7 Tricks about Studying Smarter Not Harder You Wish You Knew Before

Studying can sometimes be so demanding considering the many balances that people have to apply on their responsibilities. It even gets harder when a person has busy schedules both at work and at home which limits the time and energy for studying. In such instances, working hard becomes a nightmare, with common results being missed assignments and poor grades. The good news is that there is always a solution somewhere for every problem, and that is exactly what we are here for. Over the years, we have specialized in helping students work smarter not harder so that they find a balance between their studies and other responsibilities in such ways that they excel in both. Below are the seven tricks about studying smarter not harder you wish you knew before.

Portion your study periods

One common characteristic of studying harder is that it always involves studying for extended periods. Logically, this form of studying never achieves the intended purposes for two main reasons. First, going over something for a long time is so exhausting, thus making the student go over the same concept constantly. For instance, you may spend the whole day tackling a topic and still need to go back to the topic another day. Secondly, everyone has a concentration span. Therefore, anything done outside that span always results in a lower understanding. For these reasons, breaking up study periods over days or weeks is the smartest way of getting higher understanding of course concepts. Breaking up the periods helps the information mode digestible, thus getting the most of you study time.

Change the studying environment

After breaking up the study periods, you should now try changing the environment. The library is probably the best place for studying because of the serenity, learning-oriented environment, and the available resources. However, the brain always needs new stimuli, which only means that spending too much time in one place, including the library, would reduce the brain’s performance because it would turn off the brain’s “learning switch.” The smartest way of beating this challenge is to change the studying environment as much as possible when handling different sessions. This measure helps to sharpen your memory, thus, helping with the reinforcement of the material that you are learning.

Seek Different Explanations

People have different ways of expressing information and this always results in different understanding from their audience. For example, a teacher may use illustrations that you find difficult to understand. What a motivated student will do is research further the subject at hand to help improve their comprehension. However, this always results in spending too much time on a single subject, thus, creating a workload for the remaining subjects. In some cases, the learner still ends up not getting the concept. On the other hand, a student can also seek an illustration from someone who understood the concept and can explain it in a simpler fashion. This can be a classmate or even other outside tutors. As a result, you can save on time and energy, while also being able to tackle different subjects within a limited time.

Avoid Procrastination at all cost

It is very uncommon that someone who works hard is likely to put off coursework. Yet, this is a situation that many students often find themselves in because of wanting to handle everything by themselves. The most common case is that such individuals usually find themselves spending much time on a single task, thus being forced to postpone some. Eventually, they face a lot of pressure having to fulfill many tasks within a limited time. To avoid such situations, a student must work smart by seeking help in carrying out the tasks. For instance, someone who needs to research on a topic can use outside help to get general information regarding the topic and relevant articles for the research. As a result, a student can easily compile a substantial report on the subject within a short time.

Stick to what is relevant

Studying can be so engaging; more so if you want to cover everything including what is not relevant to your course outline. Unfortunately, this is the most common result of working hard. For instance, a course may be using only some concepts from a book yet you spend much of your time covering the entire book. It is true that reading the entire book can make you more knowledgeable. However, what is the need of having knowledge that you cannot apply in your field of study or during the exams? In this case, working smart, which involves concentrating only on the most relevant topics and portions of the book, will help you gain more because you will only be concentrating on information that is relevant to your exams.

Joining Study Groups

Working hard always involve covering everything and trying to do it all alone. On the other hand, working smart involves looking for the simplest yet most effective way of accomplishing a task. Study groups are among the most significant ways of working smart. Not only does it allow you to get different perspectives but also gives you much insight on easier ways of accomplishing tasks.

Find a study partner

One of the ways of learning is to explain it in your own words to another individual. This is where a study partner come in. Other than gaining the insights and different perspectives from other students, study partners also pose as an audience for you to test your knowledge. Instead of reading over and over to ascertain your understanding, study partners help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. As a result, this method of not studying alone with help you focus on the areas that you are weakest on. Having a tutor as a study partner would be an added advantage since the tutor will not only provide audience but also guide you on how to achieve your goals.

These tricks will definitely help you reduce your workload and achieve greater results academically. Having tested and proven the effectiveness of these tips, it is our goal to help other students be more efficient when tackling the everyday coursework.