How to study effectively?
How to study effectively?
I think this method works for long-term goals. If you want to ace a test and quickly forget about the knowledge, it’s better to opt for memorization techniques.
My view on education:
Education is not limited to school. It has always been part of our life. We learned everything through our 5 senses. Walk, eat, communicate, bike, etc are all part of our education. Throughout your life, you make decisions and chose which skills or knowledge you want to have based on your personal goals.
What about school? School teaches us the “minimal” knowledge a person should know in order to stay in the educational system. It also gives you a paper at the end of your studies which will convince society that you have the minimal “recommended” skills and knowledge to practice a particular career. That being said, you might want to learn more than what schools offer you for your own development considering that we live in an information society.
If we can learn everything online and take the exams online which will get us a diploma with the required qualifications, why do we bother going to school? School gives us the opportunity to meet people from our field of interest and develop soft skills*. It also gives us the basic knowledge of things we are interested, so we can further our education by doing our own research, e.g.: Learn the word “x”, go search “x” to have more information.
Everyone has his or her reasons to study. Some people study because they are told to do so and others because they want to. I used to be one of those people who study in order to get a good grade and forget everything afterwards because I won’t necessarily use the particular knowledge I learned. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a waste of time since transferable skills are good too. You might want to study for your own personal development and go for skills/knowledge that will be useful to achieve your DREAM.
(1) There are 3 ways of learning: Auditory, Visual and Kinaesthetic.
Some people are more of a type than others. This doesn’t mean you can’t stimulate your brain with the 3 methods at the same time for maximum results ;).
This method works quite well so far. It focuses on spreading the study materials through a large amount to time in order to increase the number of neuronal associations made by the brain for the information you wish to understand and recall. Also, it gives you a “physical” summary of the materials for future references.
(2) Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning:
When you study at “formal” education like school, they focus mostly on “remember” and “Understand”. Multiple choices question focus on the two bottom of the chart. The easiest way to learn and forget for an exam is to not apply the knowledge.
I feel that when you learn something, you need to use it and apply it to a project.
For example, you learn about stock trading. It’s a good idea to build a project around it and create a plan to implement your strategy or record your trades.
When you actually use the “knowledge”, it leads to different questions (outside of study materials). And when you answer them, it broadens your knowledge on the topic. It’s not about the grade, but what you can get out of the material you study and how you can use it to achieve your goals.
The video explains well with examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIIV0TqXOnQ
(3) Pomodoro Techniques: time management study techniques
The technique is good to “optimize” your study time. I feel you go into a state of tired, but not exhausted, so you can still study and get things done. It’s more balanced than 3 hours focus and 3 hours wasting time.
Each session: Study 45 mins + 15 mins break
· 45mins study: Full concentration, background music, phone is closed,
· 15 mins break time: Stand up, stretch, prepare tea, get a snack, check your phone
After a cycle of 4 sessions: take a long break 30mins
· 30-60mins long break: good time lunch time, go to the gym, cook meals/ do dishes
· 15-20mins: Power nap
SimpleLifeBalancing.