Study effectively

University courses Medicine & Psychology
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Here are some top tips for cracking your psychology degree

Study actively

  • Teach “someone” - pretend you are teaching someone the content, speaking out loud whilst explaining your ideas has been proven to be a great way to not only remember content but also understand it better.

  • Film a video - on the same note you can film yourself explaining the content which will help you practice and you could always have it in the background when you get ready/ cooking etc. during exams season

  • Make a poster form memory - getting creative and colour building spider diagrams or semantic maps is a great way to make sure you fully understand concepts and aids visual learning.

  • Make analogies - when it comes to terms to remember , stats processes , or psychological model. Making analogies, mnemonic devices, or little stories around “boring” content.

And don’t forget to sleep well, eat healthy, take your vitamins, drink water and catch some fresh air every now and then. After all the brain is a muscle that needs good energy to be powered.

Right environment

  • Get out of your room - not only is this full of distractions but also separating where you study and relax can help you both focus better and have better quality “down time”

  • A study space - seeing other people study will motivate you to study, go to the library or a coffee shop where the studious environment will inspire you too.

    Also ensure your study area is organised, free of clutter and well light.

  • Consider distractions - depending on your concentration level choose you background noise , this might be complete silence or some relaxed music. Spotify or Apple Music have endless study playlist with vocals, acoustics or even study frequencies and white noise. Try an avoid having tv or podcast in the background.

  • Concentration- loosing the focused mood can be very easy, ensure you put your phone on do not disturb and find a place people won’t constantly interrupt you. A way to ensure this is:

    Time limiting apps or phone blockers, having a time app set for 30-40 minutes is a great way of ensuring you keep your focus, you can toggle worth apps distract you more and want to lock as well as has a timer set, this makes it easier as its " only 13 minutes more of concentration" you need to focus on.

  • Too many breaks - although is essential to take breaks and focus constantly taking breaks after 15 minutes of study will delay your progress ,

    Consider having with you warm clothes, water and maybe a little snack, if you find yourself constantly figetting getting a small ball to roll ,pen to click etc might help you keep focused.

    For those who smoke or vape, having a lollipop , chewing gum or a water thermos with a straw is a great way to keep you in the study loop longer.

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Teaching someone and having to explain it in simple terms is the gold standard in truly understanding something.

Richard Feynman (Nobel prize-winning physicist) was famous for this:

Feynman was a truly great teacher. He prided himself on being able to devise ways to explain even the most profound ideas to beginning students. Once, I said to him, “■■■■, explain to me, so that I can understand it, why spin one-half particles obey Fermi-Dirac statistics.” Sizing up his audience perfectly, Feynman said, “I’ll prepare a freshman lecture on it.” But he came back a few days later to say, “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t reduce it to the freshman level. That means we don’t really understand it.”

Source in comment below.

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:joy::joy::joy: - his name got censored!!!

Source: Feynman’s Lost Lecture by David Goodstein.

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