10 Best Ways to Improve Your Study Skills

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Improving your ability to study can be a great way to level the playing field in school. The only thing that guarantees good grades in school is looking well. It’s funny, though, that kids rarely learn how to study well in school.

Taking notes is essential to learning, but only a few students learn how to do it. At best, you are told, “You should take notes,” but you aren’t told what to write down or how to use the information to help you learn.

There is, luckily, good information about how to study. Scientists have shown that some ways of taking notes are better than others and that there are better ways to learn, remember, and read textbooks. Here are 10 steps that have been shown to help you study better. If you use them, I promise that your grades will go up.

1. You can change your behaviour for the better.

Use the idea of learning through associations. Try as much as possible to study the same thing every day at the same time and place. You’ll quickly realize that when you get to that place and time, you’re right in the “groove” of the subject.

If you train your brain to think about math in a particular place and at a specific time, it won’t take 10 minutes a day to get in the math mood. It will save you the time and energy you used to spend getting yourself ready to do math or whatever else. It will also make it easier for you to remember what you are learning.

Do something you want to do after learning to give yourself a boost. (watch television, go to a party). Experts know that rewarding an action (like studying) will make it happen more often and for longer.

2. Only study for an hour at a time with a break.

You should spend at most 20 to 30 minutes just memorizing. Here’s why we break up our study time into such small chunks.

First, when you have enough time to do something, you use it more wisely. Have you ever considered how much learning you can do in one day before a big test? It’s called “cramming” because of this.

Psychologists say that short lessons are the best way to learn. Research has shown that you can study as much in four one-hour lessons over four days in one six-hour exercise session. That’s because, when you’re not studying, like sleeping, eating, or reading a book, your mind works in the background to remember what you’ve learned. So it also counts as time spent studying.

Remember that when you memorize something, like a math formula, a foreign language, or a list of names and times, you learn much more quickly and in a more accurate way than when you read a social studies book or an English essay.

Experts say that if you take a 10-minute break every hour, you can study better and get more done. Some good students study for 45 to 60 minutes and then take a five- to ten-minute break. The break is your prize, and it helps you learn better for the next hour.

Dr Walter Pauk, who used to run Cornell University’s Reading and Study Center, says you should take that short break whenever you like it. So, you will save time looking at the clock and waiting for your vacation.

Another way to keep your thoughts from wandering while studying is to start with the most complex or minor favourite subject and work your way up to the easiest or subject you like the most. So, if you study the issue you don’t like or find challenging; you get to learn the topic you want the most. Try it; it will work.

3. Split up the study of things that are the same.

Radio waves are similar to brain waves. Interference happens when there isn’t enough room between the inputs. The more influence there is, the more the types of learning are alike. So, separate your study times for classes about the same things—only study science or statistics after an hour of math. Instead, learn Spanish or history for an hour.

4. Only study if you’re well rested.

Psychologists have found that everyone gets sleepy at the same time every day. Don’t try to learn at that time. (But don’t go to sleep, either, because it rarely helps). Instead, plan some physical exercise, like recreation, for that time. If you have a lot of schoolwork, use that time to sort your notes, clean your desk, gather your books, or study with a friend.

5. Get ready for the class as soon as possible.

If it’s a lecture class, you should study as soon as you get home. If you must repeat or answer questions, you should check before class. After the class, you can review and put your notes in order. You can spend your time before recitation classes remembering, examining facts, and asking questions about the last recitation. Asking questions is an excellent way to help you remember what you’re learning and figure out where you need more work.

6. Use the best way for you to take notes.

Many studies have been done on how to take notes, and one method has come out on top. Use loose-leaf paper that is 812 by 11 inches and only writes on one side. (This may seem like a waste, but this is one time when saving money isn’t the most important thing.) Set the following guidelines for your page:

If the lecture and the text are closely linked, you can use the 2-3-3-2 method:

1. Make two-inch columns on the left for memory aids, three in the middle for class notes, and three on the right for text notes.
2. Leave a two-inch space throughout the bottom of the document for your ideas and results.
3. See Figure 20 (Three-Column Note-Taking System).

Use various pages for class and notes on lessons if the lessons and materials are not closely related. Use the 2-5-1 method: put two inches of information on the left to help you remember, five inches of lesson notes in the middle, and one inch of results and findings on the right.

 (After a while, you will not need to draw solid lines.)

Most likely, you took class notes in a way that changed as you went through school. You probably have also made up your shorthand, like using a “g” for all “-ing” endings, a “&” for “and,” and abbreviations for many things. (e.g., govt. For the government and even. For evaporation).

The key to getting better grades is in the recall clue box. Take the time to read over your notes as soon as you can after writing them. Don’t study them; just read them. While everything is still new in your mind, check right away to see if you forgot anything essential or wrote something wrong. If you did, make changes.

After reviewing what you’ve written, write down things that will help you remember the notes. These hint words shouldn’t repeat what you already know. Instead, they should show what kind of information is in your messages. They are the hints you would put on “crib sheets.”

Example: If you want to remember what you’ve read so far in this part on taking notes, all you need are these hints: 8 1/2 x 11 inches, loose-leaf, one side: 2-3-3-2 or 2-5-1. As you can see, they are just things to help you remember when you are learning.

An assistant professor of literacy education at the University of Georgia, Dr Robert A. Palmatier, suggests the following ways to study for tests:

Please take out your loose-leaf pages and move them around so that they make the most sense for learning.

Choose the first page and cover the notes so that only the hints are visible. Try to remember the sounds that go with each clue. Set a page away when you get it right.

If you have a short-answer test coming up, mix up your notes so that they are not in order. (This is one reason why it’s essential only to use one side of the paper) “This method allows people to learn without the help of a logical sequence,” says Dr Palmatier.

If you take an essay test, you can be sure that “the areas where people take the most notes are usually the ones where essay questions will be based.”

The “recall clue word” method for taking notes is excellent because it makes it easy to do the one thing shown to help you remember what you’ve learned: actively think about your messages and figure out how they make sense. If you continue to read over your written notes, you’ll not only get bored, but you’ll also be trying to remember things in the most detrimental manner possible.

7. Don’t just idly try to remember things.

Researchers have found that reading something repeatedly is the worst way to remember something because it takes the most time and needs to work better. If that’s how you learn things, forget about it. Use as many of your senses as you can instead.

Try to think of things in absolute terms to get a picture. Use sound and what you see: Say the words out loud and pay attention to how you say them.

Use association. Link the fact you want to learn to something vital or find a good connection.

When you want to remember dates, think of actual events whose dates you already know. Use mnemonics. For example, the sentence “Every good boy does fine” can help you remember the names of the musical notes on the lines of the treble clef. Use terms like OK4R to help you remember the steps in the reading method described in number 8 below.

Leave a two-inch space throughout the bottom of the document for your ideas and results.

8. Read and do your homework at the same time.

In the long run, it does take less time! Read with a goal in mind. Instead of just starting at the beginning and reading to the end, Dr Walter Pauk’s OK4R method will help you finish the task much faster and remember much more of what you read:

• O – Overview: Read the title, the first paragraph, the last paragraph, and all the headings in the reading. Then you’ll have a good idea of what kinds of things will be talked about.
• K – Main Points – Skim the text again to find the main points. (typically in the opening sentence of every paragraph). Also, read the words in italics and bold, as well as the lists, pictures, and tables.
• R1: Read: Read your task all the way through. You’ll be able to do it quickly because you already know where the author is going and what they are trying to show.
• R2: Recall: Put the book away and say or write, in a few keywords or sentences, what you think were the most important parts of what you just read. It has been shown that most people immediately forget what they just learned.
• R3: Think about what you’ve learned. The last step helps you remember what you’ve learned. Connect it to other things you know to ensure it stays with you forever. Find connections and meanings in what you’ve read.
• R4: Review: This step only happens in stages. It must be done for the following short quiz and tests later in the term. A few reviews will ensure you always remember what you’ve learned.

Research has shown that you can study as much in four one-hour lessons over four days in one six-hour exercise session.

9. Develop a system of colours and symbols for text and notes.

Dr Palmatier says the following about your text:

• Red for major points
• For times and numbers, use blue.
• Yellow for facts that back it up
• You can also use circles, boxes, stars, and checks in the borders to make reviewing easy.
• Make your dictionary of words and ideas that you need help understanding.

In your notebook, underline, star, or mark in some other way the ideas that your teacher tells you are important, the ideas that you will be going back to later, and the things that your teacher tells you are common mistakes. Look for words like “thus” and “basically” that tell you what is being summed up. Keep track of samples always. In fact, most of your notes should be examples from your teacher in topics like math.

Pay close attention as you take notes until the last minute of class. Teachers often need to catch up on time because they get busy. They might try to fit up to 30 minutes of information into a lesson’s last 5 or 10 minutes. Write down that jam-packed few minutes. If you need to, stay after class to make sure you remember everything.

10. Only buy books that have been marked.

Obviously, you will only underline something in a book that belongs to you. But if you do it, do it sparingly. Even the best marking is less helpful than taking sour notes.

Students often need to pay more attention to underlining. Only the keywords in a paragraph should be highlighted. It should be done in ink or with a felt-tip marker, and you shouldn’t do it until you’re done with the “OK” part of your OK4R reading.

If you buy used books, you should never buy one that has been underlined before. You might depend on it, but you don’t know if the hand that helped the pencil got an “A” or an “F” in the class! If you have to buy a marked textbook because it’s unavailable or you don’t have enough money, write in a different colour.

Research has shown that how well you study during the time you have is more important than how much time you spend looking. At least one study showed that students who studied more than 35 hours a week got lower grades than students who studied less.