without holding the air in for long enough.
Always study for knowledge, not for grades, because if you are knowledgeable about a subject, you will get a high score in the test.
If you feel like you can’t concentrate, it’s better to take a 5-minute break. Do some stretching exercises, listen to music or go for a walk to regain your mood.

Warning

Beware of procrastination. For example, do you read this article instead of studying? Every effort will not lead to success and when you procrastinate, you will end up blaming your tools.
If you can’t study because you’re simply too stressed out or something is worrying you, controlling your emotions may be what you need to do before you can consistently succeed in your studies. If you are unable to do this on your own, you may need to talk to your school counselor.

Steps