10 Tips to Study Smart and Save Time

JULY 5 BY SCOTT H YOUNG 4.5K SHARES | FEATURED, LIFESTYLE

I recently got my marks back from University. My grade point average was a 4.2 out of a possible 4.5, resting between an A and a perfect A+. In itself, this isnt an incredible achievement. But I managed to do this while spending only a fraction of the time studying than many of the people I knew. Is it just natural talent? Perhaps. Ive always had a knack for understanding concepts and learning new ideas. But I also believe the way I learned the information played a role. Instead of cramming last minute or memorizing details, I try to organize information in a way that makes it easier to recall. This strategy of organization I label holistic learning. Holistic learning is simply the process of organizing information into webs, that interconnect ideas. Instead of forcing ideas into your skull, you focus on the relationships between information. Linking ideas together to see the whole, instead of just the parts. Building an Understanding Learning is a process similar to building a house. You arent fed the complete picture. Limitations on communication prevent the instantaneous transmission of knowledge. Instead you listen to lectures, read textbooks and take painstaking notes to try and comprehend a subject. You are fed building supplies, bricks, mortar and glass. It is up to you to assemble the building. Unfortunately, most learning strategies fall into two basic types:

1. Memorization Instead of building anything you simply stare at each brick for several minutes trying to record its position. 2. Formulas This is the equivalent to being blind, fumbling around a new house. You cant see the building itself but you learn to come up with simple rules to avoid walking into walls. There is nothing particularly wrong with either of these strategies, assuming they arent your entire strategy. The human brain isnt a computer so it cant memorize infinite sums of knowledge without some form of structure. And formulas no longer work if the questions they are designed to solve change scope. Learning Holistically The alternative strategy is to focus on actually using the information you have to build something. This involves linking concepts together and compressing information so it fits in the bigger picture. Here are some ideas to get started: 1. Metaphor Metaphors can allow you to quickly organize information by comparing a complex idea to a simple one. When you find relationships between information, come up with analogies to increase your understanding. Compare neurons with waves on a string. Make metaphors comparing parts of a brain with sections of your computer. 2. Use All Your Senses - Abstract ideas are difficult to memorize because they are far removed from our senses. Shift them closer by coming up with vivid pictures, feelings and images that relate information together. When I learned how to do a determinant of a matrix, I remembered the pattern by visualizing my hands moving through the numbers, one adding and one subtracting. 3. Teach It - Find someone who doesnt understand the topic and teach it to them. This exercise forces you to organize. Spending five minutes

explaining a concept can save you an hour of combined studying for the same effect. 4. Leave No Islands When you read through a textbook, every piece of information should connect with something else you have learned. Fast learners do this automatically, but if you leave islands of information, you wont be able to reach them during a test. 5. Test Your Mobility - A good way to know you havent linked enough is that you cant move between concepts. Open up a word document and start explaining the subject you are working with. If you cant jump between sections, referencing one idea to help explain another, you wont be able to think through the connections during a test. 6. Find Patterns Look for patterns in information. Information becomes easier to organize if you can identify broader patterns that are similar across different topics. The way a neuron fires has similarities to if statements in programming languages. 7. Build a Large Foundation - Reading lots and having a general understanding of many topics gives you a lot more flexibility in finding patterns and metaphors in new topics. The more you already know, the easier it is to learn. 8. Dont Force - I dont spend much time studying before exams. Forcing information during the last few days is incredibly inefficient. Instead try to slowly interlink ideas as they come to you so studying becomes a quick recap rather than a first attempt at learning. 9. Build Models Models are simple concepts that arent true by themselves, but are useful for describing abstract ideas. Crystallizing one particular mental image or experience can create a model you can reference when trying to understand. When I was trying to tackle the concept of subspaces, I visualized a blue background with a red plane going through it. This isnt an entirely accurate representation of what a subspace is, but it created a workable image for future ideas.

10.

Learning is in Your Head Having beautiful notes and a perfectly

highlighted textbook doesnt matter if you dont understand the information in it. Your only goal is to understand the information so it will stick with you for assignments, tests and life. Dont be afraid to get messy when scrawling out ideas on paper and connecting them in your head. Use notes and books as a medium for learning rather than an end result.

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6 Ways to Simplify Your Foreign Language Learning

MARCH 29 BY ALLISON LOUNES IN PRODUCTIVITY | 362 SHARES

In the U.S. and U.K., speaking a foreign language isnt necessarily valued, because we arent always confronted with opportunities to learn and use other languages. But once you get outside of North America, monolingualism is far from the norm. And if youre thinking of traveling or studying abroad, learning a new language is imperative. Actually speaking a foreign language fluently takes a lot of hard work and practice. Even if you study every day, it can take years to master some languages. Meanwhile, you start to get frustrated at your lack of progress and you want to give up. Dont. There are all kinds of rewards associated with speaking a second language. Not just intangible rewards, like being able to chat with locals when you travel, but psychological and health rewards as well. Studies show that being able to speak a second language may help you multitask and prevent dementia. So if you want to reap all of the benefits of speaking a second language, how can you continue working on your language skills without getting burnt out? Here are 6 tips to simplify your language learning. You may also be interested in: Is Studying Abroad Worth The Cost?

1. Have a Word of the Day.

Trying to learn everything at once and getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of words in your new language can be overwhelming. Sometimes, even if you do learn new words, you forget them quickly because you havent heard them enough in context. One way to get around this problem is to keep a few new words in your vocabulary by using them on a daily basis. Since it takes an adult an average of 150 times to learn to use a new word properly, having a Word of the Day or several words can help build your vocabulary. You can do this one of two ways. One, you can keep a running list of words youd like to learn and designate one to be the word of the day. Or, two, you can wait for new words to come up organically in conversation, and then try to use the new word several times. See Also: 5 Ways to Become a Better Reader

2. Speak the language as much as you can (especially with native speakers).
It goes without saying that the best way to learn how to speak a language is to actually speak it. Reading and studying grammar books will only get you so far. And yet, its so easy to get trapped in the not-good-enough mindset, where you dont speak because you think you dont speak well enough. And then your speaking doesnt get better. I know this from firsthand experience, because I basically refused to speak French all throughout high school. I was embarrassed that I would make mistakes and have a terrible accent.

When I went to the Middlebury College Language School after my first year of college, and was forced to speak French 24/7, I got placed in graduate level classes because my written French was so good. It took years to build up confidence speaking, but now, Im married to a French guy, and French people ask me regularly what region of France Im from. So make an effort to communicate with native speakers of your language. Youll learn a lot more in a 5 minute conversation with a native Spanish speaker than you will from another English speaker whos had 2 years of college Spanish. Try to spend 80% of your time speaking with those who speak the language better than you. (If youre in a program like Middleburys, dont neglect students who dont speak as well as you do. Part of the purpose of the program is to help lower-level speakers.)

3. Listen to foreign language radio or TV, even as background noise.

Part of learning to speak a foreign language properly is learning the intonations and rhythms of the words. In French, for example, you cant put the emphasis on different words in a sentence to vary what you mean (like you can do in English). And its easy to distinguish beginner students from near-native speakers by listening for the ones who pronounce French like its English. The remedy to that is to listen to the language as much as possible. Try to hear the pacing of the words, how theyre pronounced in different contexts, and what the different intonations are. How does the language sound when the speaker is excited, or angry, or asking an accusatory question?

Even listening to the language in the background will help you to pick up information on how the language is spoken.

4. Look up words you dont know in a monolingual dictionary.

Figuring out the meaning of words can be tricky in a foreign language, since direct and accurate translations dont always exist. While getting the word for physical objects, like milk or desk, might be straightforward, translating concepts can be a lot harder. Consider, for example, how we say to drop to indicate that something fell. I dropped the tray and the glass smashed. Its passive. In French, to drop translates as laisser tomber. Jai laiss tomber le plateau et le verre sest cass. I *let it fall*. Google Translate and WordReference cant always give you that nuanced meaning. By looking words up in a monolingual dictionary, you can make sure that the word or phrase you choose actually means what you think it does.

5. When you make a mistake, immediately try to correct yourself.

Lifehack recently published an article stating that if you mistype a word, you should delete the whole word before retyping it correctly to reprogram your brain to do it properly the next time. The same goes for learning a language.

If you misspeak, and catch your mistake, immediately correct yourself by repeating the sentence correctly. It will help you program your brain to avoid making the same mistake again, and solidify the grammar rules in your mind.

6. Carry around a notebook and write down new words you learn.
One thing I did at Middlebury and during my first year in France was carry around a small notebook. Any time I heard a word I didnt know, Id write it down (asking the other person to spell it, if necessary). After a few weeks, I had a great resource to look at whenever I thought, Oh, I remember talking about that recently, but I forget what its called. And just as importantly, I had a written record of all of the words I learned. If youre in the beginning stages of learning a language, this process might be too overwhelming, since youre learning new words all the time. But once you get to an intermediate or advanced level, your learning process slows down. In the beginning, you progressed easily because you were learning simple verb tenses and lists of super useful vocabulary that you use every day hello, How are you?, Can I have a pen, please? and when you get past that stage, the learning suddenly gets more difficult. When youre advanced, keeping a record of the words you learn can also help you from getting frustrated and thinking that you arent learning anything new. As long as you use the language, youll always be progressing. The secret technique for learning foreign language: How to Hack Language Learning

Featured photo credit: Young man talking with alphabet letters coming out of his mouth via Shutterstock