Ace all your exams with scientifically proven study hacks

Education is a basic right and also a privilege for many; utilising this opportunity and being productive about it is indeed challenging. What sets toppers apart from average students, who put more hours and effort than toppers, but still fail to do well in the exams? Well, this article aims to unravel some study hacks that can instantly help you score well in your exams. These methods are scientifically proven, and students use them for improving focus, retention, and exam performance.

1) Pomodoro Technique - This technique helps students with productivity. Study for 25 minutes to 1 hour and take a break of 5-10 minutes, repeat the cycle 5 times. You study for more hours and also get time to refresh your brain.

2) Active Recall - Pull out information from your brain rather than just reading your notes, use flashcards, mind-maps and solve as many problems.

3) Spaced Repetition - Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered this method of memorising information, which says revise the same topic multiple times with gaps in between. (Day 1, Day 3, Day 7)

4) Sleep-Based Learning - Learn just before bedtime, specifically those topics that you find hard to understand. Sleep consolidates memory. Students who have 7-8 hours of sleep perform better in exams than those who are under stress and sleep less.

5) Writing by Hand - A method tried and trusted by most students, writing topics as many times as possible, writing also helps in time management, where every minute counts.

6) Dual Coding - Science says you remember visuals more than mere sentences. When you recall, visuals are most likely to pop up in your memory. Dual coding is combining words with diagrams, flowcharts, and mind maps.

7) Teach what you learn - Ever wondered how your teachers are able to teach and answer all the questions posed by your fellow classmates? It is because all their concepts and clear, they analysed all the dimensions of the topic. That's exactly what you aim for better scores. What you learn or have doubts about, try to teach that to someone or pretend to teach. When you do that, you come across your strengths and flaws.

8) Blurting Method - Read a topic of your choice, but from a continuous chapter, read it to its gist, close the book and then write everything you remember. It is time taking but once done properly, you get that specific topic ingrained in your brain forever.