I’ve met many students and interacted with them concerning how well they study or at least read books, especially non-academic books, the response was that some do not read other books at all, some do frequently on business, personal development and there are some that the only thing they do, is to “read” for exams.
Before I continue, let me quickly write some sentences about these 3 categories.
Those who do not read other things
Those who do not read or study other things apart from academics do go blank when knowledge related to these things is needed, we should keep studying you know, especially things that interest us, if you ask them, what are the other things that interest you apart from your course of study? they either ignore this question or find it hard to answer, they however still do well in other fun-related things they develop an interest in. – the implication of this is that it limited how well they can explore the world around them and how well they do as regards personal development – they just find studying stressful and unnecessary.
Those who study other books
Those who develop interests in other things be it books on business, management, finance, technology, history, etc gains the ability to fit into any environment where these topics are being discussed, needed and are able to make more friends with more intellectual people. Because a good reader becomes a good leader, they develop leadership abilities and some of them even become creators, innovators which bring about new things from the books they have read in addition to their inbuilt abilities – the implication of falling into this category is that people in this category are always eager to develop themselves and also impact the lives of others, this makes it difficult for them to waste a day without having added a value to their personal development kit.
Also, they are able to travel back in time to know about history, ask questions about events, make inferences and also develop their own theories. Some become businessmen after having followed the blueprint of other successful businessmen in history.
Some of them become writers or poets after having swum in the pool of knowledge of great poets. The bard in them got awakened and their muse continues to flow day in day out because they are not ready to stop. And for some, they keep studying to find out more about themself each day, they are like an embryo, waiting to fully develop and hatch, like a seed waiting to develop into a fruit.
No matter the category you belonged to, you are not bad or rotten because these things are at times controlled by temperament, which means some people are gifted with the ability, and some developed it as a skill, so there is always room for improvement.
The “la cram la pour” category
And as for this third category, they are common among students, those who read only to pass exams instead of studying. Maybe I should tell you what studying means so that you can understand my inference clearly. From various sources on the web:
to study means: the devotion of time and attention to gaining knowledge of an academic subject, especially by means of books. — Study is the act of learning and spending time discovering information or an academic work or investigation about a particular thing or subject area.
These set of students only quickly glance through whatever the teacher has taught, may make key points for answering exam questions, are good at memorization and in the exam, if questions are twisted, you will find them sweating profusely as they found it difficult to answer. Some of them look for expo to exams or even cram the answers in the past questions booklet, and if the teacher changed the figures or part of the statement, what they have crammed may not allow them to notice. Another thing, they don’t read instructions!
They are found with the common phrase “la cram, la pour”. Some of the implications of falling into this category is that, if they are able to become graduates, they become quacks or half-baked because their knowledge does not involve investigations to confirm what they read, and some find it hard to make further use of the knowledge after the exams, or if the knowledge is a prerequisite for further learning, it becomes difficult for them to cope in the next class.
We remember 10% of what we read. 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 80% of what we personally experience and 95% of what we teach others.
uh.edu
At the end of this article, I will be giving you some gifts which I think will assist you in developing your study skills but for now, let us discuss 5 things you may not have been told about studying.
5 Things You May Not Have Been Told About Studying
- You’ll be doing it forever.
Yup , maybe no one has told you that yet, told you yet, studying to learn is a continuous process, it never ends and you will need to study till you die. Even if you choose to drop out of school You’ll still have to study whatever it is you choose to do.
- It’s easier to learn something now, than later.
As you grow older it becomes harder and harder for you to learn new things. Learning is so much easier now and that’s why we should try as much as possible to learn all we can now. So, If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your lives.”
- We only remember a fragment of what we read
We only remember about 30% of what we read but we learn 90% of what we teach others. Another statement from an article on uh.edu says: We remember 10% of what we read. 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 80% of what we personally experience, and 95% of what we teach others. Regardless of the statistics studying comes first and after studying, you should teach others in order to confirm how well you can remember what you learned.
Teaching others enable us to ascertain that the knowledge we have is useful, impactful and also allow us to know which part of the knowledge we have not fully understood and we need to know more about. A common phrase in clinical practice says: “See one (study to learn), do one (practice what you have learned), and teach one”. So yeah, teach it don’t just read it.
- The brain can easily remember the beginning and the end
The brain easily remembers what was read at the beginning and end of each study session and hardly remembers the middle. One statement in Psychology is called the peak-end rule, which says that our brain has the ability to remember the intense positive or negative moments (known as peaks) and the final moments of an experience (known as the end) – in fact, you will hear some people more focused about how a story or an event started and whether it has a happy ending or not. For this fact, it is important that a study session has a period where the brain is rested (taking a nap), in order for the brain to fully process the bit-by-bit information it receives, rather than rushing the data from beginning to end. So, take a nap while studying.
- Do a little exercise before studying.
Doing little exercise, like maybe jumping or skipping increases blood flow to the brain. It’s advisable to do a little exercise before studying. According to ucl.ac.uk:“When you do any type of intense physical activity, it causes blood to flow to the brain. This in turn fires up your neurons and promotes cell growth, particularly in the hippocampus. This means that just 20 minutes of exercise before studying can improve your concentration and help you focus your learning.”
Many studies have also shown that light exercise can lift our mood, reduce self-reported depression symptoms and decrease feelings of anxiety – in essence, improve our mental health. My master in Taekwondo do say, “Do you know one of the best time to study? It is after you finished a taekwondo training session.“
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So, if you feel bored and do not feel like studying, why not start with a physical exercise first, that should give you enough energy to start your study process. You can also take a cold shower or do some Yoga body calming sitting exercises or positions.
Wrapping up this discussion, let me recommend some useful books regarding studying, you can click on the links below to check them out.
- How To Become A Straight-A Student by Cal Newport PDF
- Make It Stick The Science Of Successful Learning By Peter C Brown Henry L PDF
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