As we begin the new semester and each of us embarks on a journey to meet our personal study goals, I thought I would compile a few different and effective study techniques that, if used throughout this semester, can strengthen your knowledge and understanding of the concepts you study just in time for when exam season rolls around!
- Pomodoro technique
How it works: First, choose one task to focus on, set a timer for 25 mins, and during this time, focus completely on the task at hand. After the timer goes off, take a short five-minute break, walk around, or get a snack. Then, set the timer for 25 minutes again, taking another short five-minute break when it goes off. Make sure that in total, you’re repeating this step four times. After you’ve repeated these steps four times, take a longer 30-minute break. Repeat this as many times as needed, until you feel you’ve gotten enough studying done for the day!
Why it works: The Pomodoro technique is amazing for anyone who struggles with procrastination and has difficulty focusing on their study material. It sets up a structured routine that allows you to focus on your task and eventually take breaks in between so that you can reset and regain focus again. It’s a great technique to ensure that you don’t get burnt out too quickly while studying!
- Feynman technique
How it works: The Feynman method is a simple yet effective technique that’s especially useful for gaining a thorough understanding of a complex topic. It includes four steps with the first one being: choosing a subject or concept you want to learn about. Begin by reading about it and writing down notes to help better your understanding. After doing this, explain the topic/concept to yourself, out loud, as if you were explaining it to a child. After this, look back at your notes, and identify any gaps in your explanation or any details you may have missed. After you’ve reviewed and made a note of any gaps in your initial explanation, repeat the explanation step again, and keep doing this until you can explain the concept concisely and with every relevant detail included.
Why it works: The Feynman technique is great for those of us who may be struggling with studying large confusing concepts. Instead of simply trying to memorize something, the Feynman technique encourages full comprehension and engaging with your source material to fill in any gaps, if needed. This technique also ensures that, come exam time, you’re more likely to recall the information you studied.
- Leitner system (spaced repetition)
How it works: The Leitner system is a great method to use for memorization, especially for people who like to use flashcards in their studying routine. With the Leitner technique, you’ll need to create 3 separate categories (aka boxes) for your flashcards. Category 1 is the flashcards that will be studied every day. Category 2 is the flashcards that will be studied every other day, and category 3 is the flashcards that will be studied once a week. At first, all your cards will start in the first category. When you answer a flashcard correctly, it can be moved to category 2, but if you answer incorrectly it stays in category 1. Similarly, during your next study session, cards in category 2 that you answer correctly can be moved to category 3. Remember though that when you get a card wrong, it is always moved back to the previous category. Continue this study method until each card is in category 3, but also keep in mind that if you answer a category 3 concept incorrectly, it should be moved back to category 2.
Why it works: The Leitner system is great to use when you have a good amount of time before your test or exam. It encourages spreading out your learning over longer periods of time, as well as studying more difficult and complex material until you get used to it, and it becomes easier. This technique also ensures that you’re spending time learning concepts that you have difficulty with and not ones that you’re already very familiar with.
- Interleaving technique
How it works: Interleaving is a study technique where you mix different topics/concepts or types of questions during your study session. For example, say you have two different subjects to study for: History and Chemistry. Interleaving means you’d pick a few concepts that you’re having trouble with from both subjects and alternate between the two. Additionally, interleaving can also mean switching between concepts in the same subject, like math for example. You could mix together different types of math problems and concepts so that you have a stronger overall understanding of the subject.
Why it works: Interleaving is a great technique to use because it improves your focus on the concepts you’re studying, since it ensures that you won’t become bored or distracted by studying one topic for too long. It also allows you to identify connections between concepts and to apply your knowledge to different situations like with differing math problems, for example.
Overall, each of these techniques helps to improve a plethora of specific issues that we all often run into during our studying routines. Whether that issue is procrastination, losing focus, struggling to understand a complex concept, or feeling overwhelmed in the face of a large amount of content to learn — fear not, there’s a technique out there that can help you overcome this! I hope that the study methods listed here can be put to good use by anybody who may be struggling with any of the above-mentioned issues. Happy studying!