When in the process of exam preparation write out the acronym ASSET and take it with you wherever you go! It acts as a great reminder of what it takes in order to improve your learning skills for those all important exams. So what does it stand for?
A.S.S.E.T Attention: Your attention is your brain’s information selection process that screens and blocks out any input that you regard as not significant. It decides what gets through and what grabs your conscious attention.
So how do you approve your attention and get the information you need into your head? You need to give the information value – when it is made interesting, different than expected or curious, your conscious attention is then alerted. Even if the content you are studying isn’t necessarily interesting, by setting goals and objectives, this suddenly creates value and your brain switches on.
Your brain needs to slow down in order to concentrate. So, through relaxation and awareness this gives your brain the optimal opportunity for learning. My article “Freak Out” gives hints and tips on how to become calm and increase your awareness.
Senses: By receiving information through a number of senses, this increases the activity and development of the neurons in your brain. This improves the retention and consolidation of information from your short term to long term memory. Try a YouTube video on a topic rather than just reading. Also, try discovering a bit more about what type of learner you are through my article “Discovering How You Learn Best”.
Solid effort: The amount of conscious effort you put into understanding and retaining information helps determine how readily it is passed from short to long term memory. When you work hard, your brain cells are working furiously in order to build and strengthen. By constantly reflecting, reviewing and restudying information to build a knowledge base.
Emotion: Positive emotions such as curiosity, interest etc. increase the likelihood of retaining and recalling information. Again, even if the content isn’t necessarily interesting, but by putting positive emotions in place, such as anticipation of passing the exam (and not having to study again) this suddenly creates a stimulus and motivation to enable the brain to get to work!
Time: Repetition is important and so is the amount of time between the repetitions. Research suggests that retention is dramatically improved if you review what you initially learnt within 24 hours. If you leave too long a gap from your initial exposure, retention is significantly reduced.