Little tricks and habits can help you excel in your academics, you just have to try and find what works best for you.
Most university courses have a memorizing portion and if you don’t naturally have photographic memory, here are a few things that could work for you:
1. Use flash cards – this can also help you take your studying anywhere you go
2. Group similar items together and memorize them
3. Make silly sentences
4. Make acronyms – a couple well-known ones are ROY G BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) or BEDMAS (Brackets, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)
5. Make a mind map – web things that flow together. This works really well for processes with different steps. For example, if you’re analyzing the human brain, you start with memorizing external features and then the left and right sides of the brain, and finally the functions of each. These types of things can be mapped.
Aly’s Tips: I always make flash cards with a question on the front of the card and the answer on the back. Whenever I need to test myself, I pull out my flash cards and study. I write my flash cards while reviewing the slides, going through the textbook or during class when something useful is discussed.
I also use mind maps with acronyms. I’ll make acronyms for all the areas in a process, then map out the sub-processes for each of those items and come up with acronyms for those too. Because I’m a visual learner I’ll practice drawing out a mind map with acronyms dozens of times to retain it.
Interestingly, I also memorize better when I’m standing rather than sitting.
Adapted with permission from Your Guide to Succeed in University (the #1 College book on Amazon, recent award-winning finalist of the 2014 USA Best Book Awards and best of all, entirely free!) by Aly Madhavji at Smashwords, © 2013 Aly Madhavji.
To view the entire guide visit: www.succeedinuniversity.com/
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About Your Guide to Succeed in University:
How to succeed in university or college? Every student wants to know; every student tries to discover his/her own strategies to succeed – some work, some don’t. Becoming successful in university sometimes feels like trial and error – with potentially serious consequences for failures.
The goal of this guide – Your Guide to Succeed in University – is to help students in university and college to become confident, well-rounded and successful in their overall education experience. This guide aims to equip you – the students – with the necessary tools for success in university and college.
This guide will help students with topics such as building a solid foundation in the first few weeks, efficient techniques for studying and preparing for exams, getting involved, finding the right mentors, networking, job searching with potential employers and preparing for a successful career.
About the Author:
Aly Madhavji, Author of “Your Guide to Succeed in University” strived not only to have a great academic experience but to build the best overall university experience. In university, he coordinated two successful referendums that annually raise $12,500 and $25,000 to support the campus food bank and to help student refugees in the pursuit of Canadian higher-education respectively. He served as a Governor of the University of Toronto where he was a member of the Executive Committee and Academic Board of the institution. Aly was a Books with Wings Coordinator with the University of Toronto International Health Program where he raised 312 university textbooks, with an estimated value of $15,000, for students in rural and impoverished areas around the world.
Aly is the VP Strategy and Chair of Access Empowerment Council, a not-for-profit organization created to inspire disengaged and marginalized youth and engage isolated elderly around the globe. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Toronto Mississauga Alumni Association and the College of Electors. Aly has been featured in The Medium and The Varsity newspapers, the Ismaili Magazine, Mississauga Magazine, and University of Toronto Press. Aly loves to spend his free time outdoors, playing sports, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.