11 vital study techniques to learn more

The school and university stage are characterized by cause a lot of nerves, stress and anxiety among students.

Many wonder: How can I face the study to optimize my academic performance? Are there any study strategies or techniques that can help me?

Study techniques that will help you pass the exams

It is proven that memorizing entire texts from top to bottom is not effective at all, traditionally it has been considered that this was the way to study, but this idea is totally out of date.

Fortunately this is no longer the case **, today we have more modern techniques that offer better results **, they are also much more dynamic and entertaining. These techniques improve performance and learning ability.

Then we offer you some of these techniques, a total of eleven effective strategies to study better.

• Related article: "7 tips to study less and be smarter"

1. Always underline

The best known and simplest is to highlight, with a marker or pencil, the most important part of the agenda. This does not mean eliminating information but synthesizing it, separating the chaff from the grain.

We can also use different colors if we prefer, so it will be easier for us to organize the reading. First we must read the text globally to extract its meaning and later underline what is most relevant and then continue with the study.

2. Make your own notes

Another very common technique along with underlining is taking notes. It consists of summarizing the text by extracting the most important, writing down all the key parts. We can use our own language in such a way that it will be easier to understand what we have pointed out. You can use pencil and paper or if you prefer a word processor.

3. Make your mind map

Organize and synthesize ideas creating a mind map. A well-done mind map will help us to better manage the time we invest in studying and to settle our ideas effectively.

4. Draw

Associating concepts with drawings makes it easier to memorize them, it is good advice for people with good visual memory. It's a great idea for most subjects and a great mnemonic method. You can also complement these images together with your aforementioned mental map, this will multiply your assimilation capacity when studying.

5. Create a file

Use study cards, they are remarkably effective in absorbing concrete data, for example numbers, words or dates. In this way, learning is much more dynamic and simple since they can be easily consulted.

6. Use mnemonic rules

A method or mnemonic rule is relevant when memorizing lists of words or sets.. This method consists of associating a concept or a list of words to a term that is easier to remember and that is more familiar to us.

There are endless mnemonic rules, practically like people. A trick to give an example would be to use the invented word "CHON" to remember the essential chemical elements for the existence of life, that is, Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen.

7. Do practical exercises

Very often the theory becomes more understandable if we illustrate it with a specific practical case. This system is essential for subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry or logic, and in general all those subjects that contain numbers, symbols or problems.

So as we learn the theory it is advisable to complement with a practical case at each moment to understand how it is applied. Like logical problems, an example would be the following exercise:

It is sunny or cloudy.

It's not cloudy.

Therefore, it is sunny.

Whose solution would be:

↓ p ↓ q

¬q

Therefore, p.

8. Take tests to assess your knowledge

At the end of everything, it is very interesting to put yourself to the test by performing tests. The tests will help us to identify those parts that we carry the weakest, in this way we can focus on the area that we must strengthen.

Also, if we take test exams or if we better exchange them with a colleague, we can make sure which points we have missed. So create test, take mock exams, and swap them as final method before testing.

9. The "Brainstorming"

This technique can be done in a group and it is very fun. The brainstormingAlso known as "brainstorming" and literally "brainstorming," it consists of getting together with other colleagues to add questions and ideas related to a specific area.

It is important when we do group work, in this way we take into account all perspectives. However, it can serve in the same way to prepare for an exam, exchanging the roles of examiner and examinee, especially if the test is oral. In any case, using a mind map (see technique 3) is ideal to better organize ideas.

10. Make a study plan

By last it is essential to organize yourself through a study plan. Typically, many students ignore this by making a huge mistake.

Create a study calendar keeping in mind the previously set objectives and the time arrangement. To put it in some way, it is a way of managing itself. In the same way that a mountaineer does not ascend Everest in one go, you must establish your base camps and determine specific objectives within a period of time in order to finally reach the goal. This is the first step and the key to being successful in any subject.

11. Tricks to train the brain

If you still want to squeeze more and better your mnemonic skills and your ability to optimize your study hours, we recommend that you read this article. Good luck in your exams!