We are extremely lucky to live our lives in the era of research, praising knowledge, and pushing the limits of what mankind has to offer. Our generation on the whole is way more educated than people who lived a hundred years ago. This is probably the reason why personal development and education are considered to be important on the life path of every person. More and more people express admiration for effectiveness as opposed to long hours of hard work. The same goes for studying. No longer do we strive to get good grades by cramming or rote learning. In this article, we will talk about ways to study smart instead of spending hours and hours to learn something that will not settle in the long-term memory anyway.

Step one: It is extremely important to know the ways of understanding and remembering information that works best for you. This is not about learning and making sure the knowledge goes to long-term memory. This is about the methods you use while recalling information. Some people need to read a chapter and while reproducing the info they will think about the info from every paragraph. For others, infographics work better and they will recall the position of every image on the page they have reviewed. There are also those who will recall the voice, intonation, or precise formulation of the thought of the teacher or any person who was sharing the details. Know your own ways of remembering and it will greatly help you in step two we are about to share.

Step two: Recall as much as possible. It has already been proven that in order to really learn and remember anything, it is vital to repeat this information and be able to reproduce it off the top of your head at any time. Recalling is the most powerful tool learners can use to be effective and make sure to actually keep the knowledge in their heads. How do you recall? Try closing the book or stopping the video each time you learn something new and try to repeat what you've just understood. If we are talking about classes, try writing down all the main points from the lesson in your notebook regardless of the fact if you have taken notes or not. The only rule is that it has to come from your short-term memory, so don't cheat!

Also, you could use flip cards to remember new terms or concepts. If you want to use physical ones, you just need to write a new word on one side of the card and its meaning on the other side and then play with them. You could take a look at the term and recall what it means and then read the meaning and try to recall the word that denotes it. Alternatively, you could use digital cards and have them on your phone with you anywhere you go. Services like Quizlet offer to create as many sets of flip cards as you need, and it is free to use for anyone.

The benefits of using virtual flip cards include the possibility to test yourself. You can take a test on any of the study sets at any minute. This is important because after you learn the new information, you need to repeat it weekly, then in the perfect world biweekly, and then monthly for several months. In this case, chances of recalling and using this new knowledge in a year, for example, dramatically increase. What to do if you are not ready to create a study set for some new cool concept that you've just learned? Try telling all your friends and family members about it, and then try explaining it to your aunt who is coming over for a dinner in two weeks, and then include it in a list of things you are grateful for for the next Thanksgiving. You get the idea, right?

Step three: Find the best tools for taking notes and working with documents, and save them to minimize the amount of time spent searching for a new extension or program. No one needs to nervously search for an online PDF converter when the deadline is approaching. Your nerve cells will say thank you if you keep one of the free PDF editors, such as PDFChef Online in your bookmarks to use it for both converting and editing purposes. It is best to choose programs that are going to work on all your devices, and have both desktop and online versions. For taking notes you may try using Notion or Evernote. Both of them are very convenient and easy to use. Structure and simplicity are all we desire in this step.

Step four: Do not forget to recharge instead of constantly drinking coffee or energy drinks. The more info you absorb or need to absorb, the more important rest hours are. This step consists of two main things: sleep and exercise. As you probably know, your brain gets a chance to process all the new information specifically while you are asleep. It means that it is crucial to go through both non-REM and REM stages of sleep daily.

To sum up, smart learning is a beautiful journey that can make you a well-rounded individual with a good memory, powerful knowledge, and good time-management skills. Just do not forget to find out your most effective ways of learning, recall as much information as possible and let yourself recharge with sleep and physical activity. Good luck!