The approach you take to studying can have a huge impact on your wellbeing. Revising for an important exam can feel stressful and lead to burnout if you don’t have an effective, efficient study plan in place.
Finding a study technique that works for you can help you retain as much information as possible whilst making your workload feel more manageable. Everybody learns differently, so the method that’s right for somebody else won’t necessarily be right for you. To help you achieve success in your exams, here are three useful study techniques you may want to utilize.
The SQ3R method
SQ3R (or SQRRR) is an acronym that stands for survey, question, read, recite and review – the five stages you need to follow to study with this method. Let’s break them down:
● Survey: Skim a chapter of your textbook and take notes on standout features, such as headings, images or graphs.
● Question: Formulate questions based on the chapter, as if you’re preparing to quiz yourself.
● Read: Read the chapter to find the answers to your questions.
● Recite: Summarize the information you’ve read out loud – try to include answers to the questions you wrote in the second stage
● Review: Review the chapter again and focus on truly understanding and digesting the content. Quiz yourself again to help solidify the information you’ve learned.
This systemic approach is useful if you struggle to actively engage with the material you’re revising. It can be a lengthy process, but it’s particularly helpful if you want to retain detailed information from a large block of text.
The Feynman Technique
The Feynman Technique is good for breaking down complex topics so that they’re easier to digest. This technique is all about ensuring you actually understand the content you’re studying, rather than just learning to recite and regurgitate it in your exam. The steps are as follows:
● Select a particular concept that’ll be included in your exam and write down everything you already know about it on a blank sheet of paper
● Try to explain it aloud as simply as possible – as if you were speaking to a child
● Write your simple explanation down and review it
● Make sure there isn’t any complex jargon included in your notes – if there is, you’ll need to go over the process again.
Mind mapping
Mind mapping can be very useful if you’re a visual learner. Most of us are used to this study technique – we’re often taught to mind map in school, as it’s a simple but effective technique for recalling information.
Begin by noting your central topic in the middle of your page. Add pockets of related information around it, and then join each of them to the central topic with branches. It’s a good idea to color code your different branches of information to help group together connected pieces of information – color coding can also help you to recall the information later.
Try different techniques
Each of these methods can be really effective ways of studying. Some people find it easy to identify their learning style, but if no technique particularly jumps out at you, it’s best to give them all a go. You might find that different techniques work well for different exams or different kinds of information. Take a trial and error approach, and ultimately choose the one that feels most useful to you.
By: Hannah Garcia