- Is there a better way to study for exams?
When I was growing up, my dad always used to say,
"We can do this the easy way,
or we can do this the hard way."
It didn't take me very long to realize
that the easy way was a lot, lot, lot better.
And the same goes with studying for exams.
We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.
What is the hard way in studying for exams and tests?
The hard way is whenever you write a Post-it note
and you stick it all around your house.
The hard way is whenever you read a chapter of a book
and tomorrow you can't remember what you read.
The hard way is creating flash cards,
you're just trying to drill it into your memory
with rote memorization.
There is an easier way to study for exams.
Step number one: get clear on the end goal.
Get exactly clear.
What is the goal of you studying for this test?
Are you wanting to get 90%? Are you wanting to get 80%?
Are you wanting to learn something specifically?
Exactly what is your goal?
When I was training for the 2009 USA Memory Championship,
90 days before the tournament I wrote out,
"I will memorize a deck of cards in under 90 seconds.
I will memorize a 167-digit number in five minutes.
I will become the 2009 USA Memory Champion."
I wrote out very specific goals.
Guess what?
I memorized a deck of cards in 87 seconds, under 90 seconds.
I memorized exactly 167-digit number in five minutes.
And number three, I became the 2009 USA Memory Champion.
I was very clear on my goals, and I wrote them out.
Get very clear on what your goal is.
Number two: determine the length of time
you should devote to studying.
Figure it out, look at the information,
look at how much there is and figure out
how much time are you gonna need to devote to this.
And what I mean by that is,
how much of the information do you already know?
Not only that, but what is the difficulty
of the information?
Do you think you're gonna be able to learn it very quickly,
or do you think it's gonna take some time?
And then of course, the quantity of the information.
Once you determine how much time it's gonna take you,
it's gonna make studying so much easier.
Number three: read each chapter at least twice.
The first time you read it, just zoom through it,
get a feel for it, learn the understanding.
The second time you read it, though,
read with a pen or read with a highlighter
and underline and make notes of the important things,
so then you can start learning and memorizing those.
The first time you read it,
you're reading the chapter summary,
you're reading the table of contents,
you're just kinda pre-reading it
and getting an overall feel for it.
And in this first stage, this first reading,
if you come to something that you don't understand,
don't spend too much time trying to figure it out,
because it could very well be answered in a later paragraph.
The second time you read it, that's when you're underlining,
and highlighting, and you're making notes,
and you're really trying to remember and memorize the data.
Number four: rewrite what you studied.
Get a journal out, and after you've studied,
write down everything that you remember
about what you studied.
Why? This is an active review.
If you just read the paper, and then read the paper,
and then read the paper, that's a passive review.
You're not engaging your mind.
You can actually trick yourself
into thinking that you know the material.
I recently memorized the United States Constitution
word-for-word, 4,543 words.
When I reviewed, I didn't just keep reading it
over and over and over and over and over again.
I would turn the Constitution over,
say that line, and then see if I was right.
I was engaging my brain.
Another great way to do it is to write it out.
Write out what you're learning.
It's gonna force you to put it in your own words.
Now, when you're doing something like the Constitution,
you don't wanna put it in your own words,
but when you're studying for a test,
write it out in your own words, write it out simply.
That's gonna engage your brain and help you remember more.
Number five: create a memory system for yourself.
Start thinking in pictures.
Don't just see your notes, but see it in pictures.
See it to memorize it.
Create acronyms.
The acronym HOMES, H-O-M-E-S,
is an acronym to memorize the Great Lakes,
Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
Now, the word HOMES helps you memorize the Great Lakes,
but I would take it one step further.
Imagine a home, now, floating in the Great Lakes.
So you're taking the acronym
and attaching it to what it means, the Great Lakes.
That's gonna make the image more strong in your memory,
and it's gonna give you a connection there.
But learn to think in pictures, learn in memory systems.
What if you can't create an acronym
for everything you wanna recall?
Well, you can't. That's why I like the Mind Palace.
I have a link down below in the description
about my Black Belt Memory course
that tells you about the Mind Palace,
and I even have a free gift for you
if you enter your email address.
Number six: dwell on what you have studied.
This is what I want you to do.
Read it once, skim through.
Read it twice with a highlighter.
Then after you've done that, on the second readthrough
you try to memorize it with a memory system.
Then you write out how much you remember.
Then the next thing that you do is you dwell on it.
You get in your car and you go for a drive,
and just think about what you studied.
You just sit there and you close your books,
and you go sit out by the lake or sit out in the park
and you think about what you studied.
You dwell on it, you think about its meaning,
you debate it in your brain.
When I memorized the Constitution the first time last year,
I didn't dwell on it.
I just memorized a series of 4500 words,
and I didn't think about it ever again
and it faded from my memory.
I wanted to redo it this year,
but I wanted to do it differently.
I looked at the sentence, I memorized it,
and then I closed the Constitution, and I thought,
"What does this mean? What are they trying to say?"
And by dwelling on it, it cemented it better in my memory,
and I understood it better.
That helps my understanding, but it also helps my memory.
Number seven: eliminate distractions.
It's one of the worst things for studying.
I recently made a promise to myself
to not look at my cell phone after 7:00 PM,
and not look at my phone on the weekends.
Why?
Because I'm not good at multitasking
and you're not good at multitasking.
Try this exercise.
Write out the numbers
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Then write out the sentence,
"I am great at multitasking, I can do it fast."
See how long it takes you
to write both of those sentences out,
or both of those phrases out.
Then mix them together.
Write the number one, and write out "am",
the number two, "great", the number three, "at",
the number four, "multitasking",
and you start mixing those together.
I think you're gonna find that it's gonna take you longer.
Why?
The brain can always move faster and be more efficient
when it's single-minded focused.
Guys, there are smarter ways to study,
and there are harder ways to study.
There is the easy way, and there is the hard way.
These are just some of my points.
You let me know what are some of the easy ways
and the hard ways to study down below.
What did I leave out here?
If you wanna get my memory course, click the link below,
check out my Black Belt Memory course.
If you're really serious about improving your memory,
it's the next best step that you need to take.
I have a free PDF with three tips,
three secrets that I learned about in memory.
Click the link down below,
enter your email address, you will get that.
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I really appreciate all the subscribes.
Comments, I try to engage as much as I can.
I'll see you on the next video.