My top 10 super study tips!

Hi everyone! As it’s the start of the new year I bet allot of you have added revision to your new year’s resolutions. This time last year I was being homeschooled with my leaving cert in the coming months. One of my worries was that I wouldn’t do well due to having to do the majority of the work on my own. I feared I wasn’t learning the same things as my old classmates were but my tutor motivated me to keep going the way I was!
The times where I couldn’t study I learned to fit allot more into the times when I could study. To do this I had to practically live by these tips that worked wonders and allowed me to pass and move on to college! So i reckon I should get to the point! Here are my top 10 study tips!

1. Teach someone else.
That’s right! become a teacher and tutor a family member or a friend. Choose a topic that you are either fairly confident in or don’t think you know anything about to teach as you are bound to know more than the person who is not learning it themselves. In trying to get them to understand it you will teach yourself easy study hacks that you didn’t know you had. It also becomes embedded in your memory if your friend/family member makes a joke about your topic. When sitting an exam I found that various jokes would pop back into my head and give me a few extra things to write about. For this a small whiteboard comes in handy.

2. Quick check revision.
I know there’s a name for this, but I can’t remember it for the life of me😂 this type of revision is best after you’ve learnt a new topic and want to check you’ve taken it all in. You read through your topic and then close the book/turn over your notes and then recite out loud or write down keywords that you can remember. Then elongate those keywords by writing what you can remember about them.

3. Develop an interest in what you are learning.
I know this is easier said than done but it helps a good lot of information stick in your head. A couple of weeks before my geography exam an interest to visit all of the places in the pictures in my textbook came out of nowhere and I googled more and more pictures that helped me learn about the different areas. This was only a small part of geography but it encouraged me to learn a lot more.

4. Use flashcards
You can take flashcards anywhere with you and they are quick reminders of little bits of information you may have forgotten. Colourful flashcards are best and remember not to pack too many facts on each one.

5. Have a space dedicated to studying.
I think this tip is the most important as if you are surrounded with all of your notes and books how are you going to take a much needed break? You don’t want to see your work everywhere you look or you’re just gearing up for more stress. Have a space where all of your work is kept so that when you walk away you know you are done and won’t be reminded elsewhere of work you think you need to do.

6. Focus on the work at hand and not what you will do next/what you think you should be doing.
Do you get the feeling when you’re studying that you spend too much of your time revising one subject and that you don’t know as much about all of your other subjects? It’s easy to get carried away with a subject and then regret it later, that’s why timetables help (or are supposed to). I personally cannot follow a timetable 😂 my mind wanders and I stay learning the same thing for hours. And that’s okay at times as long as you are prepared to dedicate just as much time to your other subjects to even it out.

7. Learn visually.
If you find it difficult to remember your notes you may find making up some visual notes helpful. All you have to do is draw a small picture that either corresponds to your note points or one that rhymes with it instead. A picture stays in your mind allot easier than words do even if you cant envision them in your head you will have a memory of them.

8. Use what you’ve learned.
This is a good idea not only for languages where you can spend time each day baffling everyone with your skills by just saying hello in a foreign language, and with subjects like geography or history where listening/watching the news comes in handy in different languages aswell. I thought I was going mad when a show came on the TV talking about carbohydrates when I had spent the day revising nutrients in home economics. I was going over in my head all I had learnt alongside watching!

9. Take regular breaks.
This can be difficult to do when you finally feel like your getting into the swing of things and think a break will ruin your momentum. When in fact if you time yourself you can get back into your work refreshed and hydrated!

10. Know when to stop.
You are the only person who can tell yourself when to switch out of study mode. Stopping can feel annoying when you feel like you haven’t really accomplished anything but just remember that no time spent studying is wasted. Every grain of information you have learnt is up there somewhere, you just have to learn how to channel it effectively and use your time wisely.

I hope at least one tip on this post helps you! Thanks for reading! 💗 Check out My top 15 exam tips for more help! 😉

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