5 Study Methods to Live By

We all think we know how to study. At some point, one special elementary school teacher taught you a tried and true method that worked well for you as a growing learner. In the age of endless information and shorter attention spans, many find it harder to focus on their course materials. Many of us were also told to study but never told how. If you have been looking for the right method to come along or just want to shake up your routine, this is for you. 

Memory Palace

This technique requires only your imagination. Craft the likeness of a familiar place, real like home or imaginary like Buckingham Palace. Now, sort the information you are trying to learn and memorize in different areas around your Memory Palace. You can have these areas be rooms or even items. This technique uses association to aid your memory. 

Sleep Studying

Famous actors will have you believing that they never even saw the script but just spoke the words in their hearts. Fortunately for you, sleep studying is one of the secrets to this god-like memorization. Sleep studying is the act of studying, you guessed it, right before going to sleep. This may seem strange or too simple, but sleeping is essential for our brains. Lack of sleep can genuinely cause brain upset and side effects like hallucination or psychosis. Likewise, getting a whole night’s rest helps your brain to organize the information you have gained that day. This is crucial to your cognitive function as the ability to recall in the morning is usually much stronger. 

Chunking

This method can be transformative when you need to memorize a large amount of information in a short span. Take the course material causing so much stress and turn it into smaller “bite-size” chunks of information. Just like eating, your brain can’t take a whole steak of knowledge at once. Cut your portions of information into chunkable groups that your brain can digest easily for faster memorization.

The Feynman Technique

To know if one has truly mastered a subject, you need the ability to teach it. Teachers sometimes have students do this with presentations or study groups. Giving their students the reins and allowing them to take those first steps can help them explain the materials in their known vocabulary and fully comprehend them at a higher rate. If you’re all alone with no class to teach, never fear! You can try this technique from the comfort of your home, too. 

Step 1. Grab a notebook and write down the subject of your lesson. 

Step 2: Try to create a teacher’s lecture based on the materials you are studying. 

Step 3: Review and look for misinformation or holes in your lecture.

Step 4: Try to take out the large vocabulary for simpler language, as if you are teaching a younger student. 

Acronyms & Mnuemonics 

Need to remember a large list of information? This method is best for STEM students looking for a way to remember different sequences in their material. Making your information memorable and easy to recall is a technique that may not be unfamiliar. For example, “My Very Educated Mother Serves Us Noodles” is a way to remember the planet’s names: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (R.I.P. Pluto). “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” is another example of a mnemonic used in math to represent the order of operations of algebra known as PEMDAS. This helps students to remember the order of the letters in their heads and take a fun approach to learning.