Do you want to discover how to study well and quickly? You’ve come to the right place. In this article, you will find some of the best strategies to improve your study skills and aim for those coveted top grades. Sometimes, I get contacted by university students who ask me how to study well and more quickly. They want some tricks to learn well and save time! They might not say it so directly, but the essence remains the same.
“Hey, I have a university exam in 3 days and need to memorize 2,000 pages. Can your study method help me?”
Sorry, but my study method can’t help you with that. If you’ve scratched your head until now, not even Saint Januarius can help you!
Studying well and quickly requires commitment. As Natalie Portman said,
“I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.”
Let’s face it: casually reading a chapter while answering WhatsApp, Facebook messages, or even messages from carrier pigeons is much more convenient than concentrating solely on your textbooks. Mindlessly repeating a definition with the enthusiasm of a sloth is easier than reflecting on what you’re studying. Indiscriminately highlighting entire paragraphs like an LSD-fueled painter is simpler than focusing solely on critical concepts.
Studying well and quickly demands effort. If you were looking for shortcuts and quick fixes for your study problems, I’m sorry, but you’re in the wrong place. For magic pills or sensational promises, try the blog next door.
If, on the other hand, you’ve finally decided to commit to improving your university journey and understanding how to study effectively, read on. In this article, you’ll discover five foolproof study techniques:
Study Faster with Pre-Reading
Study Better with the Sniper Technique
Learn Quickly with Concept Maps
Never Forget with the Kindergarten Rule
Memorize Anything with Cicero’s Loci Technique
Let’s dive into these techniques one by one.
If your university exams involve tomes of 500, 800, or even 1,000 pages, being able to double or triple your reading speed could save you countless hours of study. However, there needs to be more clarity (and many urban legends) about what speed reading is and how you can study so many pages quickly.
From my experience, reaching 600-800 words per minute (an average reader manages about 200-250 wpm) with 100% comprehension requires a lot of practice.
To begin, you can start with these three-speed reading techniques (you can find a link to a new application for devouring online articles in the linked post).
However, don’t get discouraged. There are speed reading strategies that will immediately improve the quality and speed of your study, starting with pre-reading.
Here’s how it works:
Even before you start studying, familiarize yourself with the textbook (or lecture notes):
Quickly read the chapter index.
Flip through the chapter pages to familiarize yourself with the section structure.
Read the titles of the main sections and the first and last paragraph of each section (maximum 2-3 lines of text).
Then ask yourself these two simple questions:
What key concepts do I want to learn from this chapter? (if you’ve read the index and primary sections, these should be reasonably clear).
Is this chapter essential for my preparation, or not? (this question helps clarify the level of detail you need to study).
Initially, pre-reading is a waste of time. In reality, it will take you a maximum of 5-7 minutes per chapter, but by consistently applying it, you’ll discover how your study becomes much smoother, saving you more than an hour. Moreover, you’ll be able to absorb different concepts more easily, leveraging the Pyramid of Learning principle.
Selected snipers and gamers around the world often use the expression: “One shot, one kill. No luck, just skill.” Translated, it means: “One shot, one target. No luck involved, just skill” (sorry, Call of Duty players, don’t get too excited!).
But what does this have to do with studying? Well, a mental attitude is costing you too many hours of study: the belief that to be well-prepared, you must read and mechanically repeat your study material to the point of nausea. That’s a misconception!
Understand me; I’m not suggesting you become conceited to excel at university. What I want to convey is that you need to start trusting your mental abilities.
Recording lectures, creating ultra-detailed summaries, or mindlessly repeating study material are all failed study strategies. The reason is simple: the more “mental crutches” you provide to your brain, the lazier it becomes.
Our minds are one of the most efficient tools in nature, which means they will only waste attention, memory, or energy if necessary. Why should it remember a definition on the first try if it’s used to having 178 more chances to memorize it?
This behavior is partly related to the well-known Zeigarnik effect: your brain automatically forgets something unless it has a genuinely important reason to remember it. If you keep using “crutches,” your mind will never learn how to learn and memorize quickly.
Okay, I get it. What do I need to do to stimulate my memory and keep it on its toes?
How attentively would you read the chapter of your textbook if you had only one irreplaceable opportunity to view that material? To be granted, a single reading might not be enough, but with pre-reading, you’ll find your study becoming much more fluid, saving you more than an hour and making it easier to absorb different concepts.
If you genuinely want to learn how to study well and quickly, engrave this in your mind: reworking information is the crucial study stage. Without reworking, there is no real learning, and without learning, memorization becomes a mechanical and rather useless task.
Among the best reworking tools are concept maps. The technique of using concept maps was first introduced to me in middle school by my music teacher. Since then, they have been my loyal study companions, allowing me to study without repeating too many times.
If you’ve never used them, you can find simple and practical guidelines on how to study more quickly with concept maps in this post.
Today, I want to talk about another extremely effective reworking strategy that can be used both before creating your maps and during the revision process: the Kindergarten Rule.
Albert Einstein once said, “You do not understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”
The underlying idea is that to remember (and memorize) a concept, you must be able to rephrase it in your own words. Even better, you should be able to explain it to a kindergarten child (or Einstein’s grandmother).
The key is to reduce a complex concept to its simplest terms, understanding its essential ingredients and how they interact. This applies to a chemistry formula, a mathematical theorem, a legal principle, or a medical concept.
To apply the Kindergarten Rule in practice, I recommend using analogies. According to the Italian language dictionary, an analogy is “a rhetorical figure that consists of establishing a comparison, a relationship of similarity between two things or concepts.”
By using analogies appropriately to rework what you’re studying, you’ll be able to connect new concepts to familiar ideas – ideas you’ve already learned in the past and whose neural structures are well-established in your brain.
Leveraging this rhetorical figure to study new concepts is a bit like moving abroad and finally finding a restaurant that serves your favorite dish. You feel a little closer to home, and what seemed alien to you before starts to feel more familiar.
Cicero, the greatest orator in ancient history, memorized his famous speeches. Hard to believe, right? Yet, his method is still one of the most well-known and effective mnemonic techniques for summarizing and quickly learning concepts and facts and then recalling them in a precise order.
Have you ever wondered why we often use expressions like “firstly” or “in the last instance” in everyday speech? These were expressions used by Cicero himself to quickly remember his thoughts using the Loci technique, also known as the Method of Loci or Memory Palace.
Places, rooms, palaces – what do these have to do with the bulletproof study techniques we’re discussing in this article? They have everything to do with it. Let me explain how.
In paragraph XXXIV of “De Oratore,” Cicero wrote about the exercise of memorizing:
“I am far from disapproving your forming even that habit, which I perceive you are forming, of addressing such compositions to places, of binding your memories to localities.”
Cicero’s mnemonic technique involves transforming each concept or notion you want to memorize into an image. Then, associate it with images of places that are familiar to you (rooms, streets, squares, or any other areas you choose).
The great Cicero, for example, used to assign each column in the building where he would speak a part of his speech that was already linked to an image in his memory. So, when speaking, he would look toward a specific column to recall what he needed to say.
Now, you certainly won’t need this technique to deliver long speeches in the Senate like Cicero did, but it could come in handy for keeping complex concepts in mind for your next law or math exam.
Trust me! Starting from your next study session, put into practice everything you’ve learned with the memory techniques in this article, and you’ll see that results will come quickly.
Many readers write or leave comments asking for advice and tricks to succeed in class tests, quizzes, or university exams. Here are some answers to common questions:
What study method do you recommend for preparing for a quiz?
Can I prepare for an exam in 3 days?
Before we wrap up this article on effective study techniques, I’d like to leave you with valuable tips for productive and efficient studying.
Eliminate distractions: Put your smartphone in airplane mode or turn it off completely to resist the temptation of checking notifications and social media.
Read aloud: Studies have shown that reading aloud can help you learn faster than silent reading.
Take handwritten notes: Writing by hand, rather than typing on a computer, helps you process, rephrase, and remember information better.
Explain what you’re studying to someone who doesn’t know it: Use simple words to make it easier to remember later.
Summarize: Condensing what you’ve just highlighted into basic concepts will make it easier to memorize.
Study multiple subjects daily: Distribute various issues or topics throughout the day to train your brain to learn and remember better and faster. Spend, for example, 1 hour on physics, 1 hour on philosophy, and 1 hour on art history.
Form a study group: Collaborative work is often highly productive for learning if you choose study partners as motivated as you are.
Take regular breaks: Short breaks from studying improve productivity and concentration.
Choose a well-lit and ventilated study environment to enhance concentration.
Avoid staying up late in front of your books: Regular sleep helps you be refreshed in the morning.
In conclusion, all the techniques for improving study, memorization, and speed reading you’ll learn can be beneficial throughout your academic journey. However, without a clear and proven method, achieving the substantial change you desire is challenging.
As you may think, “I’ve heard about this study method for ages, but honestly, it all seems a bit too vague…” I’m not talking about a general method but one tailored to your cognitive style!
“What? Cognitive Style?”
Exactly! We have our own predispositions, and believing that everyone can learn the same way is simply unreasonable.
The first step to improving the quality of your study is to identify your cognitive style and, based on that, adopt the best study techniques for you.
If you want to identify your cognitive style, the study techniques that suit you best, and how to develop your personal learning plan, I’ve prepared a free test. You can complete it in less than 5 minutes by clicking the button in the box below.
Good luck with your studies!
In the quest to study well and quickly, these techniques offer valuable tools to enhance your learning experience. Remember that effective studying is not about the quantity of time spent with your books but the quality of your study sessions. By implementing these techniques, you can maximize your efficiency, retention, and understanding of the material. Understanding your unique cognitive style and tailoring your study methods based on your abilities can significantly boost your academic performance. So, whether you’re a university student or preparing for any form of learning, these techniques can be your key to success. Happy studying!