My cousin is currently studying for her O Levels and she asked me to give her some tips on different ways to study. I thought I might as well post this up because I know there are a lot of people who are struggling with their studies and are maybe too shy or scared to ask for help.
For those of you who feel like there's no hope for you and you're just a failure I'll tell you this; been there done that. I really struggled.
I felt like a failure because I was always the one being left behind while my friends moved on. I'm about 2 years behind my friends from high school but in the end I finally made it. I'm finally in university doing my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and I'm bloody proud of myself.
There were so many time where I wanted to give up because I thought I would never make it but here I am. Well enough of the sob story but before I continue I just need to say, as always, these techniques might not work for you. This is what worked for me and I would just like to share them because maybe they might be a huge help to some of you. So let's get to the point here.
1) When studying for exams you need to understand that not every subject needs to be studied in the same way. For Maths, it's all about taking worksheets and practicing over and over again because Maths isn't about memory work, it's about understanding. Now History for example is the opposite, it's all about memorizing and repeating it to yourself until you can hear yourself saying it in your head.
2) Whatever you do DO NOT study a week before the exams. You need to give your brain time to absorb all the information. Studying a week before the exams is going to stress you out even more and you'll remember even less than what you would normally absorb. You're not going to remember everything you study anyway and chances are you'll forget half of it. I like to study about a month before the exams because I can take my time and really focus on all of my modules. If you're studying for your O or A levels I would suggest studying maybe a couple of months before or maybe even 3 months before. Why? Because you have so many subjects to study for at once.
3) What I usually do when I actually get down to studying is writing everything down with the titles and different coloured highlighters. 1 colour for the titles, 1 colour for definitions and so on. This is why you need to take a few months to study because writing everything down can take a long time and that's just writing down notes. When you write notes you're refreshing your memory of what you learnt throughout the year but obviously that's not enough because you're not committing to memory.
4) When writing notes, write key words or phrases because sometimes there's just information that you don't need to know or information that you can just avoid writing. Key words will stick out more when you're trying to remember them than trying to remember a whole paragraph by heart.
5) When writing notes, try to write a little larger than you usually do. This will also help the words stick out in your mind because they're clearer. Spread everything out to make the different information obvious. Cramming everything next to each other to save space can cause you to confuse the information.
6) Once you've written everything down, it's time to just sit down and memorize. It's all about repetition and engraving the information into your memory. Now I don't mean just read it over to yourself, I'm talking about reading it out loud, covering what you just read and see how much you can remember and keep doing it until you get the whole thing right.
7) Sometimes I get bored of studying at home. I see the same room day in day out for days on end so sometimes I study in different places. I'm not sure about other countries, but in Singapore I like going to Starbucks or other cafes to study. If your friends are committed to studying then go to each other's houses.
8) My last and most important tip of all is to get plenty of rest and eat healthy. Drink lots of water and take your vitamins. Studying causes stress, some more than others. As important as your studies are, your health is more important. If you're really tired or feeling sick then stop studying. If you're studying while you're sick or exhausted, you're just wasting your time because you're not recovering and you're not gonna remember anything.
Now please don't take what I said for granted. I do encourage breaks and stopping early to sleep at a decent time BUT DO NOT USE THESE AS EXCUSES TO GET AWAY FROM STUDYING!! Never give up and soldier on. I believe in all of you.
If you would like more general tips click on this link; http://natashakissaun.blogspot.sg/2015/01/study-tips.html
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