StudyPass - Session 8

This year, to succeed in your exams, you will need to remember a large number of formulae, definitions, literary quotes, scientific principles, names, dates and various other pieces of information.



You could spend hours trying to rote learn this information, hoping you can recall it in the exams.



Or, you can apply some of the latest research on memory to quickly slot this information into your long term memory, building strong, reliable recall whenever you need it.



That's what I want to share with you in this email.


Below are 7 key ingredients for creating fast, reliable recall of information. I will show you later in this email how to directly apply these to your study.


1. Focussing your attention increases the quality of the memory you create. It is the first and most critical step in creating strong memories.


2. Increasing the sensory input to your brain helps to make information stand out from the background noise of everyday life. It amplifies the signals to your brain and helps to burn an impression on your memory.


3. Loading information with emotion creates a stronger personal experience of often very impersonal information. This process connects a mental concept into a physical experience.


4. Visualising information actively engages your brain in reconstructing the information. By doing so you are actually creating neural connections in your brain. Your conscious thought is actually resulting in a physical rewiring of your brain's neural cells! ... That always does my head in whenever I think about it!


5. Processing information deeply allows you to anchor the information to many other ideas and concepts, creating an elaborate mental representation of the information.


6. Using spaced repetition further helps you to transfer the information to long term memory making sure that the natural forgetting function of your brain is overcome.


7. Practising your recall gives you the direct experience of remembering, giving you feedback and confidence that your memory has been installed.



When you apply these techniques to your study, and start to see how easy it is learn and remember information, you will start to make a rather startling realisation ...



That your potential to learn is far greater than anything you have ever imagined



All that talk you hear about ... how humans only use a fraction of our potential brain power ... it's true.



How to memorise anything ...





STEP 1: Focus your attention.

The first step to memorising anything is to focus ALL your sensory awareness onto what you want to remember. Remove all distractions from your environment. Bring all your attention to what you are studying. As you read, imagine your eyes are like lasers burning the information onto your memory. Listen to yourself thinking. Anything you do that focuses your attention will help you to strongly 'encode' the memory.



STEP 2: Increase sensory input.

Our attention is always attracted to anything in the environment that looks different or unusual. Use this natural feature of your brain by making the information stand out.



Interact with the information using sight, sound and movement and you will be sending multi-channelled, amplified signals to your brain. The result: High-speed learning!



But a word of caution: We humans also have a tendency of avoiding trying anything too different, especially when it feels awkward. We think it keeps us safe ... but it actually just keeps us boring. So try something different, step out of your comfort zone, and expand yourself. Your brain will thank you for it!



HERE'S HOW ...

- Rewrite formulas/facts etc on large paper using large colour letters and stick them up around your room.

- Read information aloud, accentuate the sounds, watch yourself in the mirror as you rehearse aloud the key information.

- Turn information into symbols, diagrams and pictures.

- Draw Mind Maps connecting all this information together.

- Rehearse key information to the rhythm of some upbeat music.

- Ask yourself questions, then answer them!

- Replay information in your head while out walking, running or cycling (study on the GO!)



STEP 3: Load with emotion.

On its own, information is relatively boring. It is just facts. However it is in your interaction with information, how you personally process it, that makes this information personally relevant and therefore memorable.



Your emotional state (how you feel in the moment you are studying) has a huge effect on how much is remembered. How you feel in any moment is not a random incident. How you feel is determined largely by what you focus on. Control your focus and you will control your feelings.



Focus on what you want to achieve, connect with the feelings of success and accomplishment BEFORE you have actually succeeded, listen to uplifting music. All of this will help you to put yourself into a highly alert and energised state.



Then from this state, start to load emotion into the information you are studying. And remember: Weird = Effective.



HERE'S HOW:

- Use your imagination to create funny and strange associations with the information.

- Imagine studying with your favourite famous person ... they ask you questions and you answer them. Try a different person for each subject!

- String facts together by making up strange stories ... all from the deep and weird recesses of your imagination!



STEP 4: Process information deeply.

One of the key factors for transferring information to long-term memory is the depth of processing - either at a very shallow level (eg just reading) or a very deep level (connecting the information with other ideas, questioning or challenging the information etc).



When you connect and relate information to other concepts you create a chain of memories that each lead to one another. You create more pathways in your mind that take you to the information you want to recall.



HERE'S HOW:

- Ask yourself questions like: "How is this information similar to ____ ?", "How is it different to ______?". What does that really mean?

- Draw a mind map or diagram that shows how several concepts are connected together.
- Organise the information in an appropriate way eg on a timeline, as a sequence of steps, in order of importance, into similar groups etc.



STEP 5: Visualise information

Use your imagination to recreate information that you have studied. Get relaxed, close your eyes and actually recreate the information in your mind.



HERE'S HOW:



- After you complete a math problem, rehearse the steps in your mind, imagining writing out each step as you go.

- Once you have studied a diagram, mentally redraw the diagram in your mind.

- Imagine someone explaining to you what you have just studied.
- Get creative ... you are limited only by your imagination.



STEP 6: Use spaced repetition

Spaced repetition is the careful placement of review sessions to maximise transfer to long term memory. This is done in order to overcome our natural tendencies to forget information that our brain considers unimportant. Only a small amount of time is required for these review sessions but the timing is important.



Imagine you just completed a 1 hour study session at home in the early evening. Here's how you would use this technique to ensure you maintain strong recall for the material you studied.



HERE'S HOW:

- 20 minutes after the study session, spend just 5-10 minutes refreshing your memory on the material you studied. Quickly scan through the work you completed. Highlight in your mind the key steps or key information.

- 2 hours after the study session do the same again.

- 1 day later repeat again.

- 1 week later spend 20 minutes reviewing material from the last week's study sessions.
- 1 month later take 30 minutes and quickly review the work you did in any study over the last month.



STEP 7: Practise your recall

This is simply a case of setting up small tests to check you can recall, rather than just recognise, the information you have studied.



HERE'S HOW:



- Go back and answer some of the questions you previously studied.

- Give your study notes to a friend or family member and get them to test you on the key points.

- Make flash card with key words on one side and definitions or explanations on the other.









So there it is. Rather long I know but pretty much a crash course in becoming a genius.



The first 5 steps above aren't really steps. You can apply those simultaneously as you study. As you do you will start to get better and better at using these techniques ... they will start to become a natural part of your study.



So give it a go. Try something different. You just might surprise yourself!







Until our next communication...



All the best

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass


PS If you haven't yet downloaded our revision checklists for various subjects, then check them out by clicking here.


Š 2009 Growing Minds Ltd



Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

iTunes U

Yes, I'm a nerd.
I listen to/watch iTunes U as of today.

If you don't know what that is. Let me explain.
Its recordings of lectures in the format of podcasts on the iTunes Store.
Its free to download and has the biggest universities providing free lectures.

Right now as we speak, I am downloading a series of lectures on nanotechnology by Yale and physics by MIT.
Its amazing. I don't have to go to the university, and I get to learn from the greatest minds in the world.

I highly recommend you go download iTunes and listen to some lectures.

This post is short, because I want to get back to learning about the 40 powers of magnitude.

StudyPass - Session 7

How many different ways of studying do you know?

Do you have more options than just sitting down in a quiet place with some books?

If you think this is the only way to study then you may be trapped in a very old fashioned concept of what learning actually is.

Today I want to introduce you to a totally different mode of studying ... one that is it easy, fun and once you set it up, almost takes care of itself.

 

How to use your environment to learn ...

Our brains are constantly recording and processing information from our environment ... even the information that we are not consciously focused on.

The ideas and concepts from each of your subjects, exist for you right now, mostly in books, in handouts and in your notes that are probably sitting in some corner of your room or on your desk.

You cannot engage with this information until you take out this material to study. But it doesn't have to be this way.

By taking the key course information and spreading it around your environment ... for example using flip cards on the wall, doors, mirrors etc ... you create triggers in you environment that you will bump into throughout your day.

An example of a flip card would be a definition for a key concept that you need to know ...

You put the name of the concept on one side of the card and the definition on the other. Write in large colour keywords and use symbols wherever possible. DO NOT write out entire paragraphs ... just several key words to help you trigger the rest of the information.

Then use a piece of tape to hinge it to the wall with the definition hidden, facing the wall.

These cards, spread around your environment, give you a no-hassle way to review all the key information in your course.

You will find yourself naturally reviewing this material, many times during a week ... without any conscious thought of "I must learn that definition".

 

Try it now ...

Simply take a topic from your course and create flip cards for each definition, or for each type of exam question in that topic. Put these cards up around your room and around the house if possible.

Then interact with these cards every time you bump into them. It will literally take you just seconds but you will find yourself building strong recall for this information.

Leave them up for a few weeks and then replace them with another set.

Keep doing this until the end of the year and you will be a long way to mastering your subjects even before you start your exam study later this year.

Remember, studying doesn't always have to be sitting down for an hour in front of your books. Break the mould and try something different ... You never know, it might be the type of studying that you find you enjoy the most.

 

Until our next communication ...

All the best

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass

 

Š 2009 Growing Minds Ltd

 

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

StudyPass - Session 6

When you sit down to study do you find it difficult to stay focused on on-track? Do you find yourself constantly distracted?

Students report that they often find themselves easily distracted by phone calls or sms from friends, instant messages and email, facebook/bebo/myspace/twitter, internet surfing, computer games, television and family members.

You must develop the habit of removing distractions from your environment before you sit down to study. If you don't, your best intentions will always be sabotaged.

You don't have to study long hours every week to achieve great results this year ...

If you create highly focused study sessions, with clearly defined written objectives, where you concentrate your efforts on the critical 20% of actions that will give you 80% of your results, you can achieve much more in less time.

However, you will also need strategies that will deal with distractions so that you can maintain a high level of concentration during these sessions.

So here it is: 7 steps to dealing with distractions ...

1. Allocate weekly study time slots.

If you study at different times during the week, whenever you find some spare time or when there is nothing more exciting to do, then you will find it all too easy to be distracted ... because you're simply filling in time. You will find that the distractions are almost welcomed!

When you allocate time intervals during the week for study, you draw a line in the sand that says: "this time is only for study". You increase your level of commitment to yourself. You will find that you are much less prone to distractions because you have raised your level of intention.

So, allocate weekly study time slots and make a commitment to yourself to stick to these. At the end of the year you will thank yourself for doing so.

2. Define a study session objective

When you write a clear objective for your study session it focuses your attention on a specific goal. You are less likely to be distracted if you have in your mind a clear objective that you are working to complete by the end of a fixed period of time.

So, start your study sessions by writing a specific, clear, achievable, realistic objective that has a fixed time by which to achieve it by.

3. Remove the phone.

During these study sessions ALWAYS turn any mobile phone you might have to silent and put it in another room. I can't stress this enough. Remember we are talking about highly focused study sessions. Any distraction, even a single sms message, has an effect on your attention and so on your effectiveness. Always remove it from your environment before you start your study sessions.

Have your family members answer any landline calls simply by saying that you can't get to the phone now, but will call them back soon.

4. Turn off the computer.

If you are studying from text books and study guides then turn off your computer during these sessions. See if you can do all your paper-based study in a chunk.

If you need to use the internet for research, make a list of questions that you want answered before you start. Set yourself a fixed amount of time to do this and stick to it. Before you do this research, make sure you close any instant messaging software so that your friends cannot interrupt you while you're online.

If possible, try and consolidate all your computer work at the end of your study session.

5. Turn off radio and TV.

A distraction is anything that can pull your attention away from what you are doing in any moment of time.

Whenever you allow radio or TV in your study environment you are allowing the possibility for something of interest to appear in your environment. Remember, the people who put together radio and TV programmes do so with the intention of catching the attention of their audience. They are paid very well to do this so chances are they will succeed!

Make sure you cannot see or hear any TV or radio from your study location.

6. MP3 Players and Music.

I know, you're probably screaming ... don't take away my MP3 player as well!

Actually, I am a fan of using music with studying. But, you need to use the right music for a right purpose, not just as background entertainment.

I will cover using music to study in detail in another session, but for now I would recommend avoiding listening to music with lyrics during these focused study sessions. However it's great to use just before and just after each session.

7. Communicate with members of your household.

You must make it clear to everyone in your household that you should not be distracted under any circumstances during these sessions. Unless there is some immediate threat to your safety, politely ask them to leave you alone until you have finished.

So there it is ... 7 steps to avoiding distractions.

The next time you sit down to study make sure you try all these steps ... They will go a long way to helping you improve your ability to focus and concentrate.

If you struggle with distractions in your study then this really could be the one email that makes the difference ... but only when you put it into action. Give it a try. 

Until our next communication ...

All the best

Geoff Peterson

StudyPass

© 2009 Growing Minds Ltd

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND