Stop studying hard, study smart

Man Up with Simon

You have so much course work and very little time left to the exams. The lecturers are not making it any easier for you. They smile sheepishly as they load assignment after assignment on you with strict deadlines as they warn of dire consequences for anyone who will not hand in their work in time. You wish those books could be chopped into small pieces, boiled in a big pot then served as a thick soup to get all that information into your brain.

That is just wishful thinking my friend and life is tough. But that is why I am here — to make your life much easier.

I will let you in on the secret that will make your school life a walk in the park.

Let us call it “the strategy.” The strategy is based on three secret principles and it works like magic but only under one condition — you have to visualise your success and believe the strategy as your boat to success.

Today, we look principle one, which requires that you stop studying hard and start studying smart.

I know you study hard; just how much effort you put into trying to cram all those chapters and formulae. How many times do you read something and one hour down the line you cannot recall a thing? How many times do you feel like you are reading a chapter for the first time even thought you have read it many times before?

All these and the other challenges you are having while studying will not end until you do different things or do things differently. The secret is simple — you have to start studying smart.

This involves new ways of studying that require the least energy and bring forth the most fruits. It means getting better ways of studying other than cramming and memorising things. To study smart, you need some tools (a highlighter pen, post-it-notes and a pen of your favourite colour) and a different approach to studying.

Using the tools

When you sit down to read something, read everything first because everything is necessary. However, you should read to understand not to cram. As you read through, pass your highlighter pen over the key items you come across such as definitions, key words, interesting statements, and formulae until you finish. Open that chapter again after a few minutes and you will realise that the items you marked will be glaring to you. Go through them one by one and for each, try and remember what you read about them. You will find that your mind will remember some elements (not everything).

After you exhaust what you can remember, read that specific paragraph to remind yourself what was being discussed.

 The things you pick up in your second round of reading should be noted in your handwriting either on a post-it-note stuck alongside the paragraph or on the margin of your text book.  When you write down something, your mind commits it much easier and you will only need to remember one word you wrote and the others come flowing.

The next time you read through that chapter, focus on the highlighted items and read through the notes you wrote on the side or on the post-it-notes and you will find that your mind will have a lesser workload because it will be confined lesser and to more interesting things like the highlighted texts, the post-it-notes and the on-the-side handwritten notes.

This approach works best for the chapters your teachers have taken you through.

A chapter ahead

If you make it a habit to always be one chapter ahead of the teacher, you will find that unlike all the other guys, you will not be hearing things for the first time. If anything, the teacher’s explanations will only help you understand what you read better.  This will also put you in a good position to ask questions and to make the lessons more interesting.  The thing about being one step ahead is that by definition, the teacher will always be behind you while all the other guys will always be behind the teacher. Where would you rather be?