<p>What's the absolute best way to absorb the information you're learning? I am sort of afraid to forget what I'm learning right now - I'll probably be reviewing notes time to time, but how do you get the stuff so good like it's basic common sense?</p>
<p>flashcards</p>
<p>or some other way that tests your recall</p>
<p>Memorization.</p>
<p>There’s this article: [Society</a> for Neuroscience | Sleep and Learning](<a href=“http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_sleepandlearning]Society”>http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_sleepandlearning)</p>
<p>Basically you can learn more while you sleep, and I’m not talking about those scams where they have you put a tape recorder under your pillow and let it teach you Spanish while you’re asleep. What scientists have found out is if you need to remember a bunch of information (say, for a big exam), do NOT study right up until time for the exam. Study at least 24 hours before, and sleep on it.</p>
<p>They did the study at Harvard, the participants were separated into three different groups after being shown images that they were told to memorize. One of the groups was tested on the memorization after 20 minutes, the other after 12 hours and the last after 24 hours. The participants who slept on it and had 24 hours for the information to fester in their brain did the best on the test, while those who only had 20 minutes did the worst.</p>
<p>Scientists say the ability your brain has to retain information works in three different ways: acquisition, consolidation and recall. While the first and last occur while you’re awake, it’s the middle-man that is important during sleep.</p>
<p>When you sleep, your brain is constantly processing information that you couldn’t have processed with everything going on up there during the day. This works to strengthen your neurological bonds in the brain. Think of it like downloading something on a computer. When you go to download something while your the something else is up, it takes longer, right? Close up any applications that are running and you have a smoother, quicker download.</p>
<p>Use a sponge. Yes, terribly lame joke. Sorry.</p>
<p>I usually don’t have a problem remembering stuff that makes sense to me. If it doesn’t make sense, I try to invent some kind of story or something that helps me remember it.</p>
<p>-Get enough sleep so you can pay attention and try to understand the material in lecture
-Read the textbook before lecture
-Put a question mark next to any lecture notes that don’t make sense as the lecture is going on. Star anything that the teacher says is important or might be on the test.
-Right after lecture (or during break), ask your teacher your questions
-The day of lecture (or the day after), review your lecture notes (with your textbook next to you to refer to), highlighting and making additional notes in the margins as necessary
-Make summaries of important procedures, bullet point lists, etc.</p>
<p>And finally, the key step:
-Memorize your summaries and lecture material that has stars next to it. I really recommend memorizing by rote, writing the material over and over again. This especially works with procedures, diagrams, etc. Flashcards can also be effective.</p>
<p>This is how I study for college science classes. It varies for high school/college and for different subjects. But the best way to absorb material is really comprised over many steps. Once you see it a few times, then you’ve just got to buckle down and force yourself to memorize it.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>For me the best way to get the material to stick was to write it out by hand. I used to go through my notes and essentially rewrite everything in a second notebook the week before a big test. It didn’t get memorized when I read it, only when I wrote it.</p>
<p>I’ve found I learn detailed information best if I have to teach it. Hard to find a way to do this in high school, but maybe a parent or a sibling (if bribed) would be willing to be an audience that asked questions.</p>
<p>My other technique was to study a lot, and then get a good night’s sleep the night before. I tried an all-nighter my first quarter at college, and my brain was so fuzzy, I didn’t do very well.</p>
<p>After that, while all my dormmates were getting hysterical and staying up all night, I studied hard and then got 8 hours of sleep. I saw an article on AOL this week that students that got more sleep did better on tests (or something similar) so I felt vindicated.</p>
<p>I’ve also used flashcards in the past, and they’ve been helpful.</p>
<p>Everybody learns differently, and don’t be discouraged if you have to so some trial and error in figuring out what works best for you.</p>
<p>I’ve found that sleeping on your book really helps. During the night, your brain just subconsciously takes in the information. It’s really only enough to prime you but it significantly increases your retention rate. I do it for all my classes!</p>
<p>I’d recommend what Beerom advocated, except trying to put your head in between the book pages. Before going to sleep, put one side of your head on one side of the book, and then gently swing over the other pages and cover to the other side. It’s not only more comfortable, but the rate of intake of information is more than twice as effective. But if it doesn’t work, you can have your money back.</p>
<p>For a moment when I read your title, I assumed you spilled some type of soft drink on your keyboard and you’re asking for advice to dampen it.</p>
<p>^ Me too !</p>
<p>let’s not forget. This is collegeconfidential, everyone here is perfect and only cares about school and studying, duh. ^_^</p>
<p>Find a massive book of blank pages and write your own textbook in the subject. And when I mean write your own I really do mean YOUR OWN it’s no good to just copy out the lecture notes into a large book.</p>
<p>Or pay attention in class and pray. If you’re a genius.</p>
<p>If it’s vocabulary or anything dealing with terms - make up little stories/memory devices. The more ridiculous, the better you’ll remember them. I have stories to memorize Bio terms about ants and cats, failing out of classes, upside down bananas… You get my gist. :)</p>
<p>If it’s anything else, repetition. Read it, say it, hear it, smell it (though not advisable when near highlighters).</p>
<p>Also, everyone learns in their own way. I, for example, make up ridiculous memory devices. You may just have to experiment.</p>