No matter where you are in life, you may come across a subject that is difficult to understand. Learning new things can be time-consuming, but what if you don’t have much free time? We’ve compiled a list of ways you can speed up the learning process.
Now see how to excel in challenging subjects!
Strategies for mastering difficult subjects:
Separate the information into chunks
This can help you absorb information faster. For example, if you’re learning a new language, you could break it into nouns, verbs, adjectives, and tenses. It makes the information feel less overwhelming and provides a path forward on how to study it. If you are learning from a textbook, it may be organized like this already.
Make small learning goals for yourself
Make your goals specific and time-bound to cover the most ground. It will help you break down the subject so you are not overwhelmed by a large body of knowledge. You could also set smaller goals over the weeks to work up toward learning an entire subject.
● For example, if you’re studying maths, try setting a goal to master basic algebra by next week. Then you can move on to more difficult concepts like calculus.
● You can also divide things up by chapter in a textbook.
Take notes
They will help you remember the material. Great notes make studying a lot easier. Listen to the information presented and write it down in your own words. Instead of writing complete sentences, write down key information in short phrases. Leave spaces in your notes for future comments or questions.
● For example, rather than writing down, “The food chain is a hierarchical series of organisms, each dependent on the next as a source of food,” you could write, “Food chain: series of organisms eating each other.”
● Try to create a shorthand that is simple to write down and understand. For example, if you’re learning about chemistry, you could abbreviate catalyst as cat, chromatography as chrom, or stoichiometry as stoich.
● If you’re taking notes on how to do something sequentially, such as solving a maths problem, write them down in steps. This makes it easier to remember how to apply the same steps to various problems.
Write down notes instead of typing them
According to studies, taking handwritten notes helps to solidify information in your mind. Try going old school and pulling out a sheet of paper and a pencil. If you want to organise your notes, type them later and save them to your computer.
Ask questions if you’re feeling stuck
Having someone else explain it can help you learn more quickly. If there’s a key concept you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to ask. If you’re in a classroom, approach the teacher or a fellow student. If you’re working on your own, try Googling it or joining an online forum for assistance. You can also ask for help from personal statement writing services.
Study the subject for 10 to 20 minutes each day
Long cram sessions do not help you retain information in the long term. Instead, try to spread out your study time so that you do a little bit each day. Try to study for 10 to 15 minutes every evening, or whenever you have time.
Teach the subject to somebody else
Take a friend or classmate and pretend you’re a teacher. Review the basic concepts of what you’re learning and answer any questions they may have. If you get stuck or struggle at any point, go back and review the material you’re having difficulty with.
Read the information aloud
Read a portion of the material, then explain what you’ve learned. You do not need to talk to anyone; you can do this alone at home if you want. Speaking the information out loud helps you memorise it faster and keep it for longer.
Connect the information to the real world
What will this knowledge help you to do in the future? What is it helping you with right now? Connecting a subject to something you do outside of the classroom is an excellent way to maintain your interest.
Memorise information using a mnemonic device.
Use this trick to quickly learn chunks of information. For example, if you want to remember the rainbow colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet), you can use Roy G. Biv’s mnemonic device. It is much easier to remember, so you can memorise it faster and use it to retain information.
Test your knowledge with practice tests
Practice tests can help you identify where you’re struggling. You can find tons of practice tests online for almost any subject. If you’re in a classroom, ask your teacher if they have any you can practise with. Check your answers and go over any areas where you struggled.
Create a productive study environment
Your environment is more important than you might think when it comes to maximizing your study time on difficult subject.
Learning environments play a critical role in student achievement. Seating, lighting, noise, and even colour can all affect your ability to learn.
Apply the interleaving strategy
Interleaving refers to the act of “mixing” the subjects you learn during study sessions. So, instead of focussing on one subject during a lengthy study session, switch between a few.
For example, you could practise maths problems for 30 minutes and then take a short break. You could then spend 30 minutes reviewing your biology notes before taking another short break. Finally, spend 30 minutes reading a chapter from your chemistry textbook. After one more break, you could return to maths.
Choose a date
This is an effective study technique because it helps you avoid procrastination. When you have a specific start date in mind, you won’t keep telling yourself that you’ll start studying for the exam “soon,” only to put it off. Instead, you would have made a promise to yourself about when you’d get to work. Getting started is often the most difficult part, and a plan will help you overcome this obstacle.
Create a list of all the learning resources available to you
Studying with multiple resources.
If you use all of the available learning resources, your test and exam preparation will be far more thorough. Start by compiling a list of learning resources for each difficult subject. You can also make a list for secondary data collection help if you are working on your dissertation,
Final Words
In this article, you learned 15 study strategies that have been proven to work.
Try the strategies one at a time, and I’m confident you’ll make great progress!
Now that you know these effective study strategies, the only missing piece is a step-by-step system to enable you to prepare for difficult subjects.