How To Study Once and Remember Things Without Going Over Them Twice?

You have read your notes again. Then you read them again. Then you read them a third time. Then you take the test and you are surprised to see how much you have missed despite reading it all three times!

One problem is to waste a lot of study time: you can not learn things the first time.

Go over and over on the same information, like putting a band-aid on a sieve. This can reduce the amount of water that passes, but that does not solve the fundamental problem: you have too many holes.

The key to reducing study time is simple: learn things the first time you see them, instead of dozens of repetitions.

All this is easier said than done. I’m sure if your mind was devoid of holes, you could easily capture any information that would slip into it. The real question is how can you do that? I do not think it’s a genius or a chance, but the way you study.

First step: find the holes

If you want to repair a leaking brain, you need to determine where the holes are. Identify the type of information that you find difficult to remember. Identify when you have just reviewed information that you do not understand very well. Here are some questions to ask yourself after each piece of ideas to find your holes:

• What is this section most likely to forget?

• What concepts are completely new to me? (Rather than those who feel familiar)

• What ideas do I have the most difficulty grasping?

When you identify weaknesses, you can invest more time in correcting them instead of wasting time with a comprehensive technique of studying all the information.

Second step: repair weak points

Once you have identified potential weaknesses, you should immediately seek to correct them. Give up everything you do and look for a solution to the problem. Programmers understand that a bug left in the system can generate hundreds of times the cost of a subsequent repair. As a learner, you must understand that the same principle of quick problem solving applies as well.

Hundreds of books have been written on different strategies to correct weaknesses, which is beyond the scope of this quick article. But here are some starting points:

Memorizing? If you need to store arbitrary information, try using the link method. This is where you visualize an exaggerated image combining the two elements you want to associate. You can memorize formulas by linking vivid images to different symbols. A formula such as F = C / A could become a scale with hundreds of feathers (F) on the side and a huge caterpillar (C) resting on millions of (A) nts.

Conceptualizing?If you need to understand information, try to combine ideas by drawing an image or diagram.

Retaining? If you need to keep a mass of complex information, try using striking metaphors and examples to link abstract information to something that you can easily identify.

Fixing the weak points of your understanding is not so difficult – if you know first where they are. Simply focusing on information can help you understand it. But if you do not know what parts you are missing, it’s easy to skim over and not realize what you missed.

Third step: check your understanding

You understood. Does the information make sense to you at a deeper level, or does it seem arbitrary, meaningless or difficult to obtain? Most school tests and virtually all real tests are designed to answer a single question: do you understand what you are studying?

If you are not sure, you need to start working more deeply. Keep asking yourself “why” until the subject makes sense. Here are some tips to improve your understanding:

Look for sensory descriptions. Your brain is not a computer. It is designed to better retain emotional, living and sensory information than abstract or dry details. Link a sensation, an image or a story to abstract details. As I learned to do determinants (a form of math using matrices), I imagined that my hands moved across the diagonals, one adding and the other removing.

Get the background. A lot of information that seems meaningless makes more sense when given context. If you are determined to try to understand a particular point, research its origins. It may take longer in the beginning, but can save time because future concepts are built from this.

Step Four: Test yourself

Whenever you experiment with new learning methods, you have to measure the results. Check if your new system really helps you remember more. Once you have become familiar with a system, you can more accurately judge the extent of your knowledge. But until then, test regularly so you can adjust the system to correct errors.

The best tests are objective. If you are in school, look for exams, tests or textbook questions to check your understanding. If you teach yourself, offer short exercises that can conclusively prove that you know what you are doing.

The most important advice I can give is this: consider study time as a sacred activity. Go ahead hoping that you will learn everything on the first try or identify areas that need further clarification. Concentrate and become aware of any potential hole to learn things once.
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