Beth Worthy
9/8/2022
People often believe that putting in long hours of studying, underlining or highlighting important points, or studying a single topic for a long time and repeating phrases multiple times to memorize them is an effective studying technique.
However, studying for long hours is among the most ineffective techniques known.
Similarly, highlighting concepts or rereading an assignment or concept multiple times also doesn’t work too effectively either as it consumes too much time.
That’s why it’s important to know the most effective study techniques that are proven to help people learn and understand concepts better.
We have discussed some of the best ones here to help you retain your learnings.
Before you start studying, incorporate a moderate to light workout session into your routine.
This could be a 20-minute exercise session at home or a brisk walk in your locality. Light to moderate exercise can help you combat fatigue, improve your energy levels, and enhance your motivation to study.
Workouts before studies enhance your brain function, which in turn can help to improve your memory. Exercising before study releases endorphins which can help to minimize stress and improve your mood.
All this, added to the fact that workouts also help to improve your cognitive performance, can help you study more efficiently.
There’s no point in taking unorganized notes as they cannot effectively help you retain and recall concepts.
However, taking proper notes, especially color-coded ones, is an efficient method to record and organize your study concepts. It can also help you revise and prioritize the essential ones.
Reports suggest that shades of red and yellow can create a positive and motivational learning environment and help your mind engage and interact better with the learning materials.
While creating notes, it’s good to note the key points in red while important information can be written in yellow.
Additionally, try to organize topics by color as much as possible while simultaneously coloring only the essential information instead of the entire text.
Practice answering questions related to your study concepts before you start learning the actual concept.
You may not answer correctly, but this pre-testing procedure improves your future learning skills.
Research states that pre-testing can enhance post-test results far better compared to conventional study methods.
Focus on one topic for a short period of multiple days to improve the retention and recall value of the concept in question. This can be slightly difficult as you might forget what you learned the previous day and need to relearn the entire thing.
However, with practice, the method can help you in learning effectively. You can use flashcards and self-quizzing to enhance your learning.
You can sort topics based on difficulty. Easy to learn and remember, topics can be repeated with increased spacing. In contrast, difficult ones should be more closely spaced.
Staying up all night and studying is not a great learning technique and can harm you in the long run. Your brain needs sleep to maintain its function, memory formation, and comprehension.
Instead, study for about a couple of hours before bed and then revise the concepts again when you wake up in the morning.
Your brain organizes your memories while you’re asleep so studying essential concepts before sleeping helps you retain and recall them better.
Lack of quality sleep can compromise your brain function, cause cognitive impairment, and adversely affect your studies.
You might often have faced the situation where you read an entire chapter in your textbook with complete concentration, only to realize that you couldn’t retain any concept or essential points given in the chapter or only managed to have a vague recollection of it.
To resolve this issue, you can use a technique called the intentional learning strategy, and to do so, you can relate the current concept you are learning with your previous knowledge.
Try to explain the concept learned in layman’s terms or simple language by reflecting on the concepts and asking questions related to them.
Online classes and group discussions have become the norm these days.
However, we often find it difficult to discuss, listen, and note down things at the same time. If you have access to the audio or video recordings of your online classroom sessions and group discussions, you can opt for video transcription services to get your study videos transcribed into text format.
Doing so helps you access the entire class discussion in text format, which is more easily comprehensible than going through recorded audio or video.
Additionally, transcribed academic content can overcome linguistic barriers and can be incorporated into several learning styles enhancing the learning and retention of concepts.
However, ensure that you opt for a reliable academic transcription and translation service to get accurately transcribed content.
With the above-mentioned effective study techniques and with a little practice, you will find that you are retaining and recalling concepts far better compared to conventional learning techniques.
However, you can always take the help of professionals when it comes to transcribing your group discussion or your online class recordings.
If you want to get your classroom audio and videos transcribed, contact us today.
At GMR Transcription Services, Inc., our team of experienced US-based professionals is known for providing 99% accuracy on good quality audio and video.
Get started with our academic transcription services today!
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