Being able to study effectively in a day gives the highest level of satisfaction to a student. The feeling of ‘I did well today’ is something that students seek for everyday after they study. However, most of the students, despite of studying for long hours, are not able to insert that element of effectiveness to their studies. As a result, even though they work hard, the output isn’t satisfactory.
This could be due to many reasons, poor strategic planning and lack of smart study are some of them. This blog seeks to provide 5 tips for a better and effective study for students, so that their hard work yields due results.
- Identify and Study According to your Learning Style
One of the major mistakes that students make, which drastically affects the effectiveness of their studies is that they neglect their learning style while studying. They may start following the tips of toppers, teachers and other people and inculcate those in their study habits.
It needs to be understood that distancing your own learning style and adopting someone else’s will increase the friction between you and your studies. You need to identify and study according to your style for a smooth and effective outcome.
- Identify the time-slot when you feel you become the most productive in studies. Some people may find it easier and productive to study in early morning while some may prefer late night. Some may reject both and study in the afternoon. Identify your strength period and maximise your studies in that particular period.
- Analyse your learning style. Are you able to grasp more by making notes, writing things again and again, or highlighting important points in the book itself? Are you comfortable in, for example, reading out loud while studying or reading silently? Find out these small parameters and implement those fits you well.
- 2. Don’t look for Motivation
Instead, build habits. Study is something that needs to be done consistently every day to gain wishful results. Since motivation is a factor that is highly fluctuating, you feel motivated one day and demotivated the other. Basing your studies on this parameter then, would be disastrous. You won’t be able to study on the days when you feel demotivated.
The idea is to build a habit to study every day irrespective of your motivation levels. Yes, it is true that motivation plays a big role and can be a good factor to increase the effectiveness of your studies. However, you cannot afford to study only when you feel motivated and skip studies when you don’t.
- 3. Revise
This is the simplest yet the most neglected part of studies for a student. Once a topic/chapter/book is finished reading once we deem to have ‘completed’ that study material. This gives us a sense of feeling that this concept has been understood and now we can move forward.
What students miss out is that you are necessarily required to revise those concepts, again and again, to make sure that whatever you have understood today remains in your brain. Almost 70% of new information is lost from your brain withing 24 hours, if you don’t revise it.
- Before starting the set goals for the day, give 15-20 minutes to revise whatever you had studied the last day. (It takes only about 1/10th of the time you took to understand a concept to revise it after 24 hours).
- Keep aside a time slot of 2-3 hours per week to revise whatever you had studied in the previous week. This must be done with serious effect.
- 4. Take Breaks
Your effectiveness decreases if you study continuously without breaks. Naturally, we can concentrate continuously for 90 minutes, after which, it is necessary to take a break of about 15 minutes.
One of the best and popular work technique to increase your effectiveness is the Pomodoro technique, which says that you need to divide your working hours into slots of 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. After 4-5 such slots, you can take a longer break of about 30 minutes before starting the next slot.
Read the following article to know more.
- 5. Sleep Well
Many students sacrifice their sleep to compensate for studies in the last few days of their exams. The sleeping time usually decreases to 2-3 hours.
Sleeping well is one of the most important factors in increasing the concentration and effectiveness while you study. Lack of sleep may cause irritation, headache and loss of grasping power. It is thus important to have a sleep of at least 6-7 hours per day for better productivity.
