7 Days
168 Hours
10,080 Minutes
That’s the amount
of time we all have per week. Still, do you encounter time shortages while
preparing for exams? Does time slip away,
and your revision is not complete? Have you struggled with time management? Are you jealous of that friend who can study &
score, while participating in sports and dramatics?
Find Relationships &
Patterns
Anything worth learning always builds on
something simple. Every new study starts on the foundations of existing study. Find that foundation, understand it.
Relate it to new ideas. Find patterns.
There are always patterns. Once you get one, you’ll get the others. And then
many more.
Sometimes relatable patterns occur in
different disciplines, at seemingly
unrelated places. Connecting the dots requires exposure to multiple disciplines. So read a lot and even beyond
your course requirements.
Build Associations, Use
Metaphors
You remember metaphors, analogies, idioms,
similes and anecdotes. And use them frequently without consciously realising
it. For eg. Genome Mapping gets the term ‘mapping’ from cartography, or
Encapsulation from medicine capsules. If you can associate a technical term or
concept with a metaphor or an analogy, you’re going to remember it longer. But the association
must be natural and make sense.
Read Fast, Read More, Read
Regular
When working out, you don’t develop an
athletic body in a day or two. The muscles don’t show taking any form or
defining lines until 2-3 weeks. The strength and bulge start getting into shape
only after the first few weeks. Patience,
Persistence and Perseverance result in Perfection. Same is with studies. If
you think you can understand and learn in the first reading, then you are at
loss. Most people can’t unless they have an eidetic (or photographic) memory.
Reading a chapter without understanding it
is hard. We are trained to understand and then only move forward. Break this habit. And start reading
textbooks casually. But read them fast and read them more than once. Just like
a workout, initially the first few readings of the text won’t make any
difference. Most likely your brain will
become familiarized with the jargon.
Once you have gone quite far in the text you’ll
be able to make logical connections in the earlier chapters. This will
automatically clear concepts of the later chapters.
Now you have started a chain reaction or virtuous cycle or a positive reinforcement. This is most applicable with subjects where
numerical calculations are not the
dominating factor but are part of the overall conversation or idea.
Make
a Story
Some subjects like literature, history,
civics, sociology, philosophy, etc. lend themselves easily to storytelling. Boring topics like which
dynasty fought who over what issues can be made into a story that you can play like
an animation in your mind. Complex ideas like social discrimination can
also be made into stories in which all aspects are covered. At exam time you
can recall the story and have a logically
seamless answer ready in your mind and in words.
Build Mental Models
Mental models are rules of thumb, heuristics or unwritten rules that are developed as
a result of generations of filtered
knowledge. They are an explanation of your thought process about how
something works.
This can be your unique model or can be
someone else’s model. These can be simple idioms, or graphical representations.
They are simple, flexible and act as an
informational filter. For example, Newton’s 3rd law of Motion can help
understand about Action-reaction in sociology or psychology as well. Or the
concept of compound interest can be used to understand the spread of epidemics
in the community.
No
Learning Without Understanding
If you cram without understanding, then you
can probably write better answers for direct
question testing memory only. But if you understand a concept, then you are
capable of not only that but additionally of indirect questions, trick
questions, analytical questions and apply
them as skills.
Revisit,
Review, Retain
If you go to a new
locality after a few months many things seem to have changed. They are
unrecognizable. On the other hand, on your daily route to school you can almost
ride the bike with your eyes closed!
It is because you review and revisit and
therefore retain. Some call it, mistakenly so, as muscle memory. But in reality, repeating something, revisiting it
makes the neurological connections in
the brain stronger. That is how habits are formed. Make reading a habit. It will not only help in studies, but also
everywhere else.
Learn
Holistically
Studying a topic in isolation does not help. You can’t create connections. You can’t
relate to different things. You can’t have a framework of mental models. Understanding the whole will help
understanding the part. Reading and studying different subjects also helps
in broadening your vision.
Use
All Your Senses
Of the five senses - vision, hearing, touch,
smell and taste - the most used sense in studies is the vision. Touch does not
matter, we don’t use it to input new information, only to hold the pen. If more
than one sense is used, then the brain
gets input for the same thing from
multiple sources. Read aloud -
your eyes and hearing both will be used. You’ll have better concentration as well. Mark
important lines using different colours - hands and eyes. Colors are good stimuli. If possible,
go and see the historical site you
were reading about, or at least check it on YouTube. Make models of science of mathematical objects/ideas. Apply the
principles and formulae on them. Draw
and cut a right-triangle - measure it, apply the Pythagoras theorem on it.
Use the sense of touch and vision to reinforce the concept.
Teach
Yes, that’s true! Teach to your siblings or
cousins. Teach your friends. Simplify it
as much as you can. Albert Einstein famously said, “If you can’t explain it
simply, you don’t understand it well enough”. Remember to teach is to learn twice!
Take
Breaks
Amid all the hacks for studying and doing
things the most important thing is to take a break from everything. Every 30 to
45 minutes stop studying. Go for a walk.
Lie down and close your eyes. Listen
to music. Have a snack. Stretch your
body and have water.
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