Applying more efficient methods when studying is one of the secrets to the success of any good student, and this study technique is going to help us a lot. Memorizing without understanding anything
A classic in exams is to learn the subjects as if we were parrots and forget everything shortly after. Memory is a good resource for learning formulas, specific phrases, lists, dates, to be able to make an
acrostic and easily retrieve the rest of what we have studied, etc., but it is not useful for understanding or, therefore, for learning. Understanding what we study well is essential for the knowledge to settle and for us to know how to use it in our daily life and make good inferences; on the other hand, memorizing only serves to pass an exam and sometimes not even that because it is easy to
go blank if we rely solely on memory. The ideal way to obtain our
eTitle easily and also become good professionals in the future is to combine study techniques focused on memorization (such as mnemonics) and other techniques dedicated to learning, such as the one we will see next, which consists of giving ourselves classes through some very inquisitive imaginary students.
It's not just thinking out loud
Anyone who is fond of sending endless voice messages on WhatsApp with friends, in which they share reflections on life and circular thoughts of the moment, will understand what we mean. Many times, until we say something out loud and tell it to someone else, we do not realize what we really think, and above all, we do not realize to what extent we understand something. These voice messages are often a way for us to reach conclusions that we had not reached simply by thinking about it. But to apply this study technique, it is not enough to just think out loud or recite what we are studying (which is also very good for memorizing); what really allows us to reach new conclusions and better organize our ideas is the effort we make in trying to "translate" our thoughts to explain them to someone else, and that is the crux of the matter.
How do we apply this study technique?
1. Read and underline The first thing we must do, as always, is to read trying to
understand what we read and
underline the most important ideas, separating the main ones from the secondary ones with a color code. There is no need to do it with the entire syllabus at once because it can be boring and make us lose concentration. In fact, it is more advisable to do this part and the following ones by dividing the syllabus into shorter parts.
2. Summarize or make flashcards Each underlined point must be summarized. It is best to do it on small flashcards so that we synthesize as much as possible and focus on the main points. These same flashcards will serve as support in the first rehearsals when explaining later. We must remember that the
summaries must have "key phrases" that, just by reading them, we can pull the thread of memory, and that is why it is very important that we take the first stage of reading and underlining seriously.
3. Start the class Now that we have everything read and summarized, the fun begins: we are going to play being teachers. We must take it as a real role-playing game, and it will be more enjoyable and, therefore, more effective, as we will remember better an entertaining experience than a monotonous one. Let's imagine that we are going to give a class and that we have to make our students understand what we have just studied. How do we do it? How do we explain it to them? What do we emphasize the most? What doubts might they have? We must consider all these things and try to explain each part as clearly as possible. Let's think about our own doubts or what questions from our students could put us in a bind if the class were real.
4. Divide and record Just as we did with reading and summaries, dividing the classes into fragments will also be more enjoyable, and it will be easy to control which parts we handle better and which ones we need to review. It is not about giving a two-hour lecture to our poor imaginary students, but it will be better if we explain point by point and make sure that "they understand". In addition, recording the sessions will be great for reviews or for listening to the audios while going for a run or cleaning the house. If we have also divided the recordings by points, it will be easier to locate those that we need to review or focus on differently for the next "class". You will see how this study technique works and makes studying a lot of fun.
