There are many methods out there but here are some that works for me:

1. Use Metaphors/Analogies
- Its a good idea to use metaphors/analogies to understand difficult concepts. This is also handy for recalling concepts that you find hard to retain. Everything can be described as a Metaphor. It might take some time to come up with one but if you stick with it, you will do yourself a world of good.

2. Draw stuff
- I'm not gonna get into the theory behind how this works but its known that using a combination of text and diagrams enhances your learning. You will find this presented to you in every Head First series book. So instead of writing paragraphs of text I tend to draw them in say boxes, circles etc. and connect them to together to give me a mind-map of view of a concept. There are many other ways to go about doing this..


3. The 5 year old method
- The idea is to take concepts you find difficult to understnd and attempt to explain it like you would do to a 5 year old.What this means is you are forced to break the concept into smaller bits using simple words until you completely understand whats going on. From there onwards you reconstruct it.

4. Teach
- If you can confidently teach someone and they can understand it, it is a sign that you are reaching a level of mastery. So strive to teach!

4. Everything is a Question
- When taking notes I find it highly effective to phrase the title in the form of a question (and yes always give a title to the text to your notes). So instead of just writing about say 'Inheritance in Object Oriented Programming' and jamming eveything into a parapgrah I would break it into questions such as 'What does inheritance solve in OOP'? or 'Why is inheritance necessary in OOP?' and other questions like 'What conditions need to be met to implement inheritance'? etc. Having questions gives you sharper focus and makes you think. And it also makes it a lot easier to power study (skim through, refer to certain portions of your notes etc.)


5. Multiple Sources
- Sometimes its not enough to know 'just enough'. You might not completely understand a topic or concept.You may understand some of it but not enough to say confidently teach. In order to get around this I usually read/view/talk to multiple sources. Remember: one author may explain something better than another. Its vital to refer to different sources to strengthen your understanding.


6. Support Circle
- You will never be great at something until you work with people who are better than you. In order to get better you need to surround yourself with better. One of My favourite quotes is 'birds of a feather flock together, pigeons and eagles don't hang together' - What this essentially mean is in order for you to improve your skill you need to seek support from people who do it better than you. You should study their habits and absorb as much as you can, then apply it.

I have found several techniques that worked very well for me.

Do the exercises before reading the material
This is the big one. Most people read the textbook or attend a lecture, and then try to do the exercises afterwards. I find it's much more effective to try the exercises first.

Typically one of two things happen:

• You come up with an answer. If this isn't the same answer you find in the textbook, then working out why they are different will probably give you important insights into the problem.
• You don't come up with an answer. The problems you couldn't solve will now be stewing in the back of your mind. The material that covers these topics will seem really interesting when it gets covered and the solutions to the problems will jump out.

If you can't get traction on a problem quickly then move onto the next one. Just attempt the problem for long enough to get the key issues into your subconscious, and then move onto the next one.

Intuitively you might expect that doing the exercises first would take more time, but that isn't what I found. By making a quick attempt at the questions, you get them nestled into your subconscious, which means that you will likely solve them more quickly after learning the material.

Don't accept boredom
If you are bored then you aren't learning and you need to change something. Never accept boredom. Boredom is your brain's way of telling you you are doing something wrong.

• If material is boring because you don't understand it, go back and learn whatever you needed to understand first.
• If you are reading a bad book, find a better book that covers the same material.
• If you are in a lecture from a bad lecturer, try to find a better source to learn from. Make sure someone is taking notes of what is covered, and occupy your time in the classroom reading something you'll learn from (don't be too obvious though).
• If the subject seems inherently boring, then learn more about how what you are learning can be usefully applied to solve important problems. If it can't then maybe you should be studying something else.
• If you are trying to study and didn't try the exercises first, then that's probably why you are bored - go do that.

Don't cram for tests
If you are going to do well in a test then you need to be relaxed. In the days before a test you should do nothing more stressful than a couple of hours gently reviewing your notes to assure yourself you know your stuff. Go for a walk. Eat ice cream. Listen to music. Sleep.
[An exception can possibly be made for tests that require lots of memorizing but little intelligent thought.]

Have a backup plan
If you care too much about doing well in a test, then you will get stressed and do worse in it. Always have a backup plan for what you will do if you fail, and develop that plan enough that you can imagine it is something you would want to do. That way, if you are part way through the exam, and you think "I'm failing", you'll just think "that's not so bad really", you'll stay calm, and you'll ace it.

Sometimes, simplicity is the best solution.

Let me just share my story about how I arrived at the techniques that finally allowed me to study effectively for the first time in my life leading up to my IGCSE exams.

Since I was about 11, I had been trying to find the answer to this question by devising and trying new wacky and complex ways to study effectively for the exams leading up to my Primary School leaving exam. However, I tripped up every time including for that crucial end of Primary education exam as well. Every method I had tried fell short and I constantly did poorly.

However, with about 3 months left to spare before my IGCSEs (end of Secondary education exam) when I was 15, I realised I did not know enough to do even averagely well. The bad part was that I was still lazy and now desired studying in a very simple way just to save energy. I was fed up with weird and complex ways such as having millions of post it notes all over the place, everything in varying colours, fonts, shapes and sizes, odd mind maps, flow charts and diagrams bursting out of nowhere going to who-knows-where etc...you get the idea. Perhaps beauty and complexity was not related to effectiveness?

Then, just out of sheer laziness, I started studying in a new way because it seemed simple to implement and follow. I did not think it would take me far or give me great results, I just expected it to get me by. However, it did quite the opposite. Perhaps laziness does have its perks.

I used this method and managed to get 7A*s and 2As for what I did. I am not saying this to boast but rather just to show you that it worked for me (someone who had never done great in exams and desired a simple approach).

For my study process, it just involved two simple parts where everything else hinged upon. Many people like to overthink different ways of studying for your exam but for me simplicity is what worked best, based on hard work. Also, try not to listen to music when studying as it tends to distract you and prevents information being absorbed, the same goes for multi-tasking.

What are the two simple parts to how I studied?

1. Note taking.

Your brain is not going to remember every bit of information so don't even try to walk into the exam hall thinking you're an expert because 'you remember everything from class'. You may think you do, but you probably don't, unless you're a genius, which I by the way am not.

When you are in class, Listen!

I am not saying take down detailed notes in class or write down every word the teacher says...

No. Just listen, listen, listen to what the teacher has to say and take down very brief summary notes of what is most important such as a key concept or an equation for example. Your exercise book should not be filled with more than a page and a half every lesson. Anymore than that, and you probably have not been absorbing or listening to what is going on as much as you should.

When you are at home, Write!

Once you get home, everyday, review your work and what exactly you have learnt in class, refer back to the textbook or whatever you did that day and refresh yourself on what you learnt. From that, and referring back to the syllabus (to see what you must learn and what topics you are unsure of), textbook and your school notebook every now and then to grab the key takeaways, write or type up a document of what you should know for that topic based on what you learnt that day.

Do this everyday and it should not take more than half an hour. Leave it to the last minute, and you are going to be swamped with 101 topics from 101 subjects and its just not going to work at all. Do not carry on with your notes if there is something you are unsure about, only move on if you understand everything you write. If you are writing page 3 of your notes, you should understand Pages 1 & 2 inside out. If not, stop, re-read the chapter and seek help from your teacher.

Regarding the notes, they absolutely do not have to be colourful, in your face mind maps or exquisitely designed flow charts (Depends on what works for you though).

As for myself, I am not sorry to admit that mine was simply a word document built on sub-headings, bullet points, short explanations and diagrams. That's it. I used limited colour, a very small amount of shapes, and virtually no smart art or word art whatsoever. And yet, it worked well.

I just filled my document with the core content of what needed to be known and put it into visible easy to read point form. This allowed me to easily refer back to it if I forgot or did not clearly understand something. The biggest problem I have with exquisite mind maps and notes is that it is difficult to pinpoint something and refer back to it quickly when I needed to, it also is extremely time consuming which for a set of revision notes, in my opinion, is unnecessary, but again, whatever works best for you. Remember, your notes is not a graphic design project.

2. Practice Papers

I am not an advocate of too many textbook questions, they are usually too simple and are nothing like what appears in the exam, so only do textbook questions to test your really fundamental understanding of the topic at the beginning, but bear in mind, simply acing textbook questions is not going to get you very far in the exam.

In terms of practice papers, try not to wait till the last minute and cram 3 per day. That is just unsustainable and bloody tiring. Same as with your notes, try and do your practice papers over a pro-longed period of time, 2-3 papers a week of alternating subjects worked well for me, however I increased that frequency to 3-4 per week in the final month of the exam just to make sure I left no stone unturned.

You may ask how are there enough practice papers to keep this going? Simple. Find the exam papers and answer keys online then print them all out starting from a few years back such as 2008.

When you do your practice papers, have a copy of the answer sheet too. The point of this is because what you may begin to notice is that the questions they ask tend to repeat and be pretty similar across the years, therefore, their answers will also tend to be very similar too, the answer sheet will expose first hand to these 'model' answers that will come up and again and again and will also show you exactly what answers the exam board wants to specific questions, hence, even if you go into the exam and have a familiar question but you don't fully understand the concept, you should know the model answer and therefore could just put it down and have a high probability of getting it right simply because you've done your background work. This also puts you at an advantage above the people who may understand the concept but lack the ability to articulate it in the way the exam board wants you to do so.

After finishing every paper and learning from your mistakes, file it away somewhere so when you refer back to it or refresh yourself before the exam, it will be easily accessible.

Once you have completed refreshing yourself with the work you have done, do no work at all up to the day of the exam. Enjoy yourself and do what you want, you have worked hard. There is nothing to fear.

The above content was mostly for content and word-based subjects such as Biology, Chemistry, Literature etc... rather than a number based topic such as Maths. After all, you cannot really take good quality notes for a subject like that.

Therefore, I came up with a logical step by step study method that I'll share with you meant just for Maths which somehow got me an A* and an A even though I have never in my life been great at it:

1. Get a copy of the syllabus to get a clear view of the exact topics and their components that you will be tested on. Make a little mark beside the topics you do not think you are very confident in.
2. Get your textbook again and focus on those topics you are not too sure about. Do about 10-15 beginner/intermediate questions ensuring your foundation is there. Then move on to complete all the hard questions in that topic to ensure you can handle the tougher stuff. You will probably run into difficulties along the way and that is when you seek help from your teacher.
3. Once you have finished the topics you are not confident in and have become comfortable with them, move onto all the other topics you feel neutral and confident in. Do about 5-7 of the beginner/intermediate questions in those topics just to make sure your foundation is still very much intact. Once again, move on to do all the 'hard' questions even if you think they are easy. This will ensure you are comfortable with those topics and can handle the harder questions there too. Do not be complacent and skip topics as that is where you will lose easy marks.
4. Find and print out all the past year exam papers from all the different time zones along with their respective answer keys.
5. Start work on the past year exam papers under timed conditions. Do all the questions that you know how to do. Leave out the questions you do not know how to do. Once the paper is done use the mark scheme to mark yourself and to fill in the questions that you did not know how to do and learn from and understand your mistakes. If unsure, seek the help of a teacher. Never move onto another paper without understanding every single question and every single method used in the previous paper. This part is very important as it gives you an idea of the types of questions the exam board likes to ask and also shows you how the questions have evolved over the years. The answer key shows you the answers and methods the markers like to see and also gives you an idea of how the answers required have evolved over the years. Knowledge of these will give you a big advantage on the day of the exam.
6. Once all the papers are completed, go through each of the papers to review what you have done and to ensure you remember and understand why you have done what you have done for each question. Just make a little mark on the question if you do not understand why you did something and then seek help from a teacher. Only move onto the next question when you fully understand why you have done what you have done for the previous one.
7. Spend the remaining time before the Maths exam; relaxing and having a good time. Do no work at all. No more maths. No more school material. Behave like you are on holiday. Go out with friends, exercise, start a business, get a job, do whatever makes you happy. Most importantly, get tonnes of sleep as there is no better preparation for a Maths exam than to be well rested and have a clear, quick mind. This part is absolutely fine to do and actually good because you have spent the past time working hard and understanding everything, therefore if you were truly diligent about it, everything should make sense to you and there is no point going over stuff you have already completed hence, you are prepared for the exam.
8. On the day of the exam, remain calm but focused and alert. Understand and have the confidence that you have put in the hard work and that the results you aimed for will follow as a result of that. After you finish the paper, check your answers thoroughly. There is nothing worse than coming to terms with the reality of careless mistakes undoing what you have spent the past time practicing.

Finally,

For any exam, try to enjoy the journey! I struggle with this immensely too, possibly because I do not see myself as an academic guy, but I try to find a source of enjoyment somewhere inside the world of exams and grades. Make sure you exercise and have a good time in between as well as it will help to clear your mind and study more efficiently. Try to do the same, it definitely helps.

Hope the answer has been helpful and all the best for whatever you are studying for!

• Work smart and hard

TL;DR: Balance and variety

• 30 minutes of music in the morning to improve focus (this should work unless meditation triggers PTSD). In today’s world, it is easy for your brain to develop an addiction to stimulation (if you’re not talking to your friends on Facebook, you are looking at memes; if you’re not doing that you are playing games; if not that, you are trying to study, and so on…). Meditation will help you avoid falling into this trap (you will realize you have to take breaks) — thus, helping you to focus.
• Change your environment. Your brain gets tired of being in one place all the time.
• Work on something else or go have fun, if you feel you are not making headway. Don’t try to do just one thing the whole day.

“The man who works so moderately as to be able to work constantly, not only preserves his health the longest, but in the course of the year, executes the greatest quantity of works.” Adam Smith

• Exercise and not sitting the whole day makes a huge difference in your ability to focus and it also helps with motivation.
• Take care of your eyesight. Get computer glasses. No, I don’t mean glasses that correct your vision to 20/20. I mean glasses that let your eye muscles relax more, while you are staring at the computer screen (add +0.75 or +1 to your prescription).
• 60 minutes of work, 10 minute break.
• Focus on what’s important, but not urgent, manage what is urgent and important, avoid everything that is not important. This is called the Eisenhower method.
• Remove distractions, so that you have to make a conscious effort to be distracted. Either build habits (do something at the same time each day, at the same place) or “setup your life in such a way that making the right decision is convenient, and succumbing to temptation is difficult” (put the smartphone in a safe so that you have to make a conscious effort to use it).
• Outside of work, don’t engage in activities that make you more anxious (racing games, violent and/or depressing TV shows, fast paced music). The more anxious, the less efficient you are.
• Eat healthy. Duh.
• Always question, whether what you are doing is efficient enough. You get more done if you work smart and hard, rather than just hard.
• Remember to have a growth mindset (the more you do something, the better you become at it), no matter what you are doing.

1.

The number one rule is To be very very clear of what you really want in life. Meaning you think- why do I want to read very efficiently? Why do I want to go to the top university? Start asking several questions to yourself. And branches of questions from a single question like- if I read efficiently, I might get to the top university. Then what? Why do I want that? If getting to top university helps me gain recognition, help me sharpen my skills, then why do I need that? Again I need that because I want my life to be of world class standard. And so forth. If you ask the questions genuinely to yourself then the universe responds. It really does! That way you’ll gain clarity in your life. Because clarity is the key!

2. You might have heard many times. Believe in yourself. But how? See here's the key- You go back to your life where you’ve achieved something and you were very proud of that. If you don't find anything, RELAX, It is there. It might be a very small win. But it's worth it. Then analyze- how did you do that? What was your center of thought while doing that work. As for example, I always wanted to be different than others. And this core value of mine made me to do Yoga, every single day. When my all friends were sleeping till 8:00, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. even at 3:00 sometimes.And I never did wasted my morning doing unproductive works. This was me 5 years back. And that one discipline has a great impact in my life till now. I'm in 1st year of my Computer Engineering.

So, go back and see what you did to achieve something that time. And relate that with your present scenario of what you really desire. This way YOU CAN HAVE A STRONG BELIEF UPON YOURSELF. And remember as quoted by Jim Rohn” One disciplined action leads to multiple rewards”

3. Discover yourself.

Have you ever noticed that after you use social medias or various such sites, you feel like you’re short of energy? It really happens. Your mobile phone or those kinda sites sucks up your energy. You’ll find yourself being absolutely non productive even if you have greater vision for yourself. And that way you'll start procrastinating! Nope you don't want that! Do you? But remember You can change yourself immediately. The moment you DECIDE!

So decide to discover yourself instead of using social medias chatting or looking to someone's profile and enjoying in a small and trivial world of zero importance created by yourself.

Be creative. Find solutions all by yourself, don't ask immediately. Try until you come up with solutions all by YOURSELF!!Anything, any sort of problems. Give yourself some credits. And that way you'll have fun learning. Once you start using your intelligence and solve even a single problem all by yourself, you can't imagine the level of confidence growing in you. It's so amazing experience. As quoted by Einstein “Creativity is intelligence having fun!”

4. You know what, we are all limited by something. We really want to have freedom. We want a life with no boundaries at all for being truly ourselves.But here's the thing, we get scared. We have a sense of fear within us.

You go back to your childhood days. See, were you scared of anything? Did you feel stuck anywhere? NO!! You didn't. You did whatever you felt like doing. And now you check minutely, you are stuck because you're fearful of something.

While solving a problem, you are stuck because you are fearful of being wrong.You are fearful of making mistakes. You're fearful of your own feeling after failing to solve the problem.

Now, what if the things you're fearful about are never going to happen? Yes! You’ll feel alive and absolutely fearless! And let this sink in,” The things you’re scared of doesn't make any sense. They are not even going to happen”

So, go fearlessly and be determined and say”I’ll face whatever comes on my way boldly. Because I want to make myself proud of my achievements!”

Don't be the servant of your mind! Serve your soul instead and you'll see the magic!

Just try this because”Life is all about problem solving!”

To be continued…

Thank you for asking me to answer this question. So.... here it goes -

Study Habits and Techniques for Studying

Studying begins when a student first reads the material. Therefore, practice these active reading strategies to engage your child with the text as he is reading it. The more a student interacts with the material, the more likely he is to remember it.

1. Before reading, look at titles, headlines, and pictures.
Most people already know this strategy, yet few people use it regularly. It only takes a student a few minutes to get a general overview of the chapter, but this tool can be invaluable in sorting main ideas from details.

2. Read a paragraph in its entirety before highlighting or taking notes.
If the student is highlighting in the book, ask him to highlight 2 or 3 details that support the bolded headlines. Writing a few key words on the side of the paragraph will help jog his memory when reviewing the information for a test. Another way to remember what was read is by taking notes either in a notebook or on the computer or even orally explaining it out loud to someone.

3. Keep track of questions for a later time.
If the student has a question while reading, encourage him to draw a large question mark over it or by using a post it note so that he can ask a teacher or research it on his own at a later time.

4. Follow through.
Continue with each paragraph until the assignment is completed. The student may complain that this takes longer than just reading, but will soon learns that this process saves him studying time before an exam.


It is also imperative for the disorganized student to keep up with homework and daily assignments. If he stays current with his work, he will be more likely to notice material that he is missing or recognize questions he has about the subject matter. This makes studying for a test more systematic and orderly.

Studying for a Test:

1. Study in advance.
Always start studying for a test FIVE days in advance and for a quiz – THREE days in advance. When the student starts far enough ahead of time to prepare for an exam, he has the time to see what material is missing or confusing.

2. Schedule study time daily.
Schedule your student’s studying time on a daily calendar and write down what will be studied each night. Stick to the plan! Do not write the words “study” in the assignment book. Specify exactly which amount of material needs to be covered each night. Plan to finish studying all the material at least TWO days before the test, so that the night before the test can be devoted to problem areas and a general review.

3. Make a study guide.
As the student puts together a study guide, he also is putting small chunks of information systematically into his brain. An auditory or kinesthetic learner can talk out loud as he creates his study guide.

4. Put together a study group.
For older students, it is a good idea to study the information with others. It gives students the opportunity to make sure each student understands the material and has studied in a comprehensive manner. Students can quiz each other on information and create outlines for possible essay questions.

5. Think positively!
Try to imagine yourself getting an A+ on the exam. Imagine getting questions you know the answers to, expressing yourself clearly and concisely, and feeling good about yourself and your performance. Think about how good you will feel inside when the test is over and all your preparation has paid off.

1. The pomodoro technique: You study whatever you are studying for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break to stretch, build motivation, etc. What I have divulged is called a pomodoro. Note: Do not use electronics during that 5-minute break as electronics can be extremely addicting. After four pomodoros, you take a half-an-hour break. This study method works the best if you have a plethora of time but have a plethora of tasks to complete. I would say that you should not be use this technique when you have a lot to do in a limited amount of time as the 30-minute break consumes a lot of time.
2. The priority matrix: You first do the important and urgent tasks. Next, you do the important but not urgent tasks. Then, you do the not important but urgent tasks. Finally, you do tasks that are neither important nor urgent. For me, I usually tackle the not important but urgent tasks rather than the important but not urgent tasks first. This may or may not work for some of you, but it works for me. Tasks that are due in a short while but are not important can be stressful. To reduce unnecessary stress, I do the only urgent tasks right after the urgent and important tasks.
3. Tackling the hard stuff:T This method may not work for me, but some people are more focused at the beginning of their study sessions. They start to wear out as time flies. Tackling the hard stuff means that by the time you are worn out, the hard stuff will be tackled, and all is left is to wreck those easy tasks.
4. Color-coding, but not to an extreme extent: Color-coding my notes helps me remember my notes (and the content and concepts are stored in my long-term memory). However, if you overly color-code or focus on the aesthetic aspect of notes (doodle, writing different fonts, using different colors for different title words/letters), you are just going to waste time doing nonsense.
5. Knowing your daily routine: In order for you to have a clear idea or goal of what you are doing with whatever you are doing, schedule out your daily routine. Stick to it. You do not necessarily have to be exact with the timing and stuff like that, but use your daily routine as a guide to help you be efficient and to effectively study.
6. Breaking assignments and tasks into bite-size pieces: Cramming a task in a day or two is extremely stressful. With all that stress that you are already enduring, it is totally not worth it to forget some of those important details and information that you need to know.
7. Download the “Self-Control” app: If it is necessary to do some of your tasks on a laptop or on any electronic device, you first should go to the self-control app. So, there is a blacklist. You basically edit the blacklist and type in the URLs of the websites that distract and interject you from doing your tasks efficiently. Set the self-control time for as little or as long as you desire. That way, you are and will stay focused.
8. MY STRATEGY: Since the pomodoro technique and tackling the hard stuff never seems to work for me, I instead write a bunch of quotes during 5 minute breaks. I eat a lot of snacks. I do the urgent and important tasks and hard stuff first. If I am wearing out, I jump back to the easy stuff. That way, unnecessary stress is reduced.

1. For any Student, planning is more important before studying. Make a schedule as you have more than 5 subjects to study and spend time on them as per the requirement, but don't neglect any of the Subject because overall these subjects upgrade your marks (or %).
2. Next thing is that, make only those friends who do you think can help you in subjects where you may stuck by making you understand any topics etc, don't make friend for timepass or distract your time or spoil your time by chatting or other courses of medium.
3. Pay attention in your class and mainly study your course books i.e. NCERT . Avoid studying Alternative books.
4. Start solving sample paper of the chapter which do you think is finished and you can solve or answer all questions.
5. Try to write the questions and answers while revising and make sure your answers should be in points.
6. Ignore others sarcastic comments and boost yourself by Always saying that you are best.
7. And finally pay more time in study and always have food on time with almond and milk (helps you in concentrate on study)

I wish for your great future and hope for the best result. Thank you

My biggest hack for learning quickly and effectively is to study actively. The difference between studying actively vs studying passively is huge.

By just receiving concepts and thinking about them in the exact way they are being conveyed gives knowledge a very rigid form, and gets mostly associated to that particular stimulus (book, teacher, etc.)

On the contrary, by acting over those concepts, yo associate them with your experiences, and give them your own structure, making for a more flexible conceptual structure and better memory formation.

"Study actively" seems like an awesome, yet not very actionable, advise, right?

My three actionable tips:

• Instead of just digesting information, ask questions and seek answers.
• Order and structure the concepts you learn.
• And the best of all by far: Try to teach what you learn.

Ask Questions (not only literally)

Asking questions and then obtaining the answer to them is much more efficient in terms of memory consolidation than receiving an answer to a question you never asked. I don't mean just "ask questions in class", no. I mean, approach study from a questioning position.
When you pick the book or whatever you use, let it not be a reading exercise (as it would be when reading a novel) but rather a research exercise (you read the book looking for something).
In order to have questions to ask, my best approach has always been to (a) skim course materials to find key concept names, and have a general idea of the topic and, especially, (b) read review questions in advance, or practice problems, or programming exercises, or whatever; and, by far the best (c) find real world applications of what you're learning and ask yourself "how am I going to do that?".

Order and Structure

When you go to class or read course materials, you receive concepts ordered according to a given structure, concepts given in a particular order, clustered based on a given criteria, and highlighting a set of relationships between them.
So instead of keeping structure as it is, give it your own. Change the order, cluster them according to how you think they should be clustered, and find relationships and patterns, find comparisons, make timelines, draw, invent your own model of the subject.
Above all, integrate with your existing knowledge, even from other subjects. Don't think of courses as self contained universes.

Try to teach what you learn

My best approach yet was to try to learn in order to teach. I have always been a fast learner and have usually helped my classmates, so and, by far, have been the most effective while studying the topics I explicitly intended to later explain.

Trying to explain something gives you that active approach toward knowledge that is so much more effective than just passively listening/reading/etc.

As you are explaining the subject to someone else (in reality or in your head) you find your comprehension holes much easier, and almost automatically do the two things I told you above.

If you ever learned a new language, it will seem obvious to you if I told you that you really learn by speaking, not by reading. There's some sort of parallelism here.

I haven't found to need particular "distraction free environment" or "productivity hacks" to study effectively, just motivation and coffee. Lots of it.

Bonus: Sleep deprivation hinders memory consolidation. Long study nights under life threatening doses of Red Bull may help, but are very inefficient. Try to find a metric for how long you need to study a subject (I discovered I roughly needed 1h of study every 4hs of class) and plan ahead. Don't loose sleep! And never, ever, ever, ever, go sleepy to a brain intensive exam (Algebra, Calc, whatever).

Hope it helps!

PS: This is my own experience, yours could be different depending on your field of study, motivations, and prominent skills.

Learning to study is an important life skill. At each level of your academic progress, you will realize that learning becomes more independent. No one really teaches us the stuff, but there’s tons of evidence from a lot of studies that tell us exactly how we can study to maximize the amount of time. Are there ways we can learn more quickly and remember longer?

There are 3 key steps of effective studying

STEP 1. UNDERSTANDING.

Understanding is the most important part of effective studying. One of the mistakes that we often make when learning anything new is to rely on memorization. We always want to start with understanding. Once we understand and can easily break down what we just read to our friends; everything becomes so much easier.

Techniques to help you understand

A) Active recall

Active recall means testing yourself. The Single biggest thing that will improve your marks and the most essential part of understanding anything we learn. You cannot really learn to drive by reading about driving theory. You have to test yourself by actually putting it into practice. The same applies when taking any exam. Our brain is like a muscle; the more the brain has to work on something the more we are likely to remember something.

B) Taking Notes During Class

There a few ways to make summarizing content more effective and a less passive process. Science has shown that basically handwriting notes is better than typing up notes. It helps us think a little bit more intensely. Students get a better grasp of the concepts than the ones who take notes using laptops because they passively do it. It becomes a hand-brain activity where the teacher says something and they just type away. When taking down notes you prioritize and focus a lot more figuring out what key points to hit and actually grasp the ideas a lot better. When you get home you could your notes into one of your preferred apps and then expand on the text. My experience is that when I take notes with a laptop I end up with more notes that are irrelevant than when I take notes by hand.

C) Taking notes After class

The main reason for taking notes after class is to build active recall, to consolidate your understanding of the subject. At this point, you are still trying to understand all the content better. If you find that you still cannot explain to a friend how a concept works use different sources to improve your understanding. You can then combine your notes so that when you’re looking through them there is more coherence. Make sure you have written active recall questions rather than passively reading. When you understand something it’s a lot easier to retain

STEP 2. MEMORIZING/REMEMBERING

Recalling what we have learned is something we all struggle with and a natural part of learning. Some techniques that can help us memorize include

A) Spaced Repetition

This means revising what you have studied at certain intervals of time. These intervals increase as time progresses until it's lodged securely into your long-term memory. For example, if you studied new language vocabularies today, you will probably review as soon as you are finished studying and take a step further by going through the topic the following day then move on. With spaced repetition technique you will be revising it after two days, then after a week, and so on until the vocabularies are fully embedded inside our mind. This technique is successful because of the way our brains learn and also forget information, which is normal. The memories that we do not forget are the ones we keep thinking about over and over again. This means to remember something in your head you need to repeat it.

To use space repetition effectively, focus on repeating and memorizing the content that you have not yet learned very well. The idea is as you are beginning to forget the information, relearn that material and you will be able to access this information from your brain at a quicker pace. This requires organization and proper planning in advance in a calendar to help with spacing learning.

B) Spaced Interleaving

This means mixing up your studies; alternating between different topics so that you study information that is related but not too similar. It is simply mixing up the order of topics or tasks within a subject. The technique helps in making a connection between these subjects hence helping with long-term retention. In real life, we are unlikely to do one activity at a time. We are more likely to switch between different tasks. These tasks are interrupted, switched around, and restarted. It appears when people learn a task through interleaving it takes long to learn but there is longer retention. Practicing a mixed set of skills works better. Interleaving requires more effort to recall from long-term memory and switching allows comparisons between problems and leads to a better ability to connect ideas and come up with solutions.

C) Flash Cards

Flashcards help you learn and memorize information quickly. They are powerful tools that promote active recall. They are great for memorizing facts or vocabulary fast. The idea is you have a question in the front and in the back you would put your notes. With flashcards, you quickly figure out what you know and focus on what you do not know. You can take breaks and revise more. Making a deck for yourself is good practice as it cements information in your head. There are entire collections of premade decks on the Internet. We also have apps that are effective to use for example Anki flashcard app, Quizlet, and many others. It is important to note that the good ones use spaced repetition and are more convenient.

D) Mind Palace Technique

A simple diagram where information is represented visually.

You can draw a mind map by hand or use apps on your computer or phone. First, pick your main theme and put it in the center, pick up the sub-themes and radiate those out from the center. As you go along the branches of your sub-topics you can include more detail. To study effectively, map out the way YOUR brain has processed a certain topic. Mind maps are particularly helpful for taking a lot of information quickly and putting together information from different sources and hence spotting a connection from the different sources.

E) Mnemonics

They are generally memory tricks. Mnemonics gives you a way to organize information, store it, and recall it. The most common mnemonics are acronyms where you take the starting letter of a word in a sentence or a phrase and put it together to create a new word. Our brains are good at remembering the repetition of these poems, songs, and phrases. You can apply them in specific settings that you find to be effective. You can also create a vivid picture and associate one thing with another to help you remember.

Step 3. Motivation

Motivation is your drive to do something. To work, run, or study, and so on. You are more likely to do one of these activities when on a high level of motivation. If you’re de-motivated to do something, then it takes a little longer to begin. Motivation can be seen as your fuel. With no fuel, you will stop driving. I have found that when I keep referring to why I am studying I build the discipline to a consistent study routine and it keeps me motivated. Some techniques students can use to motivate themselves to study

A) Pomodoro

A time management technique where we break down our study sessions into short timed intervals usually 25 minutes with a five-minute break and repeat this session four times. A powerful technique to stay motivated, avoid distraction and get more done. Brief breaks help you stay focused. This structured approach ensures you get a pause and removes the urge to procrastinate. To work effectively, set tasks that need to be done each day, calculate how much time it will require for each particular task to be accomplished, and then plan your daily work schedule to complete and finish each task.

B) Buddy Up

Studying with friends is great and can make studying much more pleasant. You want to find the right group of people who are motivated to study at a similar level. It is important that someone in the group takes charge of what the study session is going to look like. Study groups are an excellent way to increase your retention.

C) Get rid of Distractions

List all distractions you face when studying and do your best to eliminate them. For example, you could turn off your phone, mute your chat groups, delete the games on your phone, tablet, or computer. Go somewhere you cannot be distracted so less energy and effort are required for you to focus and you can use it on what is important.

C) Maintain a Study balance

Sometimes it is difficult to maintain a study life balance. Despite all the pressure of school work, exams, and work-life you need to make time for yourself. To strike a balance, you can keep a diary and schedule wisely to avoid overloading yourself with tasks and have days off. Schedule and break down your time throughout the week. By doing this you leave nothing to chance and save the brainpower you need to focus on learning effectively. There are different apps and planners that one can use. I can't emphasize the importance of sleep, exercise, going for walks, hydrating and eating well to manage stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

There are many ways & tricks which increase your efficiency but I think you may already know the many things. So do not expect that here anyone will tell you any rocket science to increase your study time or to study effectively.

Here are few tips that I mentioned below that I applied-

1. Try to Start With 5 mins Study- If you do not study at all & procrastinating all day, It’s better to start 5 min study & take the break for 5 minutes. Do this for an hour & then take break for an hour. So if you do this for 6 hours than you serious study hour will be 1.5 hour.
2. Increase 5 Minutes Everyday- If you do this even for 3 months than you will see the amazing result. After 3 months you study for 8 hours without any pressure.
3. Be honest to Yourself- This is the most important skill that many people lag. If you do not honest to yourself than you may ending up with nothing.
4. Discipline- Discipline is the key of all the success. If you are not disciplined, you are getting nothing in your life.

These are the very simple steps but simple things will not always easy. After all you have to do it no one handed you anything. Remember, If not you then who if not now then when

Let me know what I missed. Comment box is all yours

To study effectively:
See everyone has a different pattern that fits well to their study needs. Some might grind books late at night while others might sit up before sunrise.
But there are some basic things that one must know .

• Study is a work that needs time.

You cannot study while watching T.v or messaging a friend. Luke you devote time to food same is with studies. You have to devote time to studies with nothing else going on around.

• Know the purpose of your studies

Why are you even studying? To impress mom so that you score a 10/10 and get a desired gift?
No dude! Chuck that !
Write down the purpose . How happy are you to learn a new topic every hour. Try applying whatever you have learnt from books in your daily life.
You are studying because studies will make your understanding better about things, they will definitely get you into the college of your choice , studies will help you work out on everything in life in a thoughtful manner (only if itsn't cramming that you are up to)

• Set targets. Reward yourself once they are achieved.

Before you sit down to study always make a target for the day like 'I am going to finish these topics today.
(Please keep your targets realistic)

Challenge yourself to finish them . if you finish them before time reward yourself with a 30 minutes break rather than 15 minutes. You can even reward yourself with movies on weekends.

(Mehnat me bad ki masti ka maaza hi alag hai )
(The fun after hard work has a very satisfying joy associated to it)

Go ! Set your targets ! Finish them! Reward yourself with EXCELLENCE :)

Richard Feynman, was a Nobel Prize winning great scientist who was also a great teacher. He was also called The Great Explainer as he was able to explain complex concepts in simple and intuitive ways.

Feynman Technique is a remarkable technique that can help you to get a good understanding of concepts in the subject you want to master.

The basic idea of Feynman Technique revolves around the following quote.

“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” - Albert Einstein

Attributed to Albert Einstein this quote is the heart of Feynman Technique.

The Feynman Technique in 5 Simple Steps :

Step 1 : Choose the Topic :

• Select the Topic/ Concept which you want to learn.
• Read about it.
• Learn the basic ideas and try to work with examples and implementations.
• After completing, put the books/ laptop/ mobile phone aside.

Step 2 : Explain the Topic (in simple language) :

• Now take a piece of paper and write down the topics name on top.
• Start writing down about the topic as if you were explaining it to a 6 year old kid (ie. in simple language)
• Try to write the examples & implementations of the topic that you are able to recall

* Don’t take help of your books or anything during this step. Just your mind.

Step 3 : Identify you Knowledge Gap :

• If you missed out something or got stuck in some parts during the explanation step. Pinpoint them.
• Then go back to the books or notes to study more about the topic, examples etc to get a good understanding of those topics as well.

Step 4 : Organize and Simplify

• Again go back to the explanation pages, and review the areas where you used technical terms or complex language.
• Try to break them down into more simplistic way.
• The explanation must sound simple without any confusion. If the explanation isn’t simple you need to repeat the steps above.

Step 5 : Now, finally Explain it Someone (Optional)

• Now to check your understanding, go to someone who knows a little about the subject. And check whether you are able to transmit the knowledge you’ve acquired to that person.
• If you don’t want to perform this step with a real person. Just use your mobile phone or camera to record yourself explaining that topic.
• Rewatch-Review-Learn!!

Conclusion :

Explain the topic to someone in a simple way, identify the gaps in your understanding, and fill the void.

- Thanks

Studying is a very tedious and annoying process. In high school I barely studied because I was always able to make good grades by listening in class. In college I realized it’s a whole different ball game, especially if you’re in a STEM discipline. Here are a few tips I learned:

1. Create a study schedule
1. Making an efficient study schedule is the holy grail of studying. If you don’t know when and how you will study each subject, it won’t be good because if you keep repeating it, studying gets easier. Create days in which you study and for how long, for me I like to study each subject for an hour and a half (maybe more depending on what subject it is). After you do this, things will be a lot smoother.
2. Use the Pomodoro Method
1. A lot of college students do this and this technique has grown on me a lot. It basically consists of setting a time for however much you want to study and setting small breaks in between so you can maintain the information. For example, I try and do 25 minutes of studying and take a five minute break after that, then I repeat until I’m done.
3. Flash cards then Practice Problems
1. Ever since I took my first chemistry class, I realized that memory isn’t enough. Flash cards help tremendously with English or History classes, because they are more memory based. But for any type of STEM class you have to do a fair amount of practice problems every day. I was doing on average at least 15–20 practice problems for my chemistry class a day. It’s good to be able to remember the topics, but if you can’t apply them then it doesn’t mean much.
4. Tutoring
1. This sounds cliche but hear me out. Some people are worse at subjects than others. I’m not a well rounded person and I struggle a lot at math. Because of this I went to Economics tutoring almost three times a week because I felt completely lost. My school has a lot of different avenues for tutoring whether it’s office hours, tutoring centers, etc. Utilizing office hours is the best course of action if none of the methods above work.

I hope this helps. Being a student is a lot of hard work, it’s basically a part time job and the best thing for me was to treat it like a part time job.

To increase your effectiveness while studying the things you have to consider is:-

1. While studying you have to develop the habit of understanding the concept instead of cramming ( to study just before the exam) that will help you to remember things easily.
2. Main distraction is our phones so it you must switch it off/ on silent mode while studying so that you don't get distracted by a WhatsApp or Facebook notification.
3. The best way is studying for a specified time rather than for a stretch of 4 hours , so study for 1 hour take 10–15 mins break and again start studying.
4. When you are reading try reading loud that will increase your capacity of remembering things.
5. Try to make notes of what you are studying that will help you in revision of that subject such as writing reactions of chemistry, formula for solving maths problem, circuit diagram for physics that will help you in revision.
6. One of the mistakes we make is we do not revise those things and at the time of exam we need to start from the beginning so we should go through the notes twice in a week.
7. develop the habit of studying different subject everyday otherwise it will be boring.
8. Take sometime for God and medidatin because it increases your concentration.
9. Some people tend to listen songs while studying thats OK but try not to listen love songs that will not help you.
10. Always remember that study is the path towards your glorious future.