While some people might tell you what the right way of studying is, the truth is, studying is not a science. There is no one-fits-all method of studying and getting good grades. We are all born with different capacities, different weaknesses, and different strengths. What works for one individual may not be very effective for the other.
However, there are a few hacks that may prove to be helpful for all, if you are seeking to score better on your next exam, here are a few secrets to getting good grades.
Stay Motivated:
While studying, we often lose the motivation to study and simply do so to get the task done. Studying just for the sake of it, without any proper motivation, may prevent you from studying the best you can. The chances of you forgetting what you have studied are a lot higher, and the likelihood of you properly understanding the topics is lower.
So when you sit down to study, make sure you are motivated enough. The best way to ensure this is to start studying with a topic of your interest as it is easier to take an interest in what you study this way. After a while, your brain is simply in the studying mode, and you can switch to studying other topics, with just as much interest.
Find A Good Tutor:
While studying on your own may sound like a good idea, there are always a few topics that you need extra help with. Your teachers at school may try to provide that help, but they may not be able to give you the individual attention that you need.
Getting a tutor, for this purpose, can do wonders. So, home tuition is an excellent way of ensuring that you have a good understanding of all your courses and topics with all the due attention that you need. A good tutor will not only help you understand topics that you have trouble with but also help you figure out where your weaknesses lay, and help you work on them.
Revision Is Always Necessary:
There is always that one subject or course that we think we have a perfect grip over. Given that, we skip revision before an exam or test. Or maybe, we feel like we haven’t studied enough and spend all of our time learning new topics, leaving no time at all for revision. Skipping revision, in either case, is wrong.
No matter how well you’ve studied or how much there is left to study, make sure that you leave sufficient time for revision. It is necessary if you want to remember all the little details that you studied earlier. And it doesn’t necessarily require going over the entire topic again, but merely skimming through pages to remind yourself all that you have studied. Just taking an hour or 45 minutes to revise can make all the difference.
Take Breaks:
When you have a final exam coming up, and you have loads of new topics to study and even a more significant load of revision to do, taking breaks may seem like a wrong decision. But it isn’t, on the contrary, taking breaks in between can help you study better and get a lot more done in the same amount of time.
We might think that taking a break would waste time, but according to research, these breaks help reduce stress and increase productivity. Taking a 15-20 minute break in between hour-long sessions of studying can allow you to study better when you get back to your books.
Highlight As You Read:
While it may seem like one of the fundamental things to do while studying, but highlighting important points while you read, help a lot more than you think it does. When you highlight a point, it helps you remember it in more than one way.
When you stop to highlight something that you think is important, you slowly read it over again as you highlight it. The act, in itself, helps you remember what you are highlighting. Later, when you are revising, you can simply read the highlighted parts, instead of reading the whole text. It allows you to save time and get more revision done, ensuring that you have covered all the essential points.
Group Discussions Can Help You Learn More:
There are different ways to study. While some like to study on their own, others prefer doing so in a group. But just because you like studying alone doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from group discussions. The trick is to study on your own and then, in a group, discuss all that you have studied.
There are two advantages to doing this. First, a discussion is more likely to stick in your head than a text that you read. Therefore, a discussion allows easier retaining of topics. The other advantage is that your friends may have picked up an important detail that you may have missed, or vice versa. So while discussing, a lot of such points may be shared, which would eventually help you in your exam.
Make Sure You Are Well Rested:
We have all pulled all-nighters before an exam, staying awake throughout the night just to make sure we have studied enough for the exam. Doing so often makes us feel accomplished in the sense that we have studied enough for the exam. But does it help more than getting enough sleep?
The truth is, no, it doesn’t. Without sufficient sleep, everything that you have studied may go to waste. Getting enough sleep not only enhances your ability to retain what you have studied but also makes it easier to recall during an exam. If you haven’t rested enough, you may have finished reading through all your topics, but the likelihood of you remembering those topics is a lot less. So do yourself a favor, and get some rest.
Conclusion:
These are just some of the many ways with which you can score a better grade. But what we all need to remember is that it may not work for everyone. Our brains function in different ways, and different methods work for different people. If you feel like you haven’t figured out what works the best for you, all you need is to adopt the trial and error method till you figure out what’s right for you.