Asking Minds

A ‘much-needed’ blog. Isn’t it? For school and college-going students and even if you are a pass-out, you can share this study hacks and tips blog with your younger siblings. They would thank you for this. (Uh-huh)

I feel bad for myself that I never got a chance to apply these study hacks while I was a student but then I remember, I passed fine. But fine is not enough in today’s competitive life. You got to be best if you want to achieve the highest in your class. Although, there is one important point I would like to highlight before sharing some awesome study hacks and tips with you.

Don’t force yourself over something you are not made for. Find your passion or I should say, follow your calling. You can climb the mountains of success when you will mix your passion and ambition. Work hard towards your goal and nothing would be strong enough to stop you. And yeah, don’t forget to work smart along with it.

Bobby Unser once said, “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” So be ready to prepare and don’t wait for opportunity. Create it. But with these study hacks and tips, we are giving you an opportunity to speed-up your learning process and prepare as best as you can. So, let’s get to the points.

Study hacks and tips –

1. Buy a whiteboard, marker, and eraser –

I know everyone is in habit of doing their rough work or practice work in notebooks but using a whiteboard really makes a difference. The large size of fonts helps you concentrate better and it’s one of the perfect teaching environments, you can ask for. From solving equations to learning through the flowchart, using whiteboard is a good option.

2. Study like you are teaching someone –

Just imagine, there’s a kid asking you to teach him/her. How would you teach? I guess you will break down every difficult term or concept in such a way that the kid understands the concept excellently and you will teach the kid patiently with actions and hand movements. Now, that’s how you need to teach yourself. If you have any showpiece or stuffed toy or animal, keep it in front of you and make it your student. As Einstein once said, ‘If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.’

3. Use YouTube to understand concepts –

Let me repeat! Use YouTube to understand concepts and not to watch other useless videos or songs or anything else. You shouldn’t use social media much but I have included YouTube in this list because it’s immensely helpful if you know how to use it. There are few channels that explain every concept thoroughly in an easy way like Khan Academy or Math Antics.

4. Speak out loud while reading –

Remember this, we are not talking about reading competition here where you have to read fast. No! You need to read out loud every single word patiently with actions to hear it and understand it at the same time. When you read out loud, you are allowing your brain to retain information more effectively. But make sure, you don’t disturb others.

5. Promise yourself a reward –

Now this one’s not only exciting but it will also motivate you to study appropriately. What you have to do is, promise yourself a piece of chocolate after you have finished a particular chapter or any difficult concept. I said a piece of chocolate, not the whole. Though, please don’t overdo eating chocolate otherwise you would end up, you know what I mean. (yeah)

6. Make study fun with this game –

There are many among you who waste half of their time thinking about what to study next. I did this too (Oh yeah). So, play this game instead of wasting time. Write 8-10 topic or chapter names on a small square sized note and keep all these cheats in a mug or box or whatever you have. Now shuffle it and pick up one cheat and without thinking any more, start studying that topic.

7. Try the mnemonic technique –

Do you find it difficult to remember the name of planets, rivers or any other complex information? Well, Mnemonic technique is what you need here. With this wonderful technique, you can encode what’s difficult to learn in such a way that it gets linked to the main information. But the good part is, you will be able to remember the complex ones in a simple way.
For example:
You may already know how we used the word VIBGYOR to remember the colors of the rainbow. To remember the planets (Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto), you can come up with a silly sentence like – “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas”.

8. Record your voice while reading –

A great way to listen to yourself and let the information get stored in your brain. When you read out loud, record it because listening is as helpful as reading. Listening to what you have learned in every few hours will ensure you don’t forget it. It helps in revision too. You can even listen later at night while sleeping or while walking in a park.

9. Study with the bright student –

First of all, study by yourself, because that’s the best way to ensure you have worked on your weakness. But whenever you are confused about any topic or you want to understand any concept or revise something, don’t hesitate to ask the brighter one for their guidance. Ask them if they can also help you to set up the study plan. Group study is not bad if you do it sincerely.

10. Chewing gum boosts concentration –

Yes! You read it right. You might have noticed how cricket players chew gum throughout the game. Why? Because the act of chewing keeps us awake so that we can accurately focus on whatever task we are performing. Apart from this, chewing gum doesn’t have any severe side-effect, unlike caffeine. Though, avoid chewing too much as too much of anything is harmful.

11. Stick to your study plan regularly –

Need not to say this but I thought it would be good to include this point in the list. First of all, create such a study plan which you can sincerely follow. Don’t overfill it with subjects or topics if you can’t work on it. Break down your subjects in such a way that you get enough time to understand and learn every topic. Whatever plan you make, stick to it.

12. Go through last 10 years question paper –

This study hack is the most assured way to cover important questions and all the main concepts. Collect last 10 years question papers and start studying those topics that were part of last exams. You can ask your seniors or institute to help you collect question papers or you can take the help of google at last.

13. Don’t forget to take breaks –

And by that, I don’t mean taking 2 hours of a break after an hour of study (duh) neither I mean chatting or playing on your smartphone. Go for a 5-10-minute walk and stretch out your body. There are two best ways of taking a break. Either study for 25 minutes and take a break of 5 minutes or study for 50 minutes and take a break of 10 minutes. The choice is yours.

14. Try different environments to study –

If you get bored by continuously studying in your room staring at your study table, go for a walk and listen to what you have recorded earlier. You can also learn while looking at the sky and that means, at the terrace. All I want to say is, experiment different places and surroundings to study without getting bored.

With these study hacks and tips, you would definitely achieve better marks than before. Although we are done with the list, there are still a few points I would like to mention once.

If you can, please become a morning person. Most of the toppers wake up early to study, there must be some reason. No? If not at 4 am, at least try to wake up at 6 am. And yeah, don’t let your phone distract you. You know this already but it’s necessary to remind you once again how your phone can deteriorate your academic performance.

Don’t forget to share your favorite study hack with us in the comment section below.

All the best!

The problem is you think you have time. – Buddha

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