Tips & Tricks

The Extra Mile to Make Studying Fun!

Student Globe, Sunday, September 30, 2012

We all seem to have thousands of items to memorize, ranging from numbers, to important facts, to famous figures. How can you possibly stick every detail into your head? Well that’s a whole different story to be told! Highlighting important selection in your textbooks, or creating cue cards, are ordinary study methods common among most students. Why not go that extra mile and take learning matters into your own hands?

One of the most ‘creative’ men in the advertising business, Leo Burnett, has observed “Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people”. So be curious! Explore every creative way to be on top of your game, and seize those glowing grades.

Before you set up any strategy, first things first: recognize your learning style. Is it visual, audio or kinaesthetic? Once this is determined, go back to your mapping and try a few of these nifty tips and tricks.

Create Your Own Private Study Corner

Buy special couch or exquisite desk thet you’ve been dying to own-then decorate it with your own creation. Find a place to display your family photos to boost self-motivation. Once you are bitten by the lazy bug or you’re about to doze off, look at the photos and think of how proud those relatives of yours would be if you came home with dazzling report cards. Add some cheerful colors, repaint the wall or enliven it with special wallpaper. Fill up your space with your favorite stuffed animals or action figures.

Play with the Letters of the Alphabet

Ever have to memorize the solar system? Names of heroes? Capitals or provinces or countries? No big deal. You can create a mnemonic device - a memorable sentence consisting all of their initial letters. Take the first one or two letters of the word, then form them into an abbreviation or long sentence – one that’s easy to remember. For instance, if you have to memorize, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, you can fix them in your mind with ‘Mariah Versus Emma Makes Justin Sad Unless N’Sync Performs’. There you go! It’s the whole solar system! And it’s legal too: you’re not cheating.

Create a Collage

If you are to memorize country names, capital cities or famous figures, this is a fun way to do it. Get a special board, then glue the images on it, plus their names – or make your own illustration. You could also get a huge map of the world, and then add its name, along with colorful pointers.

Play with Words

Learning history can be tricky, and can even make your head seem like it’s going to explode (sometimes). All those names or chronology of kingdoms and empires, details of their rise and fall – it can be a lot to take. If you happen to love writting, exchange the characters in your story with historical names. This is a guarantee you won’t let it slip out of your mind. You can also use the kingdom’s name or its historical setting as a background for your story.

Sing it All Away

Exchange the lyrics of your favorite song with the subject you want to learn. You can sing it in the shower, you can sing it on your way to school or even wow the judges during a pop star audition.

Story-Telling

Chatting about the latest trend or Hollywood gossip is super – duper fun. But in times of the desperate need to study, you can exchange the topic for your school subjects. Wouldn’t it be fun to hear your friends telling you about the World War II or the Civil War? And! You would still have an excuse to hang out with your friends, even days before ‘D-day’.

Above all, you must keep yourself motivated at all times. Every time you’re about to give up, take a minute and remember what got you started in the first place. Remember, Barack Obama didn’t become American President overnight. It takes a lot of learning, tries, falls, ups and sometimes downs.