Hello everyone!
Today we will be talking about how to cut in half the time you are currently spending
studying at home, and how to make that time more effective and smarter.
Besides the tips I will be providing in this video, I have created a printable PDF with
a list of smart ways to improve your studying techniques.
You can print it and keep it near your study station to stay focused and get motivated
to achieve your goals.
This is the fourth video on my Back to School series and, just like I did last year, I will
be providing the schedule for all the videos you might expect during this summer, plus
a few unannounced bonus videos and surprise giveaways that may pop up any day of the week.
If you want to stay in touch, it is very important to subscribe and click the bell button to
get notified whenever there is a surprise giveaway or a freebie coming up in a new video.
For even more bonus content I will be posting study tips on my Instagram and a new blog
post up on my website each Sunday.
All the links will be provided down below so let’s get started with today’s video.
1.
Learn the power of learning in class
One of my professors at Law School told our class that if we gave it 110% during class,
we would be cutting the time spent studying at home at about seventy percent.
At the time I thought it was a way to motivate us to participate and take good notes but
after I graduate I can tell you that it is definitely true.
The amount and quality of the information you retain during class are the foundation
of the work you will have to endure later at home.
The better you understand the subject during the class it is being lectured, the less you
will have to reread and study your textbooks over and over again at home.
By focusing and working hard during your classes, you can save precious time at home doing other
enjoyable things, or even expanding your knowledge on the subject further, by reading secondary
materials.
2.
Stop multitasking
Multitasking is not a very smart way to get your work done, fast.
For instance, if you have 2 hours to tackle 2 tasks, focusing on one task at a time will
force you to divide your two hours into 1-hour blocks of really focused work.
This will allow you to achieve a better result.
Multitasking will throw you into this loop of shifting your brain main focus back and
forth between two different ideas or assignments.
Although you might complete them at the same time, granting you a false sense of achievement
of having been able to tackle two things at once, you will probably find out that instead
of taking 2 hours, you actually spent one more just trying to balance the two tasks
you had to complete.
3.
Don’t rewrite your notes – rather create mindmaps out of them.
I truly believe this is one of the most common misconceptions and something that harms students
more than it helps them.
Rewriting notes can be a wonderful thing if you don’t mind spending your time at home,
every single day, going through each concept that you have learned.
However, the amount of time you are spending rewriting these notes is also taking away
valuable time spent preparing lectures, solving exercises or creating effective study materials.
If you don’t have the flexibility to produce a good batch of notes while you are in class,
and feel the need to transform those messy notes into well-produced materials, try mind
mapping instead.
This exercise will transform your materials by creating visual connections between concepts
and notions.
You will still be rewriting your notes, but instead of mechanically copying what you have
written during class, you will produce valuable materials to help you study down the road.
It also allows you to summarize information that you’ve learned in previous classes,
by relating those concepts to the concepts you are learning today.
4.
Create answer guides
Instead of focusing hard on learning or memorizing pure theory, try to anticipate your exam questions.
Use textbooks, previous exams and practice papers to create your own questions, set a
timer and go through these mock exams during the semester.
As you solve them, consult your materials and try to understand the type of information
your professor would find valuable for you to insert in your answer.
This will allow you to come up with a solid structure for all future answers, where you
can provide for a core theory, examples and even secondary information that your professor
may find interesting.
You can then write these step-by-step guides in flashcards.
Instead of memorizing sentences and strict concepts, allow yourself to create a solid
structure that you can practice at home and then remember instantly during a midterm or
a final exam.
5.
Study out loud
Studying out loud is one of the most powerful ways to learn your material.
This method can take more time than reading and can be hard to implement if you live with
roommates or family and hate to be speaking in front of a wall for hours.
However, if you can get past this obstacle, pretending you are explaining the material
you have to learn to a room full of people will automatically create a flowing structure
in your head, forcing you to simplify information in order to explain it to someone else without
knowledge on the subject.
While you are explaining a chapter to an invisible audience, you start making connections between
concepts that you haven’t before and things, in general, start to make more sense.
Surprisingly, you will remember this mock presentation for days and even weeks, and
as long as you use a good outline to prepare them, you can always revisit the key points
of your speech and practice before your exams.
6.
Plan ahead
In the beginning of the year, plan ahead study sessions and break down topics into chapters
and subchapters.
This will allow you to have a complete overview of how much time you will be spending until
the end of the semester studying to master that topic.
This will create a feeling of responsibility towards the amount of material you need to
cover during the week, as you know that, according to your schedule, you will be able to master
your class if you just follow your self-appointed schedule.
By complying with your schedule, you can use all of the remaining time in your calendar
to do things you enjoy, without feeling worried that you are not making enough time for studying.
I want to thank Skillshare for sponsoring this video.
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I am currently watching this class on productivity habits and that has been helping me learn
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Skillshare is also more affordable than most learning platforms out there: an annual subscription
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Also, the first five hundred people to click the link in the description box below will
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For more tips don’t forget to download the free PDF linked in the description box and
I will see you next week, for a new video.
Bye!