i finally figured out why i was studying wrong for literally my entire life and i'm MAD
i spent ALL of last year studying like 6-7 hours a day for boards. i'm talking full dedication. highlighters in every color. notes so aesthetic they could be on studyblr. i was COMMITTED.
and you know what i got? mid scores. like perfectly average. nothing terrible but nothing great either.
meanwhile my friend? studied maybe 3-4 hours a day MAX. didn't even make pretty notes. and she TOPPED our entire class.
i was so confused and honestly kind of salty about it lmao like what was she doing that i wasn't??? was she just naturally smarter? did she make a deal with the devil? WHAT.
so i finally asked her and she introduced me to these study techniques that basically changed my entire life and i'm actually MAD that nobody taught us this earlier because we're really out here studying the wrong way for YEARS.
technique 1: the feynman technique (aka the "explain it to a kid" method)
this one BLEW MY MIND. here's how it works:
pick any topic. let's say photosynthesis or the french revolution or whatever. now imagine you have to explain it to a 10 year old using only simple words. no fancy jargon. no complex terms.
try it right now with something you studied recently.
notice how you keep getting stuck? yeah. those are the parts you don't actually understand. you just memorized them.
i tried this with organic chemistry and realized i'd been fooling myself for MONTHS. i could recite definitions but i couldn't actually explain WHY reactions happened.
so now whenever i get stuck explaining something simply, i go back and relearn that specific part. and suddenly everything makes sense??? like ACTUAL sense not just "i memorized this sentence" sense.
this technique is literally perfect for boards because cbse LOVES asking application questions where you need to actually understand concepts, not just vomit memorized facts.
technique 2: active recall (or as i call it, the "close the damn book" method)
here's what i used to do: read chapter. highlight important parts. read again. maybe make notes. done.
here's what actually works: read chapter. close book. write down EVERYTHING you remember without looking.
when you force your brain to retrieve information instead of just passively reading it, you create stronger memory pathways. it's literally science. your brain has to work harder so it remembers better.
i started making flashcards for everything. formulas. dates. definitions. concepts. and i test myself constantly. even the stuff i think i know.
especially the stuff i think i know tbh because that's usually where i'm overconfident and wrong lmao
technique 3: spaced repetition (the "review before you forget" method)
okay this one sounds boring but it's MAGIC.
instead of cramming everything the night before (we've all been there), you review material at specific intervals. study something today. review tomorrow. then after 3 days. then after a week. then after two weeks.
each time you review it gets easier because you're reinforcing the memory right before it fades.
i use a simple calendar for this. nothing fancy. just reminders for when to review each chapter.
the result? when board exams came around, i remembered stuff i studied in JUNE. effortlessly. no last minute panic cramming needed.
technique 4: pomodoro (aka "25 minutes of actual focus is better than 3 hours of distraction")
i cannot stress this enough: those 6-7 hour study sessions i was doing? maybe 2 hours were actual focused studying. the rest was me on instagram, checking messages, getting distracted, daydreaming, etc.
pomodoro technique is stupidly simple:
study with COMPLETE focus (phone in another room level focus)
when timer rings, take 5 min break
repeat 4 times then take longer break
i get more done in 6 pomodoros (3 hours) now than i used to in entire days of "studying"
technique 5: mind mapping (the "visual brain dump" method)
linear notes never worked for me. i'd write pages and pages and remember nothing.
mind maps changed everything. you put the main topic in the center and branch out with related ideas, using colors and little drawings and connecting related stuff.
one good mind map can fit an entire chapter on one page AND you'll actually remember it because visual memory is powerful.
before exams i just review my mind maps and everything comes flooding back.
i wish someone had taught me this in like class 6 instead of letting me waste YEARS doing ineffective studying. but better late than never i guess?
since learning these techniques my scores have literally jumped 20+ percentage points. but more importantly? studying doesn't feel like torture anymore. it actually feels... productive? satisfying even?
oh and i found this platform called Cubegon that actually builds some of these techniques into their study modules which is pretty cool. like they structure content in a way that forces active recall and spaced repetition, so you're using effective methods even if you don't realize it. wish more educational apps did that tbh.
anyway if you're still studying the way we were taught in school (read, highlight, repeat, cry), maybe try these techniques for like two weeks?
your future self will thank you.
