7 Tricks to Learn Faster in School

Are you having trouble learning and retaining the content you need to know for school? Check out these seven tricks for understanding and remembering material.

Trick 1: Consume Content in Bite-Sized Chunks

Don’t try to cram everything into your head at once! Take your learning in small doses. Study a new topic for 30-40 minutes; but don’t go beyond 50 minutes of new material, or your brain may not be able to accept it. Spend a chunk of time learning new things, and then take a little break to refresh your mind, grab a snack or a drink, listen to a favourite song, or take a short walk before you go back to your studies.

Trick 2: Take Notes

While the teacher is talking, or while you’re reading the material, write down important bits of the content. Note fast facts, key dates, specific chemical formulas or properties – anything that might be essential to know for comprehension or for an exam. You can take notes digitally, too; but some studies suggest that handwriting notes is better for active listening and complete understanding.

Trick 3: Join a Tuition Class

Are you truly having trouble grasping the information, despite your best efforts? There’s no shame in needing extra help! Often, students tend to struggle with complex topics like chemistry, creating the need for a chemistry tutor in Singapore. Look for a qualified tutor at Julian Chemistry to help you with your A level chemistry tuition or O level chemistry tuition. A good tutor helps you find the real-life connection with the subject, so that learning becomes fun and interesting instead of boring and burdensome. You can have a one-on-one tutor or look for class-style chemistry tuition in Singapore.

Trick 4: Become a Teacher Yourself

Sometimes, explaining the material to someone else is a great way to solidify the concepts in your own mind. Perhaps you could teach what you’re learning to a younger sibling, an interested parent, or a struggling classmate. As you hear yourself teaching through the material, it becomes more deeply ingrained in your brain, and you discover any learning gaps that you may not have noticed before.

Trick 5: Review the Information

To help yourself retain what you’ve learned, wait a day or two and review the entire lesson again. Whether you’re hearing it in class or studying on your own, you should be going over the material at least three times total to ensure maximum retention.

Trick 6: Use Memory Aids

Are you having trouble remembering a list of facts or a specific set of chemical properties? Come up with a song, rhyme, or chant to help you recall those facts. Your chemistry tutor in Singapore or your teacher at school may have some suggestions for memorisation aids. Of course, the tried-and-true flash card method can be very valuable if you’re studying facts for a test.

Trick 7: Find a New Location

Is your usual study location too noisy or too distracting? Scout your home or neighbourhood for a quiet space where you can focus on learning without people interrupting you or loud noises disturbing you. Turn off notifications on your smartphone so you’re not tempted to check the latest message from a friend, and focus completely on mastering the new material. With perseverance and some help, you can do it!