The key reason why we learn slow is due to ineffective studying. You can spend all the time in the world trying to read and re-read, but you will gain almost nothing. You don’t need to dedicate long hours trying to study or understand a particular concept.
To make your study more effective, here are 3 key factors you need to consider:
1. Your learning style:
As one person differs from the other both in physical appearance and behavior, so does our reasoning pattern. Firstly, you should find out what your learning style is. Whether you learn best by seeing(visual learner), hearing(auditory learner) or doing (kinesthetic? Learner). Now, realize that you can and should do multiple different ones, especially if you’re like me and learn best by all three.
The fact that there are all these different kinds of learners is why teachers make you listen to, see the board and make notes on the lecture.
Knowing all this doesn’t help you much… Using it does.
2. Your Reading Strategy:
Pre-read (skim, look at titles and pictures, look at summary and review questions). Ask questions. Anything you don’t know already after looking at the pre-reading, ask about it. Out loud or write them down. When you find the answer, it will stick in your brain a lot better.
Read a CHUNK. Not a chapter, not even a page, read a paragraph or two. Your short term memory holds seven things for a thirty seconds or so. Anything you read in the last thirty seconds in all you have.
Take notes over your sevenish things about your chunk. If you can’t remember something from your chunk, your chunk is too big. Repeat chunking/noting until your break.
3. Taking Breaks
You are effective for a hour. That’s about it. Unless you take a 5-10 minute break, then you can’t work effectively next hour. After that next hour is time for a real break. About the time to finish an episode of TV. Then you can work again if you still need to finish. I would think after two hours though, that you should be done with that night’s reading. This is not necessarily true if you’re a slow writer or reader or if you haven’t done this method before.
Repeated exposure over time. Cramming all night doesn’t work. Effective bedtimes are important and the slowness of learning mean that you won’t remember as much as you’d need to to pass the test.
There’s probably more, but I have to get to pause for now.
Good luck with your quest
