A great deal of studying I have found is about what is going on in your head. Things that can affect your studying habits are; not wanting to study, negative thoughts, being distracted, tired, hungry and even emotional unavailability (Which means, well distracted emotionally.)
While I am no expert on the topic, I do believe, being able to effectively meditate can help, the skills learned from meditation will provide a good balance when studying. It teaches you to focus only on one thing, not several things, so all of your attention will be on what is in front of you, not what you plan to eat for lunch, less distraction.
Your brain likes to think, it is normal, and concentrating on what is in front of you is a good deal harder when your brain likes to be spinning in the background, forming plan, working through worries, or even thinking of scenarios where you will be happier then what you are doing. To be able to shut this down and focus on nothing but the work in front of you would be a huge advantage.
It is important though to remember when exercising your brain with meditation it is normal for it to wonder, for a long time, you will merely being pulling in back on topic and away from those thoughts. Slowly teaching it to focus on the present moment, to get out of your head. You don't have to do it all the time, only when you need to focus on something with out a distraction. Letting the mind wonder sometimes is good, healthy, so don't shut it down all the time, let it wonder, in the quiet moments.
So firstly it is important to have a good mind set while studying. Thinking positively.
Reminding yourself that "you want to do this, you can do this and you have the brains and skills to complete the task". Don't think catastrophic thinking, such as "I am too tired to get this completed, I am going to fail it" or absolute thinking "I always fail biology". Instead it will be more beneficial to look at it in a different way "I may be to tired to study as hard and long as I'd like but ill get as much done as I can now" or "Biology isn't a natural ability what can I do to improve my grades?".
Never compare yourself to others, it doesn't matter, all it will do is bring you down. You are your own person, don't worry about others.
Where you study is important.
A quite place with few distractions will be conducive to studying. Your room as an example, has electronics, books and other items that won't benefit your concentration on the work in front of you. Searching for a place with a good atmosphere for studying and forcing your brain to associate that spot with working will make it less distracting.
Bring what you need leave what you don't.
Ensuring you have bought everything you need will save time, being more productive then the alternatives, either running back and forth between your study spot and bedroom, or simply not using the resources that you would otherwise use.
Make sure you don't bring anything that is going to distract you from the task at hand. It is a huge waste of time bringing something such as your phone or laptop that may seem more interesting, all it will cause is hours wasted on the internet, talking to friends or playing games.
Outline and rewrite notes.
You remember information better when it has been rewritten in your own words, connecting key ideas, and getting straight to the point.
Use memory games.
Also known as mnemonic device, taking a vitally important word or phrase, and forming a catchy sentence where the first letter of each word in the sentence represents the order of letters.
Practice by yourself or with friends.
There are several ways that you can learn the information required, or get ready for tests. Writing notes, memory games, practicing tests, reading the course book. All things you can do by yourself.
In groups you can work through chapters, quizzing each other and asking questions, get other people ideas about answering questions.
There are numerous benefits to studying, thus came about the saying 'two heads are better then one", Studies have shown that you learn 60% better teaching then any other way. Friends will help you look at different ways of understanding the same thing, you can help them when they are struggling to understand concepts and in turn teach yourself a deeper understanding. You will complete assignments quicker in a group, and learn new ways of studying.
Make a schedule you can stick to.
The more time you put aside the less of a hassle it will be later on in the year. If you schedule in time to study for each subject a day you will actually better learn the content then if you cram 12 hours before the exam. It is more beneficial to space the work out over a period of time then cram all the work in the night before in one session. Creating a weekly plan that you stick to regardless of whether you are caught up with the work will benefit you, keep all the work fresh in your short term mind, until it is in your long term mind, thus a daily study schedule that you consistently sick to will become a part of your life, as time goes on following the plan you will become more productive as your brain begins to associate that time with studying (mentally and emotionally preparing itself).
Take breaks.
It is unrealistic to believe that you will actually be able to sit there and study for hours on end with out a break, your mind doesn't want to concentrate for such lengthy periods of time, it gets bored and begins to wander and eventually you are spending time without reaping any rewards. Instead it is more beneficial to study in chunks, such as reading and taking notes on a chapter and then taking a break, it gives you brain time to digest what you have just worked through.
Set rewards.
It may seem silly to reward yourself when you could so easily skip the work and do the reward anyway but in truth sticking to the reward system teaches you discipline an extremely valuable skill.
Remember to learn.
It is not just about passing an exam, it is about ensuring you understand the content, once you get past the thoughts of only studying to pass and focus more on studying to learn, you have more fun and get better grades. Suddenly you learn because you enjoy it and less because you have to.
Setting goals.
Having a end goal will make the work seem less tiresome, when you study with out an aim it can often feel a bit like it will never end, your brain will be less focused, teaching your mind the faster we do this the quicker we can move on will help your brain stay concentrated.
Just ensure that they are actually realistic.
Write down all assignments.
The more information you try to store in your head, the more you are likely to forget, if you write it down you are relieving yourself of the extra stress of having to remember it and giving yourself the ability to remember more important information. This way instead of remember bob's birthday, your english essay and the homework due in for art, you simply need to remember to check you diary, see what needs to be completed, or bought. Remember to check it before leaving the house, don't forget anything important.
Talk to your teacher.
They know better then you, that may seem like a obvious thing to say but so many people sit there and struggle, your teacher is their to help you, so use them.
Organise with colour.
A theory has been formed that making your information colourful and interesting to look at, makes it easier to remember, something your brain thinks is interesting and important will be better remembered, the fact remains how ever true this may be, don't leave this till the last minute, get it well out of the way before a test, it isn't beneficial to be doing the night before.
Stop procrastinating.
If you procrastinate your work you are giving yourself less time to get something completed, this will lead to rushing and more errors will be made, if you do it once it will be easier to do it again, so stick to what you have planned, learn to be disciplined with yourself. The first time you put something off your brain is able to trick itself into thinking that is okay and will do it with important stuff as well, be strict with yourself.
Start with you least favourite.
Again, this will encourage you to get the work completed so that you can move on to work you enjoy more, focusing on aspects of the word that you enjoy.
Review your notes before starting an assignment.
This will make sure you know what you need to do for the assignment. Making sure you understand the previous work will help you better understand the next work.
Learn your dominant learning style.
Being able to learn how you an study effectively, will mean you can learn more information in a shorter period of time, depending on what you are wanting to achieve that could either mean that you can get it finished quicker so you can move on to other activities, such as those which entertain you, or it will allow you to do more work that you would usually not have time for. It doesn't matter which is which, all that is important is that you are motivated.
Keep healthy and balanced.
Mind, body and emotions. If you exercise your body, keeping fit and healthy it is easier to exercise your brain around concentration. Exercising has huge benefits, it gives you more energy and keeps you positive, making it easier to retain more information in a shorter period of time.
Get plenty of rest.
We all know that exercising helps the grades, if you play a sport or go to the gym you are doing good for your body as well as your mind.
Today I found an interesting article about learning, it went on to talk about effective studying techniques. Something I found really helpful for myself, when I was being taught how to study I found it horribly frustrating that the what they taught didn't work for me. Why? I didn't understand and I put a large amount of weight on myself, believing the reason it wasn't working was personal, was because I wasn't smart enough. However in some resent studies they have found that the least effective ways to study are the most common, these things include, highlighting and underlining, (Often used incorrectly is actually detrimental.) rereading (Only help full spaced out, reading the same information over and over again will not help you learn), summarisation, (Most people aren't skilled at picking out the most important information) mental imagery, (Not helpful in all senses) and mnemonics (This is better learned for languages, then sciences.)
It isn't that these aren't helpful, but if you are strapped for time, don't focus on doing these, get them out of the way well before a test, they will help in the initial learning of content, but after that there are more effective and important techniques to use.
All of these things are the most common techniques, what is recommended is, elaborative interrogation, (referring to asking yourself why something does that?, thinking more in-depth then the book suggests.) Self explanation, We all know this one, explaining it in your own words. Distributed practice, Spreading it out instead of cramming, (I have talked about this before, it is the most important piece of advice I have been taught, don't leave it till the last minute, you may be able to pass the test but you won't learn it.) Answering questions, rated one of the top, this allows you to go back over work you have learnt, make sure you know it correctly and know how to answer the questions.
Remember, nothing you do is wrong, unless it is not doing it at all, everything helps and it is never too late to start, if you leave it till late, still start, because you will learn more then not doing it all and finally, you can do it. You can do anything, be anything, don't hold yourself back see how far you can fly and if you fall get back up and do it again, until you make it as far as you believe you can.
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