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It's the most wonderful time of the year!
The time when you freak out for 3-4 weeks
and feel more stressed than you ever have
in your life.
Yay?
Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews.
I miss a lot of things about being in college,
but finals!
Haha......noooo finals is not one of them.
There are a lot of insane things that people
do to prepare for finals--but none of them
are quite as effective as rolling up your
sleeves and studying *the right way*.
Here are 5 scientifically backed ways to get
it in this finals season.
#1 - DO NOT CRAM.
Yeah, everyone knows cramming sucks and they
do it anyway.
But hey, it's gotta be said.
The Association for Psychological Science
asserts that cramming doesn't work(!), in
large part because of the all nighters that
are pulled to cram.
Keeping irregular hours impairs your memory
the next 4 DAYS!
Scientists at NYU also found that a huge chunk
of what you take in while cramming is lost
as soon as the next day.
Generally, people remember what they studied
FIRST and LAST the most - and forget everything
in between.
So, prioritize your information accordingly.
#2 - Practice tests.
Forget highlighting, rereading, summarizing
-- the APS has found that even though they're
the most common, they're amongst the WORST
methods to help you study.
But practice tests do work.
REALLY WELL, actually.
When you force yourself to repeatedly call
information to the mind, you strengthen your
knowledge of the material and your ability
to retrieve it.
If you don't have a practice test, flash cards
have similar benefits.
#3 - Explain the material to someone else.
Say you're studying the digestive system,
explain each step of the process to someone
IN DETAIL.
It's similar to a practice test in that it
helps you memorize and recall, but it also
helps you find the missing gaps in your knowledge
and to get better at articulating the information.
If you can accurately explain something to
someone out loud, you're in good shape!
#4 - When you're structuring your study schedule,
study a subject in intervals.
For instance, bio on M/W/F and physics on
T/Th/S instead of 3 days in a row.
Distributing your study into intervals over
the course of several weeks will strengthen
your retention of the material.
The longer you need to remember the information,
the longer the intervals should be.
#5 - Do the hardest part of your studying
before bed.
A good night's sleep helps to consolidate
your memory and scientists have found that
the information taken in right before bed
is often the first to come back to you.
There you go my dears, good luck this finals
season!
The whole DNews team is rootin' for ya.
After you're all done, if you need a good
book to unwind with I just finished "The Ocean
at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman, which
you can find on Audible.
IT'S SUCH A GREAT READ!
I've been recommending it to everyone.
And if you sign up at audiblepodcast.com/dnews,
you get a free audiobook-download of your
choice AND you'll be helping the show out,
too.
Let me know if you like it or if you have
other book recommendations.
Audible has over 100,000 titles to choose
from in every genre so you're bound to find
something you like.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time!
