Study methods for u academic divas ｡𖦹°‧

Is it just me, or this is almost NEVER talked about in studytok (ーー゛) …. This is BY FAR the most important method, and using this is LITERALLY A BLESSING. As someone who attends a school that follows the Cambridge curriculum, I am so DAMN BLESSED that Cambridge posts their updated syllabuses on their website, bcs the syllabus includes the list of the topics I need to study, including the exam grading system and they even provide formulas for you to memorize, it literally has EVERYTHING you need in order to ace those exams. 

Why does this work? First, I said before that it already has all the listed topics you need to memorize for the exam, so you will never ever feel unprepared by learning too little or overwhelmed by learning too much. OKAY, yes I know some of y’all would ask “isn’t it better if you're learning more than what you need (￣∇￣)?” To answer your question, it depends: Yes,  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   5.  Blurting  !!!  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

Also, with the power of the syllabus, you will hv a higher chance of losing less marks since you understand the grading system of that specific lesson, including the contents within the exam paper, and enabling you to meet the requirements and expectations of the exam board. So, yeah guys!!!! UNDERSTAND YOUR DAMN SYLLABUS!!!!!!!! :P

 ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   2.  Writing Notes   ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔ 

This study method is probably the most recommended and the most famous among teachers and students, like literally everyone does this. Personally, I see notes as a way to learn topics without having to open the textbook repeatedly from time to time (it’s basically a shortcut), so instead of spending hours reviewing one fat chapter, it only takes me to review under 20 minutes, or less. 

There are different note-taking methods, popular ones being: Cornell, Mind-Mapping, Box method, Outline method, so on so forth... but my personal favourite would have to be the charting method, but we'll dive deeper into all these methods in another blog (-_-).

My charting notes (>_<) :

What I do is I heavily prioritize writing down all content I need to learn based on the syllabus in short, concise bullet points, whereas the visuals are just secondary features, where the colour coding and tables come in to help me process different info categorization easily, as well as to boost memory retention (the visual learner in me never dies). It is definitely not worth wasting so much time just to make notes based on too much meaningless aesthetics and very less content. 

Also… this might be really random, but there's also this debate between those who rather use physical/digital notes, as well as handwritten/typewritten. It really depends with different preferences and subjects, Im not really going to dive in deep with the comparisons, but I usually prefer type-written notes that I can print out and store in a binder (ーー゛). Typewritten notes take less time for me, although it lacks the active learning element that handwritten notes provide, but I guess printing them physically compensates for that.  (´-ω-`) 

This section is sooo long, I might actually be able to make another blog ONLY dedicated to note-taking (´; ω; `)...

  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   3.  Practice Papers + Error Logs!!!  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔  

Im gonna combine those two methods in this section since they are kinda closely related to each other..

 Tell me if Im crazy… I swear on my life this method is quite rare (at least in my insta study feed), cuz this is a widely practiced method in my school, literally EVERYONE does this. Lets cut it to the chase, basically, practice papers are literally a hidden form of active recall like… THINK ABOUT IT, similar questions appear, the mark scheme gives you a formula on how to answer that exact question, and once you repeatedly write it down and have it ingrained in your head, you can literally just answer the questions in your exam without even thinking. This works in so many STEM subjects, as it really challenges your logic and it takes so much practice to master them. So… moral of the story, spam your practice papers cuz practice makes perfect!!! (´-ω-`)(☆_☆)

So how does this error logging thingy closely relate to doing practice papers? Obviously, when you’re doing past papers, you’ll get a few mistakes, whether it is caused by carelessness, or simply because you really had no clue about it. Yes, I know it sucks especially when you’re like me who screws up more than half the paper, but it really is up to you to skip and not mind about the mistakes you make, or, you try to see the benefit in them and use it as a strategy. I always keep lots of notebooks and documents for all the mistakes I made in a past paper. It’s easy (^_^), in your error log: write the question you missed, the answer you wrote, the correct answer, provided by the marking scheme, and the reason for the correct answer (for deeper understanding), and you can review the error log in your free time, and avoid making more mistakes in the future. (´-ω-`)

  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   4.  Flashcards  !!!  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

I forgot to add this... but anyways, I think flashcards are pretty useful, because unlike notes, they are extremely portable, versatile and you can review them anytime and anywhere, I usually learn using flashcards right before a test, whether Im in the car or when Im already in the holding room, or even when Im going out to malls a day or 2 before the test. I understand why most would use AI to generate flashcards, as it saves MASSIVE amount of time, but when I tried this out, it didn't really work for me, since my cognitive processing and memory retention was lacking, so I prefer to prepare my own flashcards using a mini spiral notebook, so it fits inside my pocket or my pencil case (´-ω-`). For each page, I used the front-side for questions/ prompts, and the backside for the answers/content. It does take lots of time, but as long as I could eventually retrieve what Im learning, I think Im okay with it. :3

 ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   5.  Blurting  !!!  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

THIS IS GONNA BE THE LAST ONE I PROMISE (-_-) !!! Give yourself time to read/skim the chapter on your textbook, take out a single piece of paper, close the textbook, write as much as you can remember, and fill out all the other missed points into that paper using a different-colored pen. As TEMPTED as you are to just take a peak of that damn textbook, don't open it and force yourself to remember, cuz that's really the main purpose of this method, testing how much you could remember and memorize from that topic itself. Not only that, but by filling out the missed points, you're expanding knowledge gaps, and whats so good about this method is that you're saving hours by targeting your weaknesses and not having to re-read familiar concepts over and over again. I usually do this when exam days are drawing closer,  and I refine my blurting notes into a 1 page summary that I review the night before that exam. So, kiss those ineffective 10 hour study sessions goodbye :3

 ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔   The End  !!!  ⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔

Despite the fact this blog is so FREAKING long 💀💀, hopefully this blog can help you get some study method ideas you want to try out (´-ω-`). Feel free to experiment with some so you could find out what works for you and what doesn’t!! If you have other study methods you’re aware of/currently using, don’t be afraid to comment and recommend, don't worry, I’ll reply to you (^_^) !!!!

~~ with love, 91 (´-ω-`)