3 Ways Of Studying I Used To Pass My Toughest Exams As An International Student
Best Study Hacks I Used As A First-Year
Hi guys, it has already been a week since we delved into the structure of action guides on how to improve your international education experience. Although we took a long break, this article might be the most useful one yet.
What do you think are people usually most afraid of when they are in college?
- Not having enough money to sustain their student life?
Yeah, it is a huge factor, but there is something more unfavorable.
- Maybe it is feeling alone?
Yeah, could be, but it doesn’t dictate your entire college experience. Despite lacking friends, you can make up for it in other ways, however, failing exams and dropping out as a result is detrimental.
When my first year began, there were approximately 600 students, but with a dropout rate of 60–65%, it appears that a large portion struggled with studying.
Or to put it more correctly, they did not know how to study effectively, and truthfully so did I.
My go-to methods I learned in school about studying typically involved spending an entire day sitting in front of a book, attempting to absorb and memorize the information.
But does it work in a university? For a tiny minority.
Personally, I could not study this way in college anymore.
The amount of information, principles, and approaches was simply too much for you to use the same memorizing method as in the school. At the start, I was unaware of any alternative and firmly believed that was the only way to pass my exams, but as I started getting more and more subjects, it became extremely challenging to keep up.
This way of learning was time-consuming, tiring, and simply frustrating. I am sure, if I kept going like this, I would eventually feel the need to take a break or I would be burnt out.
But at the end of the first semester, when I got more used to tempo, I started exploring new strategies and techniques. These not only allowed me to save time and pass my exams but also resulted in even better outcomes.
In this article, I will share with you 3 ways of studying that you incorporate into your study sessions and pass your shit.
So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
1. 25–5 (repeat) or Pomodoro Technique
If you knew about the technique of 25 minutes of study§ and 5 minutes of rest, then you probably heard about the Pomodoro Technique. Developed by Francesco Cirillo in Italy, this study approach helps and already helped millions of students to achieve their desired results.
So, what is essentially this technique?
For example, you have a task: Read an entire chapter of the book for the next day.
Usually, it is incredibly hard to force yourself to read a 40-ish chapter, right? However, this technique simplifies your struggle.
When you read a book, set a timer for 25 minutes. During this time, attempt to focus and fully engage with the text, trying to understand and follow the story or information presented. As soon as you reach the 25-minute timer, take a break of 5 minutes, but DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE.
With this highlight, I aim to emphasize that if you access your phone, you may end up scrolling for much longer than you intended, and that’s what we want to avoid.
Instead try, to focus your break on the following things:
- Try To Rest
- Walk For A Bit
- Play With Your Pet
- Take A Small Snack
- Or Just Do Anything Else That Does Not Involve A Phone And Takes No Longer Than 5 Minutes;
With this approach of 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest, you will achieve the perfect mix of work/rest balance.
Bear in mind that, after completing 3 or 4 sessions, you should take a longer break of 10–15 minutes, still with no phone, multi-tasking, or studying at a pause.
How long should those sessions be for the most effective way?
It’s entirely up to you to decide how long this session should be, but I’ll show you a small demonstration as an example. My usual duration of using this strategy is 2 and a half hours, including all the breaks. This way I can give myself enough time to digest all the stuff and still save some time.
Next time you will have something that you have to focus on for a longer period, try to incorporate this technique while we are moving to the following one.
2. Do not study only alone. Mix it with group sessions.
I was a big favorite of studying alone for a long time. Because I thought:
“Yeah, it is the best cause I am fully focused on the way I do things, and no one can distract me, blah blah.”
Well, despite it being partially true, in the latter part of my study year, I started prioritizing group sessions.
Why?
- Your primary source of motivation is direct because you are witnessing others working.
When you see someone else working, you naturally feel motivated to work, too. As humans, we love to follow trends, and by working and imitating the behavior of others, you are naturally going to force yourself to study.
- You can always ask questions and figure out some stuff together. In this aspect, group sessions are much better than isolated study sessions.
The way you all explore, engage in conversations, and deliberate upon a certain topic will leave a lasting impression on your memory compared to simply searching it up online and moving on.
- It is more fun. Fun keeps you up working and going on.
When you get too bored with your studies, or just a task that you are doing, what is the next action you gonna do?
Probably go to your phone and start scrolling, right?
However, when you are with your friends, you would not necessarily try to do such a thing. Instead, you would start small talk. Trust me or not, but anytime I am in such a position of being tired or lost, those small talks and fun can fully recharge me and get me going further.
If you’re still unsure though, I recommend you to give it a try. You’ll always have the chance to study by yourself, so you don’t lose anything.
3. Do not prioritize memorizing, but associating.
Ok, this is not such a straightforward one.
When I talk about associating, I’m referring to connecting what you have learned with real-world scenarios or consequences.
For example, let’s take one concept that I had: “Corporate Social Responsibility”.
To give you a slight idea of what is this, here is the definition:
Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by businesses to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as of the community and society at large.
Initially, it was extremely tough for me to remember this definition by itself, so what I did instead is I found the example;
I stumbled upon Unilever’s ad about their sustainable living plan that aimed to decouple the company’s growth from the environmental footprint and increase the positive social impact.
My instant reaction was like: Oh, it is that?
By looking at this advertising, I realized how it fully captured the aspect of the definition in a much more simplified manner and realistic manner. Trust me, everything is much easier than it seems. You just have to find an example.
With associations, you don’t simply learn; you understand.
So learning can be different, and much more interesting than simply looking at the book for hours. These tips are based on the one important aspect is that you should learn to understand, and not simply learn to learn.
Use those tips, and your studying will become more effective.
Till next time, Take care;
