Skills Required to Study Effectively

Right from when we are born until the end of life, each day we learn something new, which evolves our personality. Sometimes this learning is through the people around us, and sometimes from what we study in our daily lives. Most of us read a variety of stuff, but do you experience that we do not retain everything while learning new things? While some people say that it is due to our brain capacity, some say that when what we read is not interesting enough, we tend not to remember it. Well, both these options are incorrect. None of these factors determines our brain capacity. As kids, we do not know what is interesting and what is not, and still, the same thing happens. This is due to the absence of effective study skills that are required to study effectively.

Studying is an art and if you want to flourish at your fullest potential, it is important to inculcate certain skills that will help a student study effectively. In this blog post, we shall discuss different skills to develop for effective study plan. These skills will help the students in preparing effectively for the exam and securing excellent marks in the examination.

Skills required to study effectively:

Several study techniques and skills are available in the present times that one can adopt to study during the study sessions. Here are the most recommended skills that students must consider to study effectively.

1. Get Organized

Before you begin your studies, make sure you stay organized. Organization means you need to consider certain points linked with the same.

1. Books: You need to keep your books neatly organized on a shelf or respective location. This will save a lot of time in the book search when you decide to study a particular topics/subjects. You can also try to label your books to organize them better without worries.
2. Room: We often hear that when your surroundings are neat and clean, your efficiency increases to an appreciating extent. Thus, it is important that the students especially competitive exam aspirants keep their room neat and clean and do not litter around to avoid their minds from getting distracted.
3. Study Plan: You need to have a well-organized study plan for your respective exam preparation. An effective study strategy is to set a goal first. Then, based on your goal, you must create smaller plans, which will lead you to your goal.
4. Notes: Have your notes well organized, dedicating a single notebook to each subject or topic. You must also leave some black space after each topic to add any important point related to the particular topic. Anytime you read something new, add it to your notes on the particular topic so that you can revise it later.

 

2. Master the art of note-making

Most of the time while reading a topic we think that we will remember it, but with several events around us every day, we tend to forget it in a few days. This is when note-making comes into the picture.

Note-making is a study skill that has proven effective in studying through various research. Therefore, to remember everything that you study and learn the technique of studying it is important to master the art of note-making. Even if you are making notes, there are high chances that you need to improve this exercise to implement an effective study plan.

Whenever you are putting efforts towards learning new things, topic/subject, underline the important points, pay special attention to headings, and bold the words. In the second revision session, prepare notes for the most important points. Make sure that the notes are important points written in your language with the help of infographics, charts, graphs, stick notes, and diagrams, whichever you are comfortable with. If you are looking for easy skills to learn, then put effort to avoid copy-pasting exactly from the book. Copying the topic content will not help in any manner. Therefore, improve your studying skills and master the art of note-making to your fullest potential.

3. Use Mind Maps

Mind maps are highly beneficial for most exam aspirants that if mastered will help you retain the maximum syllabus for a significantly long period. It is like a framework that helps you organize, visualize, and summarize all that you have studied in your study plan. You can study and revise a lot of subjects and topics through mind maps, without depending a lot on the standard books.

If you are one of those who finds it much easier to retain the visual elements, then mind maps will work like the real trick for you. If you are wondering how to learn effectively, you can use the mind maps technique via computer or even write the same in your notebook. All you need to do is relate what you are reading to some situation in your life and form a summary of the same.

You can combine this technique with mnemonics to remember your subject topics until your exam time.

4. Readout loud

Yes, you heard that right! In the previous point, we talked about how to learn effectively with visual elements. On the other hand, some students memorize with the help of their voices. If you fall into the second category of students, then reading the topics loud will help you retain the studied material for a long time. If you combine all the specified and best ways to learn, you will experience excellent results in your exam attempt.

If you want, you can also record yourself on a smartphone. Then, while traveling you can listen to the audio again for revision purposes.

5. Time Management Skills

In most cases, the most valuable resource, i.e., time manages students. However, once this equation is reversed, half the work is done. Most students find it hard to manage their time well while learning new things. This is because most individuals need to dedicate time to studies, exams, and maintaining family, and other relationships with work (if applicable). An unbalanced routine wastes a lot of your time and makes you less productive. One can learn good time management with the help of advanced planning and following time management skills. Time Management is a skill that helps a student from different walks of life.

Thus, if you want to study effectively, you must learn the art of time management. During this, one must allot sufficient time for each relevant activity. It may seem hard to follow it initially. However, once your body becomes used to it, you will face much fewer to no problems while dealing with it. You must remember that learning time management skills at the right time saves a lot of time, energy, and worry.

• You need to start by organizing your study and planning the next tasks accordingly.
• The next step will be prioritizing your tasks. This includes which task or subject is important and which ones need to be completed first.
• Divide a big task into smaller tasks and then start working on it.

6. Stay away from distractions

Distractions are everywhere. It starts with smartphones and extends to social media. You need to make sure that you are well aware of the factors that distract you while studying and learn to get rid of these distractions. Here are certain ways in which you can stay away from these distractions include the following:

• Avoid talking to friends/acquaintances/relatives who waste your time with irrelevant chit-chat sessions (that turn unproductive).
• Designate a time of the day to talk with family and friends.
• Switch off or put your phone on silent mode during your study sessions.
• You must use the social media to your advantage through online videos available related to various subjects included in the latest syllabus.

If you can overcome these distractions, then you can get the best benefits from your study plan effectively.

7. Designate a study place

Students roam around their homes, visit the library, and park anywhere they feel comfortable studying. Most students have the habit to roam about the entire house, go to the library, park anywhere to feel comfortable while studying. Well, that might not work in your favor every time especially while learning new things present in your curriculum and syllabus. Therefore, experts recommend that exam aspirants must designate a well-lit and quiet study place. The location must comprise a table and chair. Such an activity towards learning new things helps to increase concentration levels greatly. This way, the human brain gets triggered further to learn, remember, and retain the studied chapters/topics/subjects till the exam time.

While different students have their own set of studying skills and habits based on their study patterns, you must think about how you can create a comfortable study spot for yourself. You need to make sure you sit at that place to concentrate better, increase your productivity levels, and utilize studying skills to the fullest.

8. Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a great technique that provides an answer on how to learn effectively. It promotes the use of a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 15 to 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Lakhs of people routinely use the Pomodoro Technique to transform their lives believe that this technique has made them more productive, more focused, and even smarter.

Sometimes students start racing against time, make impractical plans, and take actions along the same lines to complete a particular topic or subject. To avoid the occurrence of any such issues, you must put efforts to adopt the Pomodoro technique. This is because this technique aids in effective ways of studying in the present times. It is simple to learn and life-changing at the same time. You can use apps or websites to practice the Pomodoro technique effectively.

9. Study in a group

If you want to study effectively and focus on the conceptual part of the syllabus, then working in groups will prove to be beneficial with effective ways of studying. With more individuals in the group, you can review more study material at the same time. This is a studying technique. Therefore, you must put best efforts to study in groups and assign topics to every member of the group. This will help you receive the best-researched information and content right from scratch. Therefore, you must try studying in groups and assign topics to the individual members to research and study. Thus, whenever you meet discuss the topics, and before you know it, you will complete your syllabus in half the time that you had set. Additionally, group study is also very effective in clearing doubts in the best possible manner.

 

10. Practice consistently

It is observed that most students who practice consistently receive the best possible results in their respective academic exams. Therefore, once you have studied a topic, revise it again, and practice related questions from time to time. This will prove to be highly beneficial for the exam aspirants preparing for the competitive exams. Such activities will help students remember all they have read and retain it for longer.

You can also utilize your traveling and other extra time for revision and practice with the use of digital platforms such as Evernote. When learning the studying skills there is no one size fits all approach. Based on your ability, it is important to recognize what works for you and what does not. Therefore, among the many options mentioned above, find the best way that suits you. It is an ongoing process and you can constantly progress and evolve with effective study skills to check what works for you the best.

 

Now, let us find out the answers to certain most commonly asked questions linked with studying effectively for regular and competitive exams.

1. What are the most useful skills beneficial for the students?

Ans. The most useful student skills that every student must prioritize during their study sessions include learning new things, time management skills, and listening skills.

2. How can I improve my existing study skills?

Ans. You can improve your existing study skills with the help of a few steps. This includes self-tests, using pneumonics, practicing consistently, and building meaningful groups with individuals that comprise similar exam-related goals. This ensures that you turn your basic skills into effective study skills.

3. What to do if I am not able to focus properly?

Ans. If you are unable to focus well and implement your studying skills properly, you must ensure that you do not let yourself get distracted by negative talks or people around you. Get a mentor who will guide you well throughout your exam preparation. Think positive and avoid negative self-talk. Divide the available time well.

4. How can I sharpen my brain?

Ans. You can follow certain hacks and sharpen your brain to implement effective ways of studying. These hacks include staying organized and mentally active, spending quality time with your family members and well-wishers, and a healthy diet that comprises brain foods. Lastly, you need to make sure that keep yourself mentally active.

5. How do I study smart and focus more for my competitive exams?

Ans. You can study smart for your competitive exams with the help of the right level of implementation with certain expert-recommended points. Prioritize reading and creating notes during your study sessions. Take breaks and refresh yourself from time to time. If you want to spend some time in the outside world, you must find out time to spend your hours with nature. Lastly, listen to music every day and do not underestimate the power of the tunes in improving your studying skills.

Therefore, learning the skills required to study effectively will help you avoid panic and frustration. Mastering effective study skills makes it easier to learn the syllabus well as per the study plan and helps you crack the respective exam with excellence.

We hope this blog post helps you in your preparation and you may be able to adopt some of the skills during your study sessions.

Stay focused on your exam preparation and march towards a fulfilling career ahead!

 

 

Dear Aspirants,

Take your GATE exam, ESE exam, and PSUs Interviews preparation to the next level with the MADE EASY YouTube channel. This popular YouTube channel comprises a lot of content for exam aspirants preparing for the ESE and GATE exams with PSUs interviews. It includes Current Affairs, Previous Years’ Questions (PYQs), GATE through Questions (GTQs), Toppers Talk (ESE & GATE), Tips and Tricks, and Job Notifications (Job Box).

So, hurry up, subscribe to the MADE EASY: ESE, GATE, and PSUs YouTube channel now, and never miss an update on new videos.