Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
Learning a new topic can often seem overwhelming. Your brain is trying to concentrate and retain all the new information, and it is likely that you have exams or assignments on the horizon, too. This can be especially challenging if you are learning a new language, such as Spanish because your mind needs to construct new cognitive frameworks. This may leave you wondering, how hard is it to learn Spanish? It can be difficult to learn a new language or any new subject for that matter, but it can be made much easier with the right studying strategies.
If you find yourself stuck trying to study, here are some top tips to help you stay productive, and retain more information.
More often than not, taking a step back to review your strategies, including your study space, can be more beneficial to you than anything else. Whether you realise it or not, your environment will have a huge impact on your ability to concentrate and retain information. It is therefore important that you create a dedicated space for your studying, that is clear of distractions and organised properly. Clear out any clutter lying around, and equip it with all the supplies that will support your studies, for example, pens, paper, and highlighters. Make sure the space is comfortable for you to spend time in, and works to your advantage, for example, some people study better in silence, while others prefer music.
Making your notes more visual, or investing in visual aids can be beneficial when trying to retain information, stay focused and when revisiting the information to revise. These can be things such as flow charts, or flashcards. You can use these aids to summarise the information you have learned in your own words, condense information down into bite-sized chunks, and even test yourself to write down what you already know. Visual aids are effective at helping you to remember information and recall it quicker.
An effective way to learn is to teach the topic to someone else. This can seem daunting at first, but can significantly improve your studying. This tactic will help you to build confidence speaking on the subject, retain information, highlight any areas that need more work, get the topic clear in your mind, stay focused for a set amount of time, and change up your usual studying routine from your desk. You can practice speaking and discussing the topics with your friends or family members, or perhaps you could set up a study group with your peers and meet regularly. It may seem embarrassing at first, but it can make a powerful difference to your knowledge. This tactic is particularly helpful when learning a language, as you need to learn to speak the language, articulate sentences and understand the language when it is spoken to you.
Studying any new topic is difficult, but if you employ these strategies, you are guaranteed to make it much easier for you. If you are a parent looking to support your younger children, you can employ these to help them too.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
Contact: [email protected]
