Have you ever stayed up late studying for an exam, putting in all of your effort, only to feel like you don’t remember anything when it’s time to take your test? Whether you’ve always struggled with test-taking or are just looking to improve your study skills, here are 10 science-backed studying tips to help you ace your next exam.
Interval Studying
No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to cram hundreds of concepts in the span of a few hours. Not only is this technique unsuccessful, it is also overwhelming and draining. Instead of cramming your poor brain with jumbles of concepts, try interval studying. Interval studying is the practice of doing timed periods of studying, switching up the concepts and taking breaks in between the study sessions. This technique helps eliminate extra junk in your mind and the stress that cramming causes.
Spaced Repetition
Spaced repetition is a studying technique that has been around and beloved since the late 1800s. It forces your brain to recognize cues that align with the concept, term, or definition you are trying to memorize. After more than 100 years of research on spaced repetition, the conclusion has remained the same: spaced repetition improves test scores and lasts longer than cramming does!
Listen to Music
Many experts agree that playing certain genres of music can force parts of the brain to participate in paying attention and bettering moods. While there are arguments about whether music in general can be distracting, genres like classical piano and jazz have been known to increase attention and focus as well as shift the brain’s outlook on studying overall.
Exercise Before Studying
While everyone knows exercising is beneficial for the brain, did you know that it can also help out when it comes to studying? Exercising before studying has been proven by researchers to strengthen memory, improve concentration, and improve mood, all which can positively impact your study sessions.
Beat the “Forgetting Curve”
Scientists have long been researching the curve of forgetting, which is our ability to forget information when we don’t work to retain it. When we hear new information or are introduced to a new concept, we only retain 80% of what we heard, but that’s only if we review the information heard within 24 hours. The good news is that it’s cumulative, which means we could have 100% retention in a week from 5 minute reviews.
Switch Up Your Environments
Certain surroundings can play a role in how we act or retain information. For example, a kitchen is typically the place we’d go if we wanted to make food for ourselves — this fact is nothing new, but when we put it into perspective of studying, we see how much environments can influence our studying abilities. Studying in a place like a bed can be confusing for your brain because it recognizes a bed as a place for rest, not for productivity. Studies have shown that switching up our environments actually improves our quick recall skills and abilities.
Active Recall
Active recall is a method for studying that essentially forces our brains to actively retrieve information from our memory. For example, flashcards are a simple way to implement active recall. The use of active recall is heavily encouraged by scientists because it practices higher-order thinking.
Explain What You’re Learning to Someone Else
Explaining the concepts we are trying to learn is a great method to use when we need to retain information because it shows us how much we do know, how much we do not, and the areas we need to work on. Explaining concepts also allows us to make the content more relatable and easier to remember.
Ask for Help
Everyone can relate to the feeling of frustration that arises when we don’t immediately understand something, but it’s normal to struggle with new concepts. That’s why asking for help should always be in our studying-tool kit. Believe it or not, most teachers do want to see us succeed and would be happy to answer our class specific or assignment specific questions!
Create a Reward System
Creating a reward system is another handy tool for our studying tool kit. Studies have shown that a reward system in studying can increase our enjoyment and interest in the task at hand. This method is great especially when starting a task seems unenjoyable or even laborious.
Hit the Books
Unfortunately, we will be faced with tests for much of our academic lives. Luckily for us, many scientists have devoted their careers to researching strategies and methods that are proven to influence our learning brains in many positive ways. We hope these methods and strategies come in handy the next time you’re preparing for a test!
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