October 23, 2018

How to study effectively and ace your exams with these 5 simple tips from a psychologist.

It is easy to become overwhelmed by school assignments, tests and revision. If you find yourself forgetting what you have studied, it may be that you are not studying effectively. Dr. Andrew Adler, the Director of and Clinical Psychologist at the Adler Family Centre, recommends the following five tips for more successful revision:

• Make a study schedule. “A good way to increase productivity during a study session is to write a schedule of what needs to be accomplished and how long you expect each assignment to take,” says Dr. Adler.
• Study consistently. Studying consistently is especially important for longer courses. If you revisit topics regularly throughout the course, you won’t spend the weeks before your exams struggling to recall concepts that you learned a year or more ago.
• Stay organised. Ensure you keep all your notes, worksheets and assignments organised and in one place so that you can easily refer to them later. When you are taking notes, be sure to write them down in a structured manner and highlight key points.
• Study actively, not passively. Active learning can help your brain retain important information. One technique is to associate the content you are studying with an example from your own experience.
• Keep study sessions varied. If you start to feel a lag in your revision, sometimes a change is as good as a rest. “Some recent and important research has found that varying the way in which a person learns a new skill helps in its development,” says Dr. Adler.