Studying Techniques

Two easy things to improve your study

It’s useful to know there are two easy things to improve your study, because in revision sessions, just as in other life experiences, most of us tend to do what we know. And it either works sufficiently for our purposes, or it doesn’t. If on some level it works well [...]

Studying Techniques

Making your notes memorable

There are many ways of making your note memorable. Here are some of them. Stand out from the crowd At times you’ll find certain information in your study material just won’t stick, and that’s when you want to go to town on the way you set out your notes – [...]

General, Studying Techniques

Genius thinking

I say, I say, I say… What do you do when you can’t hear the actors on stage? Genius, or what? A couple of weeks ago, a group of us had tickets for a show at the Globe Theatre, London. From where I was sitting, I was struggling to hear [...]

Studying Techniques

Set to forget

Have you noticed that you frequently forget what you studied only a few days ago, even though you were sure you knew it at the time?Your automatic, unconscious mind is skilled at forgetting older information in favour of new, on the basis that it's probably going to be more useful [...]

Studying Techniques

Learning by Doing

Some people learn best by doing. If you’re one of those people, you can do worse than to link things you want to remember to things you do that you’re already very familiar with – such as a hobby or directions for making something. Here are some ideas for bringing [...]

Brain, Studying Techniques

Seven plus or minus two

It was reckoned by psychologist George Miller in 1956, that depending on circumstances, we can only pay attention to roughly 7 things at a time. Hey, if you think that number’s pretty small, you’ll be even less impressed that more recently, memory and attention expert Nelson Cowan, established that it [...]

Studying Techniques

No such thing as a bad memory

I bet you have a high expectation of your car starting when you turn the key in the ignition! And that you have a strong belief that your car will get you from A to B with little incident. Is that because you do what you have to do, to [...]

Studying Techniques

Testing, testing

When you’ve sweated buckets of effort on absorbing information, you need to make sure all that hard work is worthwhile. You need a way to keep that information in your head. So when you’ve created your revision notes on one side of the paper you’re writing on, turn it over. [...]

Studying Techniques

How to send your brain to sleep

Did you know that most people do one of two things when it comes to revision – even though neither works! Which do you do? Strategy #1 Copying, word for word the content of your manual. Some people write down every word for fear of missing something important. Oh dear! [...]

Studying Techniques

Three things you can do for better revision

1. Chunk! We tend to remember information, without making any extra effort, if it is presented in small chunks. Think about anything that you have attempted to learn, whether for your exams or for any other aspect of your life, and you'll know that this is true. It's also true [...]