Higher Education Study Method: 6 Steps to Study Effectively

During the full period of university and high school pre-exams, on the internet we find a real crowd of students looking for an effective study method, capable of working miracles in the short time that separates them from the dreaded tests.

If on the one hand, I would like to say it, a good study method is not something that works miracles at the last minute, on the other hand, starting to apply it even in extremis can give important results.

So here is the reason for this long article: to give practical help to all those students who feel “crushed” by the approach of these challenging tests … Guys, we can do it! So, let’s cut it short …

Discover the 6 Steps to Study Effectively

And then apply them right away with the determination of an Everest climber.

1) Acquire All the Information You Will Need to Study

Before starting the phase of understanding and memorizing information, you will have to worry about collecting it. The first phase is therefore to go to class and carefully follow what the professor explains.

By following I mean that you will have to take notes so that you know what the most important information is, the teacher’s point of view, and any other useful information. If you want to refresh your memory on how to best use pen and paper, check out our article on how to take notes the right way.

Okay, if the lessons are over now and you haven’t attended them, try to get your notes from someone who you think is effective at this practice!

Remember that, always at this stage, it is important that you collect information from those who have already successfully taken the exam; ask him which topics he thinks to know best, which you can leave out and which are the most complex, and ask for advice. This phase of gathering information from those who have been successful will allow you to speed up the subsequent study phase a lot. Ah, please: be kind to those who helped you, offer them lunch, or look for any way to show your gratitude.

2) Create a Schedule with Daily Goals

There are various study planning techniques, but the simple one, which you can adopt starting today, is: take the calendar, mark the date of the next exam (or question), after which count the remaining days (I mean the “days useful “, then remove the days when you know you will not study). Once this is done, divide the number of pages you have to study (including pages of notes) by the number of days available and you will have the number of pages to study per day.

Okay, course plotted; are we leaving? NO! What if things “go wrong”? For this, you should create a “buffer time”, which allows you to manage the unexpected. How to do it? Multiply the number of daily, pages you have to study by 1.20 and you will get the new number of pages to study increased by 20%, which you will need to manage any delays or unforeseen events.

3) Motivate Yourself via All Possible Means!

To do anything you need to be motivated, that is to have clear in mind which benefit you will get by doing a certain thing.

How do you find the benefit that will motivate you? Answer this question: What benefits will studying give you and which will you enjoy throughout your life? Do you find it difficult to answer? If the answer is “yes”, before continuing reading the article dedicated to finding the motivation to study. If, on the other hand, you have given a clear answer, then keep in mind your Motivation to act and move on to point 4.

4) Re-study Your Notes and Study the Book

The time has come to get on the books and study with the aim of understanding the information and then memorizing it.

In this phase you will have to underline all the necessary information on the books; Once this is done you will have to select, among the underlined words, the keywords useful for remembering and search for them.

Don’t tell me: you have several books to read and does it seem like an epic undertaking? Try taking a look at the article on speed reading techniques. Also, you just delegate some of the more pressing assignments to an online essay writer.

One last important note. When you study, take a break every 30 to 40 minutes! It would be useless to study for a longer time, as you would understand what you read but would no longer have the energy to understand and memorize. Better than to take a break and go back to the books after about ten minutes, fresh and with the desire to do something.

5) Understand and Memorize Thanks to Mind Maps

The memorization phase, at this point, will be quite easy if you have carried out all the previous phases with the right method.

Let us remember that the memorization of information is very facilitated by the understanding of the same! In practice, the act of understanding what you are studying and how the information relates to each other causes your head to already start memorizing the information.

In this phase, therefore, your goal will be to further promote memory in its processes. How to do it best? There is a portentous tool that can facilitate this work considerably: Mind Maps. They are a fantastic tool that makes use of a whole host of techniques that make the most of the abilities your brain already possesses.

In practice, thanks to a drawing in the shape of a Map, you will use keywords, images, and symbols to tie together the key concepts, which are then responsible for your memory.

6) Review And Explain by Speaking in Public

And here we are at the end. It is now a question of trying to expose the information, so as to master it even better.

My advice is to always try to repeat aloud because oral exposure is the most difficult and requires greater knowledge and speed of finding information inside one’s head.

To repeat effectively, you can get help from some of your classmates who, like you, are preparing for that exam or use a simple camera.

How to proceed? Try giving a speech that touches all the topics on the exam or practice answering the questions your peers ask you.

This “job”, in addition to giving you an even deeper and richer knowledge of the subject, will allow you to review it! And the review is the memory technique par excellence, as well as being the easiest to put into practice because we all know how to review.

To Sum Up

Well, now you have at your disposal a number of additional useful resources to tackle your exam preparation. If you have any doubts, questions, or maybe you want to give us some useful advice based on your experience, come and visit us in the comments.

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