Are you feeling overwhelmed by the amount of studying that needs to be done for upcoming exams and lectures? You’re not alone!
Many university students experience stress when they’re trying to stay on top of their studies. But fear not – with a few simple tips and memory tricks, you can create successful study habits that will help you remember everything in no time.
In this blog post, find strategies for staying organised, effective techniques for memorising key concepts, and pro tips for forming connections between subjects!
Let's get started on finding ways to study smarter — not harder.
This post is all about different ways to study and remember everything.
WAYS TO STUDY AND REMEMBER EVERYTHING
First, let’s get the mini takeaway of ways to study and remember everything!
Be organised, create a study schedule, break up your study into chunks, make connections between subjects and concepts, use mnemonics and test yourself regularly.
Ok so let’s dive straight into a little more detail on ways to study and retain information.
Ways To Study And Remember Everything
Ways to study and remember everything is super important key drivers in your Uni goals and professional life.
Whether it’s memorising facts and figures, or understanding complex concepts, effective studying techniques can be a great help in making sure you can recall the information with ease.
Just remember: stay organised, use effective memorising techniques, and form connections between topics, and you’ll be able to remember everything!
1. Study schedules
Set yourself a study schedule and stick to it! This will help you make sure that the facts and concepts you have learned don’t get forgotten!
Create a structure that works best for you - make sure you have enough time to cover all the topics before your exam date.
This could include reviewing notes, practising sample questions, or taking practice tests.
It’s also helpful to break up your studying into smaller chunks so it doesn’t become overwhelming.
2. Organisation
You don’t need me to tell you that having organised notes is super important to remember what you’ve studied.
Random notes shoved into your backpack or poking out from underneath your bed are NOT going to help you remember anything!
The first step is sorting your notes by subject matter or chronology. This will make them way easier to navigate.
Prioritizing difficult topics as well as breaking up long study sessions into smaller chunks of time as mentioned previously, can also help keep you motivated and focused.
Easy way to study and remember things // Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
Is memory enough?
When it comes to memorising, many tried-and-tested strategies have been proven for helping ensure better recall rates.
The old school way of ‘rote learning’ - going over material slowly and repeatedly - still applies here, but many students also find success in other techniques such as mnemonic devices and group study sessions.
In addition to memorising material, it's great to be able to make connections between subjects (and even topics within the same subject).
Making associations between facts can help you remember them better, so look for similarities and differences between concepts to develop a deeper understanding of the material.
Use diagrams, images or stories that link one topic with another - these visuals will often stay stuck in your memory!
Ok so let’s delve a bit deeper.
3. Break your study up
You don’t have to be a genius to remember everything you need for an exam!
All it takes is some smart study strategies – and anyone can master them.
To make sure you remember all the material, try breaking it up into smaller sections that are easy to digest as I mentioned at the top of the article.
This scientifically proven method helps you to take in smaller amounts of new information at one time rather than trying to cram in a whole chapter of info!
Once you’ve broken down the study materials, then use colours, diagrams and other visual aids to help you recall facts quickly - these tools will also make studying a little more enjoyable!
Additionally, instead of cramming all the material into one session, try spacing out your studies over a few days.
This will reduce stress and allow you to focus on each topic with more clarity.
4. Take notes when studying
This is a no-brainer. Taking notes while you are studying helps to make the information more concrete and easier to recall.
Writing down your notes forces you to engage with the material, allowing it to sink in more effectively than just passively reading or listening.
Check out my other helpful article on note-taking here.
5. Pomodoro technique
Francesco Cirillo invented the Pomodoro Technique which is considered to be the best method to manage your time when you study. The easiest way to explain it is like this, you study for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minutes break.
The Pomodoro technique should be used to your advantage to get focused work done. There is no set rule that says you have to study for 25 minutes and take a 5 minutes break. You can and should personalize this technique to work for you.
When you are in the flow and are emerged in your study material, keep studying even after the time says the 25 minutes are up. Continue till you can't take in any more new material anymore, that's when you know it's time to take a break.
Personally, for me, I studied for 45 minutes and then take a 15 minutes break.
6. Make connections
To strengthen your understanding of key concepts, try making connections between different topics.
Pay attention to similarities between subjects and use new facts to reinforce your understanding of what you already know.
When creating connections, think of ways in which the key points link up with each other and how they can be applied in real-life situations.
Association is another key technique for remembering information – try linking concepts with images, stories, or other objects to make the information more memorable.
Follow my five super best tips below on how to create a flow between ideas and concepts.
How to study and remember things easily // Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash
5 best tips for forming connections between subjects
1. Create a visual map of how different topics fit together.
2. Look for patterns between facts and ideas in different subjects.
3. Use mnemonic devices to remember facts more easily.
4. Re-state key concepts in your own words to help form connections between them.
5. When studying multiple subjects, try to find similarities between them that could help you form connections and better understand the material.
So as an example, if you’re studying chemistry and biology at the same time, try to find similarities between the two subjects.
Connecting facts in different fields of study can help you break up the monotony of studying and remember things more easily.
What are Mnemonics?
A scientifically proven method of study, Mnemonics sound crazy difficult but are just techniques that use associations between easy-to-remember words, phrases, or images to help you recall more difficult information.
For instance, if you’re trying to remember the order of the planets in our solar system, you could use a phrase like “My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets.”
This technique is something you may have learned in primary school! But it’s still an effective way to retain information.
Each letter stands for one of the planets in their correct order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Using a mnemonic device is a great way to memorise complex information quickly and easily!
It's very similar to an acronym where you use the first letter of each word. For example, S.M.A.R.T doesn't just mean 'smart', it's an acronym which stands for setting SMART Goals:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound
For more study tips, check out my helpful article What is Active Study At Uni?: Top 10 Smart Active Learning Strategies
Below are some of the best memory techniques that demonstrate how memory work and how you can study and remember everything come exam time.
What is a good way to study and remember things // Photo by Anthony Wade on Unsplash
Effective memorisation techniques
The best techniques for memorization requires you to do some visual learning such as envisioning, imagining and even role playing in your head.
The Method of Loci and Memory Palaces are some of the best study techniques for visual learners.
7. Method of Loci
The Method of Loci is one of the most effective memorization techniques around. It works by picturing a place or location that you know really well. For example, your house. In each different rooms in your house, you attach and associate information that you want to remember.
8. Memory Palace
Memory Palace or Mind Palace works in a very similar way to the Method of Loci. It also uses a visual representation of places that are familiar with and attaches pieces of information to different locations. So the next time you want to recall this important information, your visual memory of it will allow you to remember things more easily.
8. Chunking technique
The Chunking Technique requires breaking down a large piece of information into smaller chunks/ bits of information. This works by connecting similarities between key concepts by association. You can get the best results by using the kinds of memory linked to personal experiences.
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the study of memory and made the discovery of the forgetting curve in the 1800's. The Forgetting works by and everytime it is interrupted, it takes longer to forget things.
How the Forgetting Curve works
- Today- study a new topic
- Tommorrow- Review that topic again, then you would have only forgot 25% of what what you've learned.
- 3 days later- you memory would be back at 100%, so now it will take you longer to forget.
The more you practice this, the more spaces out your repetition is, the more likely you are to encode the information in your long-term memory, leading to less memory loss regardless of your learning style.
Basically, to get the information from your short-term memory into your long-term memory, you need to use active recall by testing yourself. The good news is, the more you try to retrieve the information to find the correct answer, the more it's segmented into your brain. Then you should space out the intervals of when you study.
Spacing out your recall (spaced repetition) interrupts the forgetting curve allowing you to remember the important points you learnt in less time.
Watch this video by one of my favourite YouTuber Ali Abdaal on How to Study for Exams - Spaced Repetition | Evidence-based revision tips
10. Test yourself
The best way to check if you have understood and remembered something is by testing yourself on it. Again, a no-brainer when it comes to studying techniques.
Ask yourself questions about the topic or write down key points that you need to remember.
It will also throw up any material you might be struggling to understand or remember for further study.
Ways to study and remember everything – The next step
So I hope this article has helped give you some ideas on how to go about studying and remembering everything!
If you’re struggling with getting to grips with studying or just want extra help in general, be sure to check out the ‘Study Smart’ area of my blog for other info that can help.
And don’t forget to bookmark my page and check back regularly for new content!
Good luck with your studies! Don't forget - you've got this! With the right methods and dedication, anything is possible. Now get out there and ace that exam! You can do it!
Good luck!
This post was all about ways to study and remember everything.
Other posts you may like:
48 Good SMART Goals for Teens: Students Guide to Set Effective Goals
What is Active Study At Uni?: Top 10 Smart Active Learning Strategies
How Many Hours Of Study Should A Uni Student Do (Effective Studying)
Featured Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash
