Study techniques to facilitate learning

On many occasions, students do not find a way to learn or memorize a certain topic; either because of the difficulty of it, the little interest one has towards it or due to attention or learning problems. For this, there are study skills that will help students to facilitate the learning of various subjects; which we will talk about throughout this post.

What are study techniques and what do they consist of?

Study techniques or methods are strategies used to be able to improve learning in different areas, which are extremely necessary for higher performance in school or university. Practically any technique or strategy that improves a person's abilities when studying or memorizing content that will be evaluated is considered a study technique.

These strategies can be learned in a short period of time, since they are usually easy to apply; In addition, they can be used in practically all fields or areas. However, there are techniques that are applied in specific areas, since they were designed for this purpose or are the most recommended for that field.

On the other hand, although in most cases it was used to allow the student to have control over his methods when studying; nowadays more emphasis is being placed on the use of these techniques. The reason is because students who acquire knowledge about this topic usually increase your academic performance; because it is common today that classes dedicated to study skills are even included in the first months at university.

What are the types of study methods?

There are various types of study techniques that can be used to enhance learning. As we mentioned, some of them can be applied to any subject in general; while others have been specifically designed for specific areas. Next we will mention the existing types and explain what each of them consist of.

You can find memorization techniques, communication skills, didactics, information condensation, pictures, acronyms, test strategies, text comprehension and many more. In turn, some of them are divided into several methods; so there is a great variety of types that can be used according to the field to be studied, the student's abilities and their preferences.

Memorize the information to study

These types of study techniques are the most used, since it is something basic. When we study any information we usually repeat the reading, for example, which facilitates learning it. However, it is not about learning the written text to the letter, but rather understanding what it is about and being able to acquire the necessary knowledge to be able to be used when answering any question related to the subject.

Many people think that studying al caletre is the most effective way to learn something, but nothing could be further from the truth. When knowledge is acquired in this way, it is often forgotten shortly after the assessment is presented; Furthermore, in many cases when forgetting a part of the text, it is also difficult to remember the rest.

Use the PSQRST method

Already mentioned the problems of the prior art, those that are based on communication skills are much more effective; since these allow to develop critical thinking. In this we can find the PQRST method, which by its English acronym is known as «Preview, Question, Read, Summary, and Test», which would be translated as «Preview, Ask or question, Read, Summarize and Evaluate».

1. You will first need to review the topic you want to learn about.
2. You will then have to ask questions that you should be able to answer at the end of the study.
3. It will look for information that allows it to expand the information on the subject.
4. Use a variety of techniques or methods to summarize.
5. Finally, you will need to evaluate yourself by answering the questions asked earlier.

Flashcards alongside other study techniques

Flashcards are used extensively by students to record summary or specific information on the topic at hand. Both written and visual notes can be included in these, so it is up to the student to choose the methods that will complement this technique. These are typically used to summarize or ask specific questions that you can then use to conduct a self-assessment; on the other hand, in case of presenting an oral evaluation, these can serve as support material in points that are difficult to remember.

Mind maps or spider diagrams

These strategies are part of the information condensation methods. They use short notes and keywords in order to summarize the information presented in the most important elements of the topic. It is one of the most used techniques and it is usually taught to us in the first years of primary education; which encourages creativity to be able to relate concepts to images and thus have a visual summary.

Visual imaging techniques

There are people who learn more effectively through the use of visual study tools or methods, which help to retain information more easily. Among them are also mind maps and the technique to memorize with pictures; which consists of using drawings created by the student in order to recognize the acquired learning. For this, they must be created through the images that pass through the mind of the person when reading the information, in that way they will remember what was studied much more easily.

Ideas can be represented with images using the representation, similarity, semantic relationship and by free association.

• Representation is often used to literally draw what is being said, such as a brain.
• Similarity, for its part, is normally used in terms that are said the same but are written differently. For example, draw a mouse (animal) when referring to the device.
• The relationship is used most of the time for abstract ideas, such as drawing a heart to refer to love.
• Finally, the association is to use pictures that relate to the text; how to draw the statue of liberty to refer to the United States or New York.

Black-Green-Red Method

Is one of the study techniques based on test strategies, in which different colored underlining is used to represent different meanings. Black is used for the most important things in a question, red for definitions or terms that we must know, and green to point out things that may be difficult to remember when taking a test.

Understanding the text

Text comprehension is one of the most effective study methods, since within it we will find various study strategies that will allow you to understand the information you want to study. Among them we find global and paragraph reading, representing what is read, memorizing and applying.

• The global reading allows us to inform ourselves about the subject to learn and to recognize if we have knowledge in this area. To apply it, it is enough to read the titles and subtitles of the content; being able to extend to read the first paragraph following each one of them.
• Reading by paragraphs gives us the possibility to recognize the main and secondary words and ideas. For this, we can use the markup of relevant words and the different types of underscores.
• The representation allows us to assimilate everything we have read; which we will express through the use of the summary or elaborating diagrams with the main concepts, that is, making use of the well-known Concept Map.
• Memorization is the ability to remember what has been read, which must be explained through the preferred medium (written or oral).
• Finally, the application is what allows us to remember what we have studied, something that happens when in specific situations we need to rescue said knowledge; which also allows us to search for new information that helps us expand our knowledge.

What are the most used study techniques?

Once the aforementioned study methods have been explained, we will expand the information on each of the most used study techniques, such as the underlining, notes, index cards, mind or concept maps, quizzes or tests, brainstorming, and mnemonic rules.

Underline technique

The underline aims to highlight the main or main ideas of a text. That way the student will be able to remember what they have learned just by reading what they have underlined. To underline you first need to understand the text and what should be highlighted that is extremely important. On the other hand, you can use both a highlighting and any pencil to draw lines under these ideas or keywords.

The cards and notes

Once the material to be studied has been understood, notes can be created with the most relevant information in the text or with that which is difficult to remember. In the same way, the well-known cards can be used, of which we spoke earlier, alluding to the name of "cards."

Mind and Concept Maps

Depending on the topic and our learning skills (remember that there are people who learn better with visual material); you can make use of mind or concept maps (also known as schematics). The first will help us to relate the images and keywords with the information to be studied; while the second allows to recreate the information in a summarized way through the use of concepts and keywords. This method together with underlining is one of the first study techniques that we usually use while in school.

Make use of tests or tests

The tests or tests do not need to be defined for their obvious reasons, but it is part of the study strategies that can help not only to evaluate our knowledge in different areas, but also to evaluate our learning ability. There are books that include small tests, as well as they can also be searched on the internet to test our knowledge; In addition, it is also possible to create them ourselves or ask for help from an external person.

Brainstorming

This is one of the lesser known study techniques, but with great efficiency. This method is a group tool that allows you to find new ideas on a topic. Because several people participate, a great variety of ideas are usually found or explained in different ways, but with the same meaning; which will help improve learning and have several options to choose from at the time of an assessment. To perform this technique, you must eliminate criticism, write down all ideas and allow free expression, try to find as many ideas as possible and also try to combine or improve them.

Study techniques are fundamental tools when studying, especially for people who do not have a memory capacity above average; which, as we mentioned in the entry, in addition to being an advantage, can also be a problem in the future, since the use of learning the texts "verbatim" is often easily forgotten. We hope that from now on you will use some of the methods explained and that studying will be a much easier process for you.