Study Smart Not Hard: What Do You Mean By That?

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This phrase has been thrown around rather often and yes, we all know that we should study smart and not hard. However, with some students these days, they would either Google 'how to study smart' or just stare at their textbook, hoping that somehow staring would make them smart. By the way, I love my students and the Googling and staring statements were not sarcastic comments. They are observations. While I lament at this, it is my duty to teach the students how to study smart as much as how to make sense of what they are learning in school.

Thus, for any parent, teacher or student reading this, here are three methods that I found would help in studying smart. To be clear, I am referring to students who are generally studying in either primary school or secondary school.

Know Your Enemy

For any student who is studying, the number one enemy is... No, not the teacher, its the exams. Victory in defeating this enemy is nothing short of glory and adoration by teachers, friends and parents. Ok, I'm getting carried away here. But, when it comes to knowing your enemy, it is about knowing how you are going to be tested.

Sometimes, when a student fails to do well in school, most would blame the student for not studying. However, this is not always the case, exam anxiety is something that is real and could contribute to either a pass or a fail for the students. I once had a student who was rather average and during her exam she failed her paper. Upon asking her further, it turns out that she was not prepared for one particular section and she froze. When she attempted the questions after the exam, she had no problems answering the questions.

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Thus, one way to mitigate this is by practicing on sample questions. This mitigates the chances of exam anxiety. Any method is to know how much you need to pass or score an A. Assuming that you are taught 10 topics for a year, if you are aiming for a pass, you only need to know half of the ten topics. In my country, we are tested on at least 6 subjects. That's a lot to remember and understand. Thus, you don't have the time to study, study at least half.

However, if you are aiming for an A, you may want to consider knowing at least 80% of what you are learning. The problem is, what if you have never gotten anything close to a credit in your exams? In such cases, do consider another study method which fits your own style of learning.

Know Yourself... And Be Honest

If you are being honest, you would be able to explain which study methods work best for you. If you are unfamiliar, I have found that there are three types of study methods that are general enough to work well with most students. It comes with much trial and error so do try out which best works for you.

The first method is the traditional memorization method. Some people are gifted with the ability to absorb information by just reading. Such a method does not require much explanation but through simple note taking and the completion of homework, these students are able to master any topic quickly. However, not many people are that gifted and what if no information is retained whenever you pick up a book? Thus, you may want to try the next method.

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The next method requires constant exercises from sample questions and activity books. First, the student would need to amass a large variety of different activity books and sample exam questions. Next, the student can proceed to attempt the questions without understanding the content first. The student would then assess their own mistake and write down the sample answer. This process should be repeated as many times as possible until mastery is achieved. This method presumes that by attempting enough questions, it is likely that the student may encounter similar questions in the exam and thus have no problems in attempting them.

Finally, there is the social method. This can be achieved by looking for three to four other friends in order to form study groups. During each study group, discussions and presentations are conducted to make sense of the different topics taught. Of course, some form of discipline is required or else the studying session would quickly become a social session.

Know The System

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I believe that each student should be aware of what they are working towards. They should be clear of what is expected of them as well as how they will be assessed in the long run. They should understand the big picture of the entire curriculum. It is through such understanding that may prompt them to work towards a particular goal. For example, in my country, students are required to obtain at least a credit in two specific subjects. Failing to do so would cause the students to face certain difficulties in the future.

Thus, with this knowledge, the students may be motivated to do well in those papers despite how much they hate it. Consequence is often a great motivator especially among students.

I do have a few more study smart techniques but will focus on them on a separate post. I would love to hear if you have any particular study smart techniques that I have not talked about. It is always good to learn more and help our students to better. Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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