How to Study and not forget easily?

how to not forget what you study

Are you getting frustrated by forgetting whatever you studied?

If yes and if you’re thinking about how to study and not forget easily then you are in right place.

Because in this article, I am going to tell you 7 Study hacks and guides that will help you to keep remember whatever you study for a long time.

So come to the big question,

Why do I forget what I study?

According to newtimes.co.rw, The most common reason why students forget is that because what they study is under learned.

To remember something, it must first be learned, that is, stored in long-term memory. If you don’t do what is necessary to get information into your long-term memory, you have under-learned about what you study and forgetting is normal.

It’s a direct answer to this query that you might have understood and deal with it. But don’t worry through my tips, you will get to know exactly the reasons behind your forgetness in easy language.

How to study and not forget easily?

So, let’s dive into these 7 study hacks that will help you not forget what you study.

1: Take much interest and stay focused

It’s very important until you’ll take much interest in your study and won’t stay focused, and probably you would forget easily what you studied.

A song or any movie dialogue we keep remember without learning it just because we are interested in it.

Even you’d have also noticed sometimes when you are interested and stay focused in learning any theory or concept then without putting so much effort in learning, it automatically saves in your mind. And when we don’t take interest then neither we can learn it easily nor retain it for a longer time.

Now the question arises how to take interest in our study?

Well to be genuinely interested in your studies you can try the below practical tips:

#1. Find the best tutor for you:

A teacher how teaches any subject really matters. If your teacher can make your study fun while teaching and making you understand any subject then you must take interest in studying that subject.

I am not talking only about your class teacher or your professor. That person could be anyone maybe your friend, or maybe anyone who uploads video lectures related to your subject on YouTube. And if you like their way of teaching the subject then they must be the best tutor for you.

#2. Explore more about the subject:

If you study any subject or any topic then explore more about the subject find how this subject is useful in our daily life. Connect the subject with the real world, you must be interested while studying the subject.

#3. Change your study enviroment:

Only studying in class or room can make you feel bore. So instead of studying only in your room, change your study environment. Try a coffee shop, library, park any place like that. These places can make your mood to study and you must enjoy your study.


2: Understand deeply

Taking interest and staying focused can be very effective but to keep remembering any topic or subject you have to also understand deeply.

Understand a topic deeply means you shouldn’t have any queries or doubt left and you can teach others clearly.

If you ever heard about the learning retention pyramid then you must have known, by teaching others we can retain the information about 90% but we retain only 5% when we hear something only.

Image Source: Wikimedia.org

But before teaching or explaining to anyone or yourself first you have to understand deeply. This time I’m not going to tell you how you can understand deeply your material, Instead, I have a book for you that I recommend to every student.

The name of this book is Deep Work, written by Cal Newport who is the founder of Study hacks and also the author of many amazing books.

This book is all about how you can stay focus on deep work in this distracting world, what are the benefits of deep work, how you can embrace boredom and quit social media, and many more that must be useful for students to study and not forget easily.

So if you’re fond of reading books then must buy and read this book. It might change your life.


3: Make tricks to learn

Does learning information with a TRICK not sound interesting?

Tricks help you to learn something easily and not forget it easily. It also makes you creative when you make your own trick.

Let me clear you exactly how it can be helpful, with a story…

In a class, A teacher asks students, what is the spelling of ‘Assassination‘, which is so tough for that class?

When no one student gives the correct answer then the teacher says, One donkey stands on another donkey and the next donkey stands on me and I stand on my country. 

After explaining this trick, I don’t think students will forget easily the spelling of ‘Assassination’. Isn’t it?

So if you want to study and not forget easily, try to make a trick and learn with it if you can’t make tricks by yourself then take the help of Google, like Trick to learn a Periodic Table.


4: Spaced Practice

One of the best ways to remember something for a long time is Spaced Practice. And this study technique is very useful if you want to study and not forget.

But wait, Do you know what is Spaced practice?

Spaced practice is a study technique where you review the material over a long period of time. This gives your mind time to form connections between the ideas and concepts so knowledge can be built upon and easily recalled later.

So, when your brain almost forgets something and you work harder to recall that information then this study technique would be very helpful for you.

To do this technique, you have to review your material or subject that you study, in spaced intervals similar to the schedule below:

  • Day 1: Initial study session
  • Next day: Revisit & Review
  • After 3 days: Revisit & Review
  • After 1 week: Revisit & Review
  • After 2 weeks: Revisit & Review

After I’m sure when you’ll follow this schedule, you won’t forget easily what you study for a very long time.


5: Study with Flashcards & Color-coded notes

Flashcards (i.e. Leitner system) and color-colored notes not only make your study fun even these things also help you to learn the material easily and retain it easily.

Let’s first talk about Flashcards

Make flashcards with yourself, write small and useful information and then review your flashcards at least 3 times a day and review them in small groups rather than push through the whole pile at once. This will keep you focused on smaller chunks of information, which is easier to keep remember.

Come to the color-coded notes which are equally important.

Studying with notes must be useful, no doubt. So why don’t you make color-colored coded notes to make notes more useful?

A study has shown that color can improve a person’s memory performance, and the study found that warm colors (red and yellow) “can create a learning environment that is positive and motivating that can help learners not only to have a positive perception toward the content but also to engage and interact more with the learning materials.” It also reported that warmer colors “increase attention and elicit excitement and information.”

So to study and not forget easily, use some colors in your notes but don’t too color your notes. Use Red for key points and use Yellow to highlight, Blue for facts and figures something important.

Remember, Use always the same colors throughout your notes to signify the same categories of information. While making and reading the notes you will need to remember what each color means as you study. And remember also what each color means as you study your notes.


6: Link the informations

This is not a professional technique but found by me that I used to follow to remember something. This technique works on remembering dates and numbers and I think it’s best for your history subject if you study.

This technique is similar to the mind-mapping system but not much. To follow this technique for study and not forget easily, you have to link one piece of information to other information.

For example, If you forget always the date of the first world war (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918) then find some history that happened on this date and you have still remembered.

Or, You can also connect this date (28th July) with your birthday.

Well, I don’t know you study history or not but I hope you get my point regarding what you need to do.


7: Study before bed and study in the morning

If you study before bed then Good news for you.

New research has found that studying and duration of sleep can impact memory, which may ultimately impact students’ performance and grades.

According to Scott Cairney, When you are awake you learn new things, but when you are asleep you refine them, making it easier to retrieve them and apply them correctly when you need them most.

But all the above I say doesn’t mean you should study at the night for long hours. Only 1-2 hours of study would be enough for revisit and review before bed.

As study before bed is important similarly study in the morning is also very important which helps you to learn something easily.

The morning natural light is also good for your eyes and keeps you energetic. This time is great for learning something or just reviewing your class notes. And there is no doubt mornings give you a better recollection ability.

Even the research has shown, Our memory is better in the morning as compared to other times.

So I must recommend you to study before bed and study in the morning (early).

Can't wake up in the early morning, click here.

Now It’s Your Turn:

I hoped you enjoyed my study hacks on how to study and not forget easily.

Now I would like to hear from you:

Which tips from this article are you most excited to try?

What about the Spaced practice study technique? Or else, Are you going to implement all tips from now on?

Let me know in the comment, I am curious.

5 thoughts on “How to Study and not forget easily?”

  1. Thank you so much
    I’m so grateful to get see this today, I was about to loose hope in studies because I tried several to reads but I always forget everything that I studied.
    may you please teach me more things to not forget what I studied.

    Reply

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