3 tips on how to study effectively

During training, paramedics learn many techniques, procedures and techniques used to save lives. Being able to remember this skill can mean the difference between life and death. With this in mind, a 2006 study asked a group of doctors to learn how to use their tails and divided them into two groups. Everyone had the same book, but one group changed the way they studied. When tested a month later, this group performed better with the surgery than the other residents. We'll discuss the secret to team success, as well as two other effective learning strategies that can be used inside and outside the classroom. But to understand why these technologies work, we first need to understand how the brain learns and stores information.

Let's say you're trying to remember the heart. When you introduce yourself to a new concept, the memory is stored in clusters of neurons in the hippocampus region of the brain. As you continue to learn about how the heart works in class or study heart cells on an exam, you'll reactivate these neurons. This repeated firing strengthens connections between cells and stabilizes memory. In addition, information about the structure of the heart is stored long-term and affects a part of the brain called the neocortex. How information is transferred from short-term to long-term storage is unclear, but it is thought to occur during learning and during sleep. The new information here is combined with other related concepts you already know, such as how to measure heart rate or the status of other organs. The process is not over. Whenever you remember a feeling, you activate your memory for a long time and it changes. Information can be updated, expanded and combined with other information. This is where our first learning method comes into play.

Testing yourself with flashcards and quizzes will encourage you to absorb information, improve and strengthen your memory. Students often require additional learning methods, such as reading books and reviewing papers. But these systems can create the wrong impression because the message is right in front of you. However, self-examination can help you learn more about what you know. But what if you don’t remember the answer while you’re doing it? Don't worry - mistakes can improve learning over time. The idea is that when you activate your brain to search for answers, you activate relevant information. Then, when the correct answer is found later, the brain can better connect this information to information it already knows.

Our second approach builds on the first. When studying with flash cards, it's best to combine decks with multiple topics. Consolidating or combining concepts you focus on in one area makes it easier to retain one task or topic at a time. One theory for how this works is that, like a quiz, cycling through different subjects forces your brain to temporarily forget, then increasingly strengthens your memory. You will also discover connections between different topics and better understand their differences. Now that you know what to learn and what to learn, our final step is time. Checking for reviews over a few days can give you time to rest and sleep between sessions.

Even "offline", the brain rapidly processes, stores and integrates information in the neocortex. So while cramming the night before a test may seem worthwhile - and isn't the subject fresh in your mind? – But knowledge doesn’t last long. Which brings us back to healthy patients. Both groups studied surgery simultaneously. However, one group's training was concentrated in one day, while the other group's success was spread out over four weeks. These three learning strategies are effective because they are designed with the brain in mind. They support and encourage the brain's excellent work of analyzing and storing the information it is exposed to every day.