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How to Study Effectively: 5 Secrets for Success

Linda Heard
February 24, 2020

Some top students always get maximum grades, participate in sports, party, and have a great social life. How can they achieve this? The answer is that they have mastered the best ways to study. Although this takes time and practice, you can do it too. Check out our list of effective study techniques that can turn your academic life around.

Best Study Techniques for Top Students

       Do you struggle to find effective study techniques that can benefit you long-term? High academic performance is more possible than you think. Read on to discover how. Implement our best tips into your regular routine and you will immediately notice improvement.

Learn Active Mind Engagement  

       Reading your course materials and texts is not proper for remembering information. Reading does not actively engage your brain to memorize. People remember 10% or 20% of what they read, so to ace an exam, this is not enough. A first reading is important for having a wider perspective of the material, but to remember all the information you need to be more active.

       These are our study tips for exams if you want to implement active practices into your routine:

  •       After reading a page, formulate questions related to the topic. Write down complete, detailed answers.
  •       Repeat the information aloud in your own words as if you were explaining the concepts to someone.
  •       Create graphs, maps, diagrams and tables to rearrange the material according to important criteria.
  •       Underline key concepts, ideas, and words and then write down everything you know about them separately.

If you follow these study tips for exams, your mind will become actively engaged in the process of reading, so you will memorize things quicker and more effectively.

Find Reliable Help Online  

One of the things that stop students from learning effectively is that they don’t know how to find help when they’re stuck. If you need to write an essay about memory but have no idea where to begin, don’t waste hours waiting for inspiration. Memory essays from studymoose.com are examples of helpful resources in this case. The more you are willing to find help, the easier it will be to do your assignments quickly and easy.

Remove Distractions

All effective study techniques require you to remove all distractions from your surroundings to keep your mind sharp and focused. Social media notifications, smartphones, TVs, or your friends can distract you from intense concentration. Every time a notification disrupts you, it takes a lot of time for your mind to regain the same amount of focus as before. How to study for a test if every minute your mind wanders? It’s impossible.

Organize Your Research Materials

Whether you don’t know how to study for a test or how to write a paper, an important thing is to learn proper organization. When you have to research course material, books, and articles, you need to first organize every resource according to topics.

  •       Look at your course syllabi and underline major topic examples you need to study.
  •       Gather all your materials for one topic separately, including books, articles, and course notes.
  •       Read or write about one topic at the time so you don’t confuse information. How to study for a test if you read irrelevant material?
  •       Read the same information from multiple sources as this improves the ability of your mind to remember.
  •       Find samples and examples of the tasks you have to perform, to ensure what you’re doing is correct.

The best ways to study are useless if you’re not good at organizing all your material, so you don’t feel overwhelmed by all.

Plan and Schedule

       When it comes to great study tips for exams, a top piece of advice is to carry a planner with you and mark all projects, tests, and assignments as soon as you learn about their date. This will free your memory for more important information and help you ensure you will not forget about an exam.

       Here are some of the best study techniques for planning your time:

  •       Add at least 2-3 hours of study in your daily schedule. By spreading your tasks over a larger period of time, you will feel less stressed.
  •       Don’t push all learning tasks for the last-minute since this is not among the best ways to study.
  •       Keep yourself accountable. If you added a task to the planner, respect it.
  •       Write your papers in advance to have time to edit, revise and proofread.

 

The best study techniques are those that allow you to achieve your highest potential without feeling always stressed or anxious. This is why we put together our list of helpful tips. Introduce them to your life now for top academic performance. 

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