How to study for your might be irrelevant degree
By: Ryan Lim
Tags: Study, Productivity, Students, Student Life

We live in times where society has preconditioned many into the idea of excelling in our studies will eventually lead to a prominent path of securing a stable income and status quo . It turns out the statement might be somewhat true and somewhat false in this era.

In today’s availability of knowledge , audience and consumerism a degree is not the only dead brain option to thrive. In 2020, taking the US for instance where it was savouring its longest ever economic recovery since the the 2008 recession with record low joblessness among those with a high school diploma and bachelor degrees. Then came COVID-19’s wrath wiping the slate clean of a decades worth of progress within weeks. 2020 graduates of any level will now be walking into the most volatile job market ever recorded with uncertainty and demand at complete disarray.

However it is never discouraged for anyone to pursue a degree: the journey can be a very fulfilling experience. However with the number of graduates pumped out at exponential rates , never has the value of extra skills , experience and street knowledge been more valuable to make you shine among gravels. If you are planning to become a graduate, we cannot stress enough the importance of developing these attributes.

The best way to achieve this is by exposing yourself to the world through meaningful work experience, reading past your textbooks and putting yourself out there in the world , producing more than consuming. But with courses filling the bulk of our lives , squeezing in time for other hustles seems dreading.

There are many crucial things that we weren’t thought in school . Among them is something so basic yet daunting for many which is “how to study”.

Then I came across concepts that made my learning more structured. Studying wouldn’t have been this efficient if I havent discovered key concepts such as Active Recall and Spaced Repetition

ACTIVE RECALL

Passively listening to a lecture can be useful at promoting learning at the lower end of a taxonomy of learning such as — to ‘remember’ and ‘understand’ — but is not as good at promoting higher-level skills of learning.

Enter active recall which in its name itself is basically a process of a retrieving something you read or learnt . It requires the use of higher-order thinking tasks of a topic compared to just re-reading and highlighting your textbooks hence firing up more neurons in the brain. Active recall has been scientifically proven to enhance performance after learning something compared to traditional methods.

Thus it will definitely be more challenging. The sign of difficulty is also a great indication of progress of effective learning as the brain is using more of its elements and abilities to retrieve ,process and retain the information that is needed . A simple analogy is progress in the gym where lifting manageable weights is less likely to show results compared to when you are pushing your limits with taxing heavy lifts which more likely will result in muscle growth.

Similarly the harder we work to retrieve something, our brains will thus become more dynamic in storing and recalling that information in the future.

METHODS FOR ACTIVE RECALL

Well we have gone through its general concept now on ways to apply it. Generally anything we do that requires retrieving information will work well . Here are some ways we can apply active learning into our studying regime.

Creating Questions based notes

Instead of rewriting the cold fact down, for instance instead of copying down ” Asia is the biggest continent” changing it into a question form like ” What is the biggest continent ?” will prompt you be more interactive with your studies.

Continuing this will help you create a list of questions that you are put to actively exert cerebral effort to retrieve the information to answer the questions which improves links between information in our brains and ultimately our ability to recall that information in an exam or when needed.

Visualizing Notes

If you find it difficult to quit making notes one strategy I used to ease myself into active learning is by first learning the topic and then writing out the key concepts and points . Once you have written everything you have tried to grasp or recalled , open the book to add parts you may have missed into it.

(This may sound like a simple task but personally it felt mentally exhausting the first time I tried it.)

Creating Flashcards

Flashcards are efficient tools that utilise active recall in a fun and dynamic way. Apps like Anki and Quizlet help create virtual flashcards that can be stored in your mobile devices which you can test yourself whenever you are not on the move.

(This may sound like a simple task but personally it felt mentally exhausting at my first attempt.)

SPACED REPETITION

Forgetting facts for exams can be super frustrating all thanks to the natural nature of memory loss . It is the brain’s way of discarding what it perceives as irrelevant so it is able to better work with useful information.

Thus interrupting the curve with combination of active recall styled learning will help taper of the sharp decline of memory. Taking time to recall information every day or at constant intervals decreases the effects of the forgetting curve.

According to research, information should be repeated within the first 24 hours of learning to reduce the rate of memory loss.

Inserted below is the way I plan my subjects I need to learn. The dates of attempting active recall questions are colour coded to my ability of recalling them. Red (bad), yellow (intermediate) and green (great). I would “ideally” try to recall them till I reach green for most of my subjects before exams .

With essence, I hope this write out will be of help to those seeking fresh new study plans. It is a highly recommended utility that must be experimented with by anyone trying to learn something.