We all know the benefits of healthy habits in our lives, such as exercising, eating healthy, or sleeping 8 hours a day. However, very few times we are aware of practicing good study habits, something that is not only necessary when we are in the student stage, for example, sometimes we are discouraged from reading a book that attracted our attention just because we see it bulky, but, a good reading habit would allow us to finish it just by reading the same number of pages every day.
In the same way, study habits would allow us to memorize concepts and convert the information given in a class or taken from a book into replicable knowledge.
Study habits allow us to convert information into learning. Image credit: pxhere.com.
And what are study habits?
They are the strategies or behaviors that are practiced regularly to improve the ability to acquire and consolidate knowledge.
Thus, study habits focus on how various means are strategically employed to assimilate learning and avoid distractions that disrupt the learning process.
Good study habits
Under the above definition, we can put into practice various habits to better perceive what is given in a class, especially under the current context of the pandemic that has driven virtual classes and remote training. Some of my tips are:
Organize your time
Perhaps it is not the first time you have been mentioned, it is one of the most constant tips, however, it is the most difficult to put into practice because we live in a very hectic world, at least in mine to establish a schedule is sometimes difficult, but when we need to study, it is necessary to quantify our time, establish how much time we will devote to daily activities in order to set aside the time needed for a constant study.
Organizing our time is very important to be consistent in our studies. Image credit: pixabay.com.
To make the most of the time we need, as far as possible, to make a schedule and quantify the time for sleep, work, food, study, and even leisure, and if we have 4 or 6 hours free after performing all the activities that we consider vital, we can have two hours to review and revise our learning material.
Organizing our time is fundamental to establishing a good study habit, especially when we must combine our studies with other types of activities, such as work and home care.
Spaced Review
Has it ever happened to you that after attending a class or receiving a new piece of information you can only remember very little after a short time? Sometimes it is not enough to perfectly assimilate certain information because it is not so easily stored in our long-term memory.
For us to be able to fix certain knowledge permanently in our brain, two processes must take place: receiving quality instruction and repetition. The problem when we are students is that sometimes we can be overconfident, and as a result, time gets away from us and we end up trying to study everything one day before the test, as a result, we soon forget what we have learned.
The reality is that we need to learn and then review our notes and other resources at certain time intervals. It is not about studying the same subject every day, as we could fall into the habit of memorization, but reviewing frequently but with certain time slots, what we can call spaced review.
Spaced review is more effective than accumulating a lot of information at one time. Image credit: pxhere.com.
This study technique will allow us to retain more information for longer than if we only accumulate a lot of information in a single intensive study session.
Use a study technique
Not all of us learn in the same way, nor all the contents are assimilated in the same way, for example, memorization would not help us to solve a mathematical problem, but it would help us to remember the bones of the body. So you must find the technique that best suits your requirements, some techniques such as comprehensive reading, schemes and concept maps, mnemonic rules, and explaining what has been learned are strategies that have proven to be very effective for students.
There are many effective study techniques that we can apply. Image credit: pixabay.com.
It is also important to take into account some other considerations, for example, a lighted and quiet space will help us to concentrate better, and take into account the breaks, sometimes it is good to rest about 5 minutes between study sessions of 30 minutes, as well as adequate sleep, which is very beneficial for our long-term memory.
Well friends these are just some tips, remember that having study habits is very important to achieve meaningful learning, whether we are in a process of academic training or training on our own. See you next time!