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How’s it going with your studies? Have you been keeping to your schedule and using the pomodoro technique, as we discussed last week? Good for you! Here’s another reminder of one the great tools we have introduced before, to help you use your study time as effectively as possible. It’s called spaced repetition. (Click here for a brilliant video on how it works.) This can really change the way you study.
Let’s think about it: how do you transfer knowledge or understanding from your working (short-term) memory into your long-term memory? The same way you would learn a song: practice. Practice makes permanent. The more you practise, the wider and more embedded the neural pathways become. If you don’t practise, the patterns vanish before they are made permanent.
Most of us cram before a test or exam, often going through the night to complete all the content we need to learn. That’s a really bad idea. It may have got you through a few tests in the course of the year, but you probably won’t remember a thing when you have to prepare the same material for the exam. Plus, it stresses you out. In future, go for spaced repetition. This is a tried and tested formula to counter the “forgetting curve”.
Spaced repetition means going back to the same material again and again, but with bigger gaps between the sessions. A good pattern is to revisit it after one day, after five days, after ten days, and then again the night before the exam. You can make it even more effective by testing yourself on the different problems or sections every time. Those you get right are put aside for next time. Those you get wrong have to be revisited tomorrow. Only when you know them well can you extend the period before you get back to them.
So: let’s say you decide to spend an hour (two pomodoro’s) on each of your first three exam subjects on Monday evening. On Tuesday, you go back to the same sections and test yourself. The parts you know can be put aside till next week. The parts you don’t know need more work, and you must return to them again on Wednesday evening, together with new subjects or sections you haven’t covered yet. It may feel a bit confusing in the beginning, but hang in there. You’ll soon find your rhythm. (You can also ask your favourite AI to help you schedule your sessions – but don’t waste time with that now if you’re not used to it yet. Rather leave it for the holidays.)
Try to fit in at least three rotations of all your work (day 1, day 5 and day 10) in this way before the exam. If you don’t have enough time, do at least day 1 and day 5, plus the day before the exam. It will give you enormous peace of mind, and you will be able to sleep soundly. That will push up your marks in itself. You must sleep. When you’re doing hard mental work, there is an over-production of brain chemicals, especially something called glutamate. While this is essential for the brain’s synapses to work, too much of it slows down your thinking. It is “washed clean” when you sleep. You cannot think clearly when you’re tired. AND: like cement hardening between bricks, sleep reinforces the brain connections you’ve made while studying.
We’ll talk more about the value of sleep next week. In the meantime…
Happy studying!
The GRAD team
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GRAD – your guide to university success is a partnership project of Ruda Landman, StudyTrust, Van Schaik Publishers and Capitec Bank.