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Be it high school, college, or career training, you can learn to succeed by practicing these study habits:
Take good notes. Although active listening is important, you may only remember bits and pieces of lecture the next day without good notes. Notes can jog your memory later, and detailed notes ensure that nothing is left out. Don’t worry about making your notes neat and organized or even about creating an outline. Well, don’t only create an outline. Outlines do give the big picture, but if they are too sparse you may leave out details that are important to the teacher. A point that appeared trivial to you in lecture may surprise you by showing up on the exam. So quickly write down as much as you can, abbreviating and ignoring grammar and punctuation as you go. They don’t need to be pretty; who will see them but you?
Review your notes. Every couple of lectures, show up to class early and read through your notebook. Why punish yourself by forgetting everything, only to cram it all back in the night before the test (as you OD on caffeine)? It’s better to develop and retain an understanding. If you can do this, ultimately you may not have to use the study methods described below at all.
Find a study method. Different people need different study methods. Find one that works for you and employ it. Here is a smattering of time-tested ideas:
- Make flashcards
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- Ask your friends or family to quiz you
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- Try explaining the material to a friend, sans notes. By forcing yourself to clearly explain subject matter to someone less knowledgeable, you may find yourself developing a better understanding
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- Without your notes, try to write out everything you know about the subject onto paper (or type it into Word). Or, you may want to try rewriting your notes more clearly. For some people, the action of writing information down can help to reinforce it
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- Talk to yourself. Not out loud, that is. Mentally go over the material while you’re driving or in the shower. That way, studying won’t cut into time for your other activities
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Don’t get discouraged. Remember, studying is really less about discipline than it is about practice. If you can develop and practice study habits that work for you, studying will become second nature, not a chore. Soon you won’t even realize you are doing it.
Keywords: School, class, college, test, exam, studying, finals, grades
I would like to have $1 if you choose to publish this article (I’m trying to go easy on your new budget here).
Author: CLM ( CLM did not leave email information ) and posted as anonymous, so this is posted as free until we contact the author.
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