How to Study

When it comes to studying, everyone always says that they have their own way of studying. People are raised in different environments, hence they may be comfortable doing things others think are ridiculous. Even so, when it comes to how well our brain can retain and learn information, there are a few correct ways to do things. Here are some insights on how to make the most of your study time, no matter what test you are about to take.

Turn off that Music

Many students claim that music helps relax their minds and help them study. This is wrong. The best way to study and learn information is in a quiet setting, where your brain can focus on the material you are trying to read. When you are listening to music, your mind wanders all over the place. You begin to get your emotions involved, you begin to sing along, you may even dance. As you listen to lyrics, your attention is divided between what you are claiming you are reading and what you are listening to. If you want to listen to music, take a break from studying, but when you are ready to buckle down and study, then concentrate on that by itself.

Find a Good Position

Sit down when you study. Stop trying to read that textbook on a bed or on the floor. Stop crouching or lying down when you read. Not only will you have a tendency to fall asleep (especially if you are reading something boring), but you will find it hard to concentrate when your body is not in an alert position. IF you are sitting at a desk on a chair with good posture, you can concentrate fully on studying and not fight the urge to fall asleep. Your body is not in an extremely relaxed position, nor is it in a contorted uncomfortable position.

Don't Eat a Large Meal Before

Something commonly happens to people who eat too big of a meal: they all get sleepy. When you eat lots of food, your body is forced to digest all of the meal, meaning it must allocate more energy to metabolize. This not only leaves less energy for your brain to learn new things, the need to digest large amounts of food requires the flow of blood to concentrate in the abdomen. With less blood flow to your brain, you feel tired, sleepy and groggy. Good luck concentrating.

Turn off the Television

This goes hand in hand with the music listening. You tell yourself, "I'll just study in between the show when the commercials are on." You will not learn much at all. Commercials are around 2 minutes long, and added to the noise and the urge to look up at the television screen, you won't really learn anything. At the end of 1 hour, you'll realize that you read the same line 10 times.

Read Line for Line

It is tempting to skip over lots of material and skim the stuff that "seems to be important," but you must understand that the text is there for a reason. Within those words are meaning that is mean to be picked up and learned. The extra effort it will take you to read a couple of extra pages slowly and absorb the information isn't going to waste your time. In fact, the slower you read and the more you concentrate, the less you probably will have to review later. Also, remember to read for content not for speed. Studying is not a speed contest, it is meant to be read slowly and understood line for line, and finally pieced together to form an idea or fact. By reading only the outer shell of words and not for the meaning behind them, you are only cheating yourself.

Don't Drink Caffeine, just Sleep More

If you want to be a successful student at whatever you do, you need to learn to allocate time wisely. No matter how much coffee you drink, it will never substitute for a good amount of sleep. Caffeine only acts as a temporary fix for your brain to go into hyperdrive; it cannot sustain long periods of intense focus and concentration - something you need to learn at your potential. Even though scientists still don't know what exactly it is that sleep restores, we all know one thing - you feel rested and relaxed after a good sleep. Your mind is ready to analyze whatever information you learn at various different angles, so you will remember it better and know how to apply the information you learned.

Take Frequent Breaks

Everyone has his/her own "Study Threshold." If you feel that you can't concentrate anymore or that you are getting frustrated from the material being learned, then take a break. Go outside and take a small walk or take this time to watch television or listen to music. Whatever you do, it should be separate from your studies. Have some fun in between your study time and make full use of your down time. After you have taken your mind off of studying, it's time to go back and tackle that challenge.

Don't Cram

If you have a deadline to meet (for whatever you're studying) such as a test, remember that cramming is horrible for your ability to retain information. Our minds can only hold so much information in our short-term memory; this ability is not to be abused. Students who try to cram all of a semester's information into their heads can very easily get certain facts mixed up with others. Learning is meant to be a step by step process to be completed over time. Time is on your side if you start early. Since most all knowledge you will be studying needs to build on itself, learning a little at a time helps the previous information ferment and sink inside of your brain; the next time you are learning about the succeeding bit of information, you will be able to recall the previous step like second nature.

Learn to Highlight Importance

During the course of your studies, some information will be more complex and therefore more important than others. That's just the way it is. When it comes to these things, they will require more effort and time to learn. Finding the derivative of an equation will definitely, take more time than learning what 1+1 is. Learn to find whatever you think you will have trouble with and spend more time on it. Underline main points or highlight them and go back to them and review those facts fully. Not all information is equal; some will be more important and you need to know what will be more emphasized during your time of testing. This is not to say that the simpler facts are not important as well. This is by no means a way to escape from your duties while you are studying; skimming over things that you think are not important is not acceptable.

Rewrite/Copy Down Main Points

For some people, this is a great way to review the information that they will need to be studying for. In order to write something down, you need to know what you are writing down. This is a great way to reinforce whatever you are reading, not to mention that when you go back to your notes later, you have all the important things written down!

Be Accurate

The basis behind what you want to study is not going to be a one-sentence fix. In order to really get the most out of your study time, you need to be as accurate as possible. Learn to pick up bits of information specifically. When you are accurate, slow as you may be, you won't need to review or go back to look up something you forgot. Doing things correctly the first time saves you all of the extra trips you need to make to redo what you did wrong. The same goes for studying. Whatever you are studying, learning it well the first time and spending your brain power to focus on bits of information saves you the time later so you don't have to say, "What was it that I forgot again?"

Take a Shower

Simple yet so powerful. When you feel like you whole body is dirty, you feel gross and unkempt. You won't feel comfortable to sit down and really focus on your studies. After you shower, you not only are relaxed, you feel clean. If you feel good, then you won't have a nagging feeling in the back of your head saying, "Do I smell?"

Try to study in the Earlier Hours

There's a reason we go to school in the morning and not at night. The difference in time between your sleep and your brain's potential to learn new things is negatively correlated. If there is less time between you waking up and starting to study, your brain will function better than if you were to wait for the whole day and start studying late at night.

Make the Most of your Resources

There are tons of references to use out there. Stop sticking to one source. Ever since the invention of the internet, the transfer of information has been smoother than ever (although you have to know if that information is credible). We have libraries, encyclopedias, and a whole array of textbooks for use. Don't just concentrate on one book that you are given. If you study things from various angles, it will make it easier for your brain to understand just exactly what you are trying to learn, hence making it easier for you to study well.

These are just some tips on how to study well. Remember that your body is a biological organism. You need to keep it healthy and in shape in order to make your brain work at its maximum capacity. Studying well can only be attributed to excellent preparation and enough rest. Everyone has the ability to do well at whatever they are trying to study; make sure you don't regret what could have been.