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3 Highly Effective Unconventional Study Tips

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wyzard:
There are plenty of really good study advises out there; ranging from structuring your study session, to how to take good notes.

I'm pretty sure you've heard a lot of that already (if you haven't, look them up!), so for this article I'd like to share 3 highly unconventional study tips that will bring your study game to a whole new level. I hope you're ready! ;D

1) Learn Psychology
Psychology is the study of how the human mind works, and learning psychology can be really beneficial to help studying better for two main reasons.

For one, learning psychology will help in understanding how our own mind work; like why do we get anxious or what's the difference between an introvert and extrovert. Doing so will help us better manage our own lives, and how to overcome the pitfalls of our own minds.

For instance learning and understanding about procrastination will help cope us with it better. Put simply, procrastination is caused by the rational and emotional side of the mind in conflict with each other. The rational mind wants to get things done, while the emotional mind wants to rest. Hence procrastination can be a sign of either tiredness or laziness, so determining which is which can help determine the best course of action.

Secondly, there is an area in psychology called educational psychology (with a very large overlap with cognitive psychology) which studies on how we learn. Learning even though is a highly complex psychological process not fully understood even today, psychology has much to say about it and understanding how to mind learns can help us fine-tune our own learning to make it more effective.

For instance, humans can only concentrate for a small period of time. Studies have found that humans can pay full attention for about 20-30 minutes, also known as the attention span. Beyond that it's hard to pay attention and absorb information as our minds will stray away. Knowing this, one can design the study time to go something like study for 30 minutes, then take a short break, then resume studying to maintain focus.

Admittedly psychology is very broad area of study, such as behavioural, clinical, educational psychology to name a few that each study it's own niche areas.

In order to benefit the most from learning psychology, you don't need to learn everything; such Freudian psychology on how the super-ego and our childhood trauma affects us etc. You can cherry pick and focus on the more useful and relevant aspects.

Like to learn better? Simply look into educational and cognitive psychology. Want to cope with depression? There are plenty of psychological books on that. Want to learn more about happiness and excellence? Check out positive psychology.

​Here are a few recommended books on psychology that will help immensely with improving your study skills and productivity:
​-Make it Stick by Peter C. Brown
-The Willpower Instinct by Kelly Mcgonigal
-Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
-Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

2) Exercise Regularly
Let's face it, nerds and exercise don't get along. Whenever someone mentions 'nerd', you'll probably picture a scrawny little guy with thick glasses that probably can't run a single kilometre (let's save the issue of social ineptness for other times  :-[ ).

Unfortunately exercising is often overlooked, especially in times when the demands of school work increase, usually the last thing we have in mind is to get out there and do some exercise. As a nerd, exercising sometimes feels like time wasted as the time can be better spent reading a book.

However that is far from the truth. Exercising has numerous benefits and can help us study better. Some of the benefits are:
- ​Improved health (duh)
- Improved confidence
- Increased happiness
- Stress relive, and helps us cope with stress better
- Improved willpower
- Better focus
- Last but not least, keep us in shape

From this numerous benefits of exercising, it's hard not to say no to exercising. Exercising is vital in not only in improving health, it also improves productivity and life satisfaction.

To me, I incorporate some light exercising into my study regime. I see exercise as a vital part in studying. Usually I have a short session in the gym and go for a walk plus some running.

When it comes to exercising, it's important to do it regularly and consistently to see the benefits, which is why exercising should be kept sustainable. Dedicating a bit of time everyday exercising will go a long way to improve our health, well-being and effectiveness in studying.

Of course staying motivated to keep exercising regularly is no easy task. Here are a few tips to help with motivation:

1) Have reasons to exercise. I find that it helps to have a reason to exercise, such as keeping a healthy lifestyle or having a nice body. Different people will have different reasons to exercise. So think about what are your reasons to exercise, the more the better. For me, my reasons are to stay healthy, develop physical and mental strength, help improve my studying and of course, have a nice and fit body. Whenever you find yourself getting lazy and feel like skipping exercising, remind yourselves of the reasons you've given yourself.
2) Keep it short and light. The point of exercising is to energise ourselves and feel better, not exhaust ourselves. Preparing to go for an intense 2 hour gym session and lift intense weights will make it really daunting and hard to muster up strength to get to it (unless you're a gym buff then probably not). Keeping exercise sessions short and light makes it easier to get down to it. Break it down if necessary, for example sometimes I do push-ups in the morning then squats in the evening.
3) Keep track of the exercises you've done. I also find that having a log book and keeping track to the exercising you have done helps greatly with staying motivated. At the end of every exercise, it feels great to have a sense of accomplishment in getting some exercise done, and also looking at the improvements made over time is really rewarding.

3) Go Beyond the Syllabus
In the book "10 Minute Mental Toughness" by Jason Selk, Selk explains that in order for athletes to achieve the best they can, he encourages athletes to abide by something called the MP100 + 20 rule, which to put it simply, do 100% of what the coach requires you to do, and 20% take your own initiative and train more on your own accord.

The same idea applies to studying too, to achieve excellence in schoolwork, it really helps to go beyond the prescribed syllabus and learn a bit more than expected.

One thing I find common in high achieving students is that they are willing and enjoy to go the extra mile, and learn more things than taught in school.

Very often students constrict themselves to stick to the syllabus, asking questions like "Is this coming out in the exam?" or "Do I need to learn this?". Instead of wasting energy worrying about what's on the syllabus, why not instead learn a little extra? It's always better to learn more than to learn less.

Learning beyond the syllabus will help in studying for the following three reasons:

1) Knowing a little beyond the syllabus helps deepen the understanding of the materials taught in the syllabus, which will help immensely in doing better. For instance in Math Methods 3/4, using the Trapezoid or Simpson's rule in finding the approximate area under graphs is not part of the syllabus, but learning about them helps me understand the "right" or "left" rectangle method better, and it's really useful in physics too as they're way more efficient than counting squares under graphs.
2) It's inspiring to step outside of the syllabus and see what's out there. Learning beyond the syllabus allows us to appreciate how little we are learning. Furthermore it gives us a better idea what are some paths we can take when we do finish the syllabus.
3) It cultivates independent learning. Being able to step outside on your own and learn thing is an invaluable skill in life, especially in university or in working life. Every successful people are constantly learning and studying on their own. Don't believe me? Search up 'how to be successful' and one advise you'll always find is 'keep learning' or 'read constantly', which in essence is relentless independent learning.

​How do you learn beyond the syllabus? A great way to do it is by asking a lot questions instead of just accepting information; like "Why is momentum and energy conserved?" and "What is polynomial division useful for?". We live in the great internet age, so a lot can be learned by simply searching them up.

Also visiting a library and bookstore and checking out nonfiction books can be a great way to learn outside the syllabus!

So these are 3 uncovential study tips that by incorporating them into your study regime and putting them into practice, I can garuntee that you'll see massive improvement! 8)

If you have an unconventional and quirky study habit that helps you immensely, feel free to share them here!

picopoch:
Thank you I'll be sure to remember these tips for year 12 next year!!

clarke54321:
Thanks for this fantastic post, wyzard. I'll be sure to try some of these out during my year 12!  :)

heids:
Excellent post, wyzard!

Just one comment, on your third study tip:

I fully agree with this if you're aiming for top of the range, i.e. maybe 47+ scores (I learnt far out of the HHD and T&T study designs and it's the way to make sure no curveball can escape you), but if you're aiming lower, I think an excellent strategy is to make sure you only learn things within the course (unless you're extremely interested in more, I mean!)

I've seen so many people learn huge amounts of information outside the course, while not knowing everything inside the course, and thus performing poorly compared with their potential, because they can't answer more basic questions that are much more likely to appear on the exam.  Assuming that you have a limited amount of time and brainspace, it's far more efficient to spend it on things strictly within in the course.

Just my 2c! :)

wyzard:

--- Quote from: heids on December 29, 2016, 12:35:31 pm ---Excellent post, wyzard!

Just one comment, on your third study tip:

I fully agree with this if you're aiming for top of the range, i.e. maybe 47+ scores (I learnt far out of the HHD and T&T study designs and it's the way to make sure no curveball can escape you), but if you're aiming lower, I think an excellent strategy is to make sure you only learn things within the course (unless you're extremely interested in more, I mean!)

I've seen so many people learn huge amounts of information outside the course, while not knowing everything inside the course, and thus performing poorly compared with their potential, because they can't answer more basic questions that are much more likely to appear on the exam.  Assuming that you have a limited amount of time and brainspace, it's far more efficient to spend it on things strictly within in the course.

Just my 2c! :)

--- End quote ---

Yeah I definitely agree! ;D My third tip is more for those aiming for above 40s.

Definitely do it in moderation, and make sure you already learned the things taught in classes. Learning beyond the syllabus is more like a supplement, an addition to the things learned in school, not a substitution.

Of course when you're struggling with schoolwork, it's better to stick to the basics first; only when you get the hang of the basics, then you're free to explore on your own :D

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