Study Tips

Studying. Many people hate to do it. Unfortunately, all of us will have to study at some point in our lives. Whether it's for school, work, or an entrance exam, studying will be beneficial to us all. If we fail to study we have taken our future out of our own hands and given it to chance. Maybe you will get some questions right, and maybe you won't. In order to be successful it is best to prepare for the future and study. Here are a few tips to help with studying and test taking.

Before you begin to study, you should know how you learn best. Some people learn best when they see something. Others need to hear it. If you need to see something to really understand it, review any notes you may have. Rewrite them in a format that works best for you. As you rewrite them you are helping yourself to study. If you need to hear something to really understand it, get a tape recorder and record your notes into it. When you're driving in the car or have a little bit of extra time, play your recording. This is a great way for auditory learners to study.

When you have a list of words or an idea to remember, come up with an acrostic. This is when you take the first letter of each word you need to remember and make your own sentence out of it. Most of us have used acrostics at some point. One common example of this is Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, which is used for the order of operations in mathematical problems.

Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to study, and don't try to cram all of the information the night before the test. This is very ineffective! Study new material for a short period of time nightly. If you do a nightly review the information will stay fresh on your mind.

When it comes time for the test relax. You've prepared for it and you don't want to rush and make a mistake. Make sure you answer all of the questions. If you are taking a multiple choice test where you have to bubble in the correct answer, make sure you are on the right line and you don't accidentally bubble two on one answer line. Don't second-guess yourself. Your first choice is usually the right answer. If you get to a question you don't know, rule out any answers that are definitely not right. From there you should be able to narrow it down and, if nothing else, make an educated guess.

Next time you are preparing for a test use these study tips.

Good Luck!