The key to becoming an academic weapon this school year is using the right study techniques. Lucky for you, there are many effective strategies that can help you succeed in school. Here are 6 study strategies with many tips to help you out!
Spaced Practice
This learning strategy involves the planning ahead of study sessions across a long period of time. This is how you prevent cramming!
Cramming is the practice of studying intensively for a short period, often the night before an exam. It usually involves memorizing large amounts of information in a short span of time, which may help you answer a few questions, but is not effective for long-term retention.
By spreading out the study sessions, you allow your brain to revisit the material at optimal intervals rather than cramming all the information overnight. This strategy has been shown to enhance long term retention.
Retrieval Practice
Retrieval practice focuses on actively recalling information from memory, rather than simply revisiting the source material. So how does it work? Test yourself on the material you want to learn without using any textbooks or class notes. Afterwards, revisit your notes to see what you got right or wrong and how you can improve on those.
This study strategy is based on the idea that the act of recalling information strengthens the memory traces associated with that information, making it easier to remember in the future.
Don’t focus on words and definitions only! Focus on main ideas, how things are related or how they differ and examples to help strengthen your recall capabilities.
Some ways to use retrieval practice include past papers, quizzes, essay answers, multiple choice tests and using flashcards to test yourself.
Elaboration
Elaboration is a strategy that involves explaining information in a detailed and meaningful way. Instead of just memorizing facts, the elaboration strategy can actively connect new information with existing knowledge or create new associations to make the material more understandable and memorable. As the popular saying goes, “If you can’t explain it to a 6 year old, then you don’t understand it yourself”. One way to ensure you understand a concept is to break it down piece by piece, and explain it in your own words.
Familiarize yourself with the material by asking yourself how and why questions, providing examples as you go along and making real life connections.
Dual Coding
Dual coding is a learning strategy that combines different types of stimuli to effectively learn a topic, for example, using visual and audio elements for one topic. This strategy helps you to stay more engaged in the lesson by providing different formats and representations of the same information. You can combine words and visuals in the form of flowcharts, infographics and diagrams
Flowcharts are a great way to learn complex processes.
Concrete Examples
Sometimes, it’s difficult to understand complex and abstract concepts, no matter the subject area. They are oftentimes vague and loosely connected, however, we can strengthen our understanding of these concepts by creating specific examples related to the matter. Concrete examples can be stories, objects, visual aids, etc.
Concrete examples that you create on your own are usually more helpful and easier to remember than those found elsewhere.
Interleaving
Interleaving is the process that involves mixing or interleaving multiple topics/subjects to make links between different ideas. It is a strategy that is used to limit the amount of time spent on any one topic. For example, instead of practicing multiplication questions only, you may switch things up by practicing multiplication and subtraction or a different combination of the 4 mathematical operations in the same study session.
Interleaving essentially involves spaced learning and may assist with transferring or applying your knowledge to other situations. This strategy also grants more opportunities to compare and contrast different or relating concepts.And there you have it! 6 study strategies that have been proven to be effective. May they help you prepare for your future exams.
And there you have it! 6 effective study strategies that you can implement in your study sessions. Remember, these are not one size fits all, what works for someone else may not work for you. However, it’s in your best interest to try. You’ll never know just how much more effective you can be until you try these tips and strategies. Happy studying!