This episode of DNews is brought to you by Audible.
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!