12 Easy Tips on How to Study Smart for Exams and Score With Flying Colours
1. Interesting
You should study the way thing may interest you by linking the topics you are about to study with your daily routines. This will help you stay connected and be conscious in what you are studying. You can try to link the theory by getting involved in trying out practically. This may not be practical but you can try out with subject which can be done with these methods.
2. Time management
Managing time to study is an important method where you have to allocate certain subject or topic with certain period to study. This will help you stay focus on what you want to achieve at the end.
3. 20-50 Minutes
Revising is not just studying non-stop for hours it will not work. This is because brain needs time to for new memory. You should not just read but need to write notes, questions asking yourself or do mapping. This will help your brain to work more efficiently. Besides that 5-10 minutes break in between should be encouraged, this will help your blood flow and to make you be more alert. You can just leave everything take a deep breath or do some exercises.
Another important thing is you need a good night sleep to help you in being alert and absorb whatever you revise. If you feel tired and sleepy while you are studying just leave and take a 20 minute nap.
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4. Place
Choosing and using a comfortable and right place is very important aspect in smart studying. This is to say that comfortable means is to have good and clean environment not the cosy and over-comfortable spot where it will make you fall asleep before starting to study. For an example bed will not be a suitable place to study as it has the pulling sense to lie down and then fall asleep. The environment also need to be given full attention as some will prefer quiet place where else some prefer to study with music and don’t really care if they’re in a busy place. The spot to study should be according to your comfortable and needs. This will help you give full concentration in your studies.
5. Free and relaxed Mind
Starting your revisions with a clear and relaxed mind will help you in gaining full memory of what you studied. If you are in a disturbed mind, try not to study but scribble all the notes of what you intent to study. This somehow will help you to have free and relaxed mind before you start your studies. You can try these simple techniques such as writing down keywords and repeating it whenever you are not on track as this will help you come back to the topic or issues that you in.
6. Snacking
Preparing snacks before your study session will help you stay away from hunger. Do not consume foods and drinks that gives you rush of energy. This will not help you stay focused but will ruin your study as you will feel sleepy and whatever you study will just erased from you mind. Try consuming food and drinks “slow release” carbohydrates which gives you balanced energy to boost your serotonin, a brain chemical that makes you feel good.
7. Rewrite notes
Write a draft notes in class, this is to emphasize to take all notes given in class rather than trying to get a full and neat notes in class but you don’t understand the contents. This neat and nice notes will not help you to understand your notes well but the concentration given in class and writing all short form notes while lectures is on will help you in understanding the topic better. Notes can be written neatly at home and this is the way to test your ability in understanding what were taught in class. Make sure all notes is written as soon as possible because the information will be fresh in your mind.
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8. Important Points
You should not try to memorise word by word but try to grab all the important points.
You should read all the introduction and summary of every topic you are about to start, this can help you to get idea of what you are going to start with and what the topic consist of and what you should know at the end of the study.
Highlighting important words and sentences will help you to grab all the important information that you wanted. This will help you and make you easier when you reviewing and revising later. The highlighted points will help you to make your own notes where you can summarise from all the highlighted word or sentences. This method will make your book look dirty but it is the right way and its worth your effort.
The summary that you have will give you quicker access and learn things which are still fresh in your memory and in a way will help you absorb all the important or points and help you to have quick revision before your test or exam rather than reading and memorising word by word all the topics.
Reading it aloud and teaching someone else will help you gain double what you have studied and learned. Try to incorporate your summaries into the related notes. Teaching others will help you broaden your understanding towards issues or topics which you are not familiar in.
9. Flash cards
Flash cards will help you to save all the important points of the topic u have read. You can set a set of questions one side and the answers in the other side where you can start using those questions to ask yourself and try to answer without referring to the answers. This way will help you repeating and testing your knowledge on what you have studied and what u has gained. Repeating will help you remember what you have studied and understand better the topics rather than just memorising all the point without knowing what is the topic about.
Besides this, flash card note taking is also essential because you can keep as short as you can. This is not the only thing but you can get all your short notes with the important notes.
10. Linking information
Linking information you newly studied with the one already exist in your mind will help relate the topic and understand it better. You can take advantage from your likes where you can use that certain styles to incorporate your studying method. If you can’t memorise you some unique style which will help you, for an example writing catchy wards which will stay in your mind. This is because many feel it’s easy to remember silly rather that boring things.
Linking information in the form of mind mapping will definitely help you get all the important points of a certain issues. Visualization skills also can help you visualise the whole concept rather than just writing it in words and memorising it word by word without any understanding. Condensed notes should always be with you which will help you in anytime you need the information. Make sure it’s always with you wherever you go and where you are.
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11. Group study
Studying with a group of friends will help not only understanding the topics but you can share and exchanges information with one another where something you know and smoothing your friends know but you don’t. The group study should consist of friend who has the same intention to study so the group study will be a fruitful one and just not meeting to just waste time and energy. This group study also can help each other to clear all the curiosity they have as all of you will be giving ideas by explaining the issue and finally it will be settled.
12. Internet
Social networking can be an advantage to you and your study if you use it in a proper way. There are many option and information online where can help you in one way or another. There is also a risk of using internet as many will be influenced by the sites just as Facebook, YouTube and other sites where some will be glued to it to just get unwanted gossips and information.
The suggested tips above is just a few recommendation to help you in studying smart but it is not solely to be followed and it is not 100% guaranteed to archive what you are aiming for. The success will only come if there is full effort is put into studying with positive mind and body. People can vary as a different method applies to different people according to their needs and wants. Indeed, there are many ways of SPM smart studying for you to do and practice. If a student can at least select five or more of them and be disciplined enough to use those methods throughout the academic year, then, there’s no reason why you should not succeed and pass the SPM exam with flying colors.