How to Study.

How to Study.

You don’t have to be born with a great memory. You can train for it. With the right techniques you can definitely improve.

Start small; memorise small numbers and increase over time. Link pictures to the numbers and link each number to each other.

Retention can be difficult when reading and reading is a multi-step process.

Pre-read. Before you read, quickly browse through the book. You don’t have to remember or understand anything, just familiarise yourself with the book for around 2 – 4 minutes, before getting stuck right into it.

Then read. When reading, read with attention and comprehension. Don’t allow distraction at this time. If you’ve noticed you're distracted, just quietly pull yourself back into paying attention.

Post-read. Ask what it is you’ve learned in what you’ve read. Recall what you’ve learned.

Focus and concentrate while reading. Your working towards registration (storing information), retention (how long can you hold the information), recall (how much do you remember).

If you don’t focus, you can’t register, retain, or recall well.

When reading, ask yourself; Am I in the right place for reading right now? Is the place you’re in conducive to reading? Take away distractions. Close the door.

Now, browse through each chapter, taking pre-reading that little bit further and don’t worry if you don’t understand or remember what you’ve read. You’re looking for the links between chapters.

Then read the first component, unit, section. Ask if you were to rephrase what you’ve read in your own words, how would you do it? This embeds the written work into your mind.

Visualization is a great way to remember. See a vision of what you’ve read. Pictures in the mind are a good memory aid. The brain tends to remember in picture format. Don’t read as if a drab text, visualise it in pictures.

Draw flow charts, mind maps and little sketches to make the process visual and fun. When learning is fun, learning is easy. If unsure, ask; how can I visualise this text? When you pose a question, the mind has a way of bringing forth an answer.

Note taking is an important step. It helps organise your notes and if done right, helps with recall. Is the way you’re learning helping you internalise the concepts?

You can use the outline method. Not sentence after sentence, but write the title, then the subheading and then bullet points. First is a key idea, then comes the bullet points. Then when you want to test yourself, cover the bullet points and see how much you’ve remembered. Go over what you haven’t recalled.

Mind mapping; put main point in the centre of the page then draw out branches and add what you learn. Use different colours if you wish. Draw pictures. These are little memory aids which help.

Info mapping; for those who can’t draw - mind map with words, just using the same process but without pictures. Test yourself by covering a section of the map and seeing what you can recall.

Take notes that help you recall and internalise what you’re learning. If you already know it, you don’t need to note it.

There are different methods of transferring what you read onto a page which help you to learn; acronyms, rhyme, pictures, association, linking each together. These are just nudges, little ways to lead you to remember. A trigger to make things easier.

If struggling with retention; read more often. Make reading a habit. Don’t buy books and leave them on the shelf. Don’t bookmark and never look at the bookmark point ever again. Make reading a habit for just 10 minutes a day, with the intention of attention and focus.

After reading; post read; try to recall what you’ve read. Then practice mindfulness/mediation to bring to your awareness what you’ve read. Being conscious and present is helpful to keeping your focus.

In using registration, retention and recall - the starting point is to: Pay Attention!