Take a break Have you noticed that already 20-30 minutes after the start of training you are distracted by extraneous thoughts? A person is able to continuously maintain attention on the same subject for a limited amount of time, which is strictly individual. Time how long you are able to concentrate on your studies, and when it is over, take a break: have a snack or drink some water, stretch your legs, take a break for some exercise, or go for a walk. Make your schedule with these breaks in mind for a change of activity. By the way, changing the environment and the way you learn a subject will help you memorize better. Along with knowledge, the brain also records information about the environment: the place where you are studying, the background sounds and the music being played at the time. Read notes and books, listen to lectures in a player, change your posture more often - study while sitting, standing and even while moving. If you are a visual person, spend more time writing down information; if you are an audial person, read out notes on a Dictaphone, start using audiobooks and listen to them more often. 7. Visualize and simulate. To memorize better, imagine a model of the subject you're studying. It's not just about charts, tables and other ways to visually represent information, but also about mental modeling. To learn something more effectively, create a mental model where each new piece of information is logically built into an existing system. For example, you can study physics based on the axis of time: first there were early ideas about the world around, then there was ancient physics, then there was Newton's mechanics, sections of the science of electricity, magnetism, the discovery of the electron, Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum theory, astrophysics, etc. All new things confirmed or disproved past hypotheses. In such a logical system, it is easier to make correlations and understand everything, and thus to fix it in memory. Understanding is much more important than simply memorizing information. Another way to memorize better is to use an associative system. Develop your own system of associations for each specific subject. This will help you remember the information you need more quickly in a stressful situation: for example, in an exam. 8. Attend lectures and be active in them Lectures and classes are very useful for effective learning. Teachers may step back from the textbook or manual and provide additional information or share experiences from their own practice. Lectures involve lively communication, where you can ask questions and get feedback. Attending will save time you would have spent reading textbooks and reference books. Nurture active listening: be attentive, take notes, and don't be afraid to be the weird guy who keeps asking stupid questions. The better you understand the material in the lecture, the less time you spend on studying it before the exam. By the way, lecture attendance and activity on them is useful also because many teachers put credits and marks on exams automatically - for attendance and active participation. The task of the teacher is not to fail you at the exam and give you a "C" on the next retake. He also does not want to waste time on this. 9. Take notes properly. Develop your own system for taking notes. It can be anything, as long as you find it convenient to work with. One of the most convenient is the Cornell system. It consists in initially taking notes in a format of cards for memorizing: Divide the sheet into two parts: the left margin, which takes up about a third of the width of the sheet, and the right margin, the rest of the sheet. Keep your lecture notes on the right side of the sheet, making sure to indent between paragraphs on different topics. On the left side of the sheet, write out all the headings, main ideas, and associations - do this after the lecture, while you repeat the material. Now cover the right side of the outline with a sheet of paper and check yourself against the theses from the left side. Leave a space at the bottom for the section and subsection headings. This will make it much easier to find the information you need in your notes. Before the exam, ask your classmates to make an aggregator of notes: collect the best of them and form a single one with the most complete material in a structured form. This way you will not only prepare for the exam, but also earn the respect of your classmates when you distribute the outline to them. If there is a lot of material, you can distribute the tasks among several people and at the end combine the resulting work into one. 10. Assist and take advantage of help Create your own mini-group to prepare for exams and homework. Make it a group of like-minded people with the same goals. Be active in the group - help others. By explaining the material to others, you yourself will have an easier time figuring it out and understanding it. In addition, you will learn how to work as a team and develop leadership skills.