5 Effective Study Hacks Proven By Science

Whether you’re a parent trying to motivate your offspring to boost performance, or a student yourself eager to improve and facilitate studies, this info is just for you. We have examined some of the recent studies that came up with various study hacks that proved to be truly effective. It is not about learning, these techniques are about getting the most out of it and boosting your memory. Here are 5 hacks for you to try out this very moment, so plunge in!

 

  1. Change of Scenery

 

You have probably heard a lot of times that it is crucial to create some learning space dedicated to studying in particular. For this reason, it’s quite common among learners to lock themselves in one room trying to focus and hitting the books. However, a study in 1978 found out the opposite. So there were two study groups, one group learned the list of 40 vocabulary words staying in one room only, while the other group was studying in two rooms. As it turned out, the latter group did far better, even though the former group revised the words twice. 

 

The thing is that it’s proven that the brain creates better connections when having multiple associations with the same material. That is why, if you want to improve memorizing and slow down forgetting, try out learning in various environments. Change the scenery. Don’t lock yourself in one room only. Why don’t you wander from one room to another. This is how the info you’re learning will be enriched with the outside context.

 

  1. Mix Your Studies

 

Another unexpected, yet proven technique to improve the way your brain stores information is by mixing the material you learn. As language learners vary the skills they’re acquiring, like vocabulary, grammar, spelling and pronunciation, or as athletes mix their workouts, so it can be applied to other studies as well. Here’s why: several recent experiments showed that by learning several patterns instead of focusing on one only, one can boost the memorizing process. The thing is that when a brain deals with a mixed set of patterns it examines the similarities and differences. This in turn helps to create deeper understanding and connections.

 

For this reason, the next time you’ll be studying something new, try out mixing up the material. 

 

“Focus on making the connections. Whether you’re dealing with maths equations, historical events, law cases, try to compare various patterns. Still, remember that it will be no use if you are just cramming the material from different topics. It’s about understanding what you’re learning and creating useful links in your brain,” adds Adam Simon, editor at LegitWritingServices, law essay writing services review site and education blog.

 

  1. Take Up Some Sports and Exercise Systematically

 

Endorphin rush has long proven to boost your cognitive activity and help with problem solutions. For example, a chess champion Bobby Fischer is known for mixing physical activity with brain activity. He claimed that physical exercise helped him to get distracted from a chess game, and as a result come up with better solutions by moving his thoughts in a positive direction. 

 

We know how difficult it can be to motivate oneself to do some exercise, when there’s overload of assignments and constant fatigue. However, you’ll see that a few minutes of workout can improve your overall well-being and enhance cognitive performance. Try out doing some exercise in the morning, or before and in-between your studying chunks.

 

  1. Try Out “The Zeigarnik Effect” Technique

 

Are you familiar with this moment when you’ve been staring blankly at your laptop for hours and nothing happened? You start blaming yourself for procrastination. Still, blaming makes things only worse. What if we tell you that there’s a simple and effective method that can help you forget about such a problem?

 

Approximately 90 years ago, a psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik and her supervisor Kurt Lewin, came up with an interesting observation: a waiter was able to memorize multiple orders without writing them out, but once the orders were completed the waiter was unable to recall any of the orders. So the thing is, once a task has been started, there appears a particular tension that makes a person think about the task and encourage desire to finish the task, so it’s completed.

 

For this reason, if you can’t make yourself do something, don’t think about finishing it or how much time it will take to complete it. Just try to do it for 10 minutes. You’ll see that after these 10 minutes, you’ll get involved and most likely you’ll want to continue the task to see it through the end.

 

  1. Hack Your Brain with Space Repetition

 

To put it short, space repetition is revising material at gradually increasing intervals. Studies have shown that such material revision helps to store info better and for a longer period. It’s proven to be effective, because our brain strengthens memories of things and info it confronts regularly and frequently. Here’s how it works: it’s like a workout, a brain reinforces the connections between nerve cells. With extending the intervals, you exercise these connections and as a result the material is stored in a long-term memory.

 

If you want to enhance your long-term memory, space repetition is just what you need. Break the material into chunks.The best way would be to create flashcards and schedule the repetition intervals. After first revision divide the cards into those that you already know and those that need to be studied again.

 

Final words

 

These were 5 study hacks that are proven by science to be truly effective. Don’t hesitate to try them out and see how it works for you personally. Last but not least, in today’s world scientists are constantly discovering new techniques and methods of boosting our cognitive skills. That is why, our bonus study hack would never stop learning and investigating. This is how you’ll always keep up with the times.

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