Exercising is a great way to give your mind a rest, but fueling your brain also helps! Have you ever heard of the term food as fuel? Well, it’s true. Fueling your body with good and nutritious foods majorly improves academic focus. According to Harvard Health, eating high-quality foods like vegetables, fruits, and proteins nourishes and protects the brain from oxidative stress. So remember, you are never too busy to eat!
“When I get really stressed out I always forget to eat and it always made my attention span so much shorter,” junior Aubrey Nichols said. “Once I started fueling my body with good food, or any food, it helped me to be able to focus for longer periods of time.”
Nourishing your body is very important but so is nourishing your brain. According to Cornell Health taking purposeful breaks ranging from 5-60 minutes helps increase energy, productivity, and ability to focus. This is a great way to nourish your brain to keep on studying.
Many Sion students use study tools that help increase their productivity. Quizlet is a popular tool used by many Sion students.
“I would say the Quizlet is my number one study tool,” sophomore Nora Conway said. “It really helps me organize all my definitions and study them well until they are burned into my brain.”
Quizlet is used to help students create study groups with friends they are in classes with before finals.
“My friends and I like to compile Quizlets all together,” sophomore Adele Milligan said. “We share them and study them together.”
Studying tools are very important but there are also many study techniques that have recently gone viral on TikTok. One of them is called the “blurting method.” The blurting method is an active recall technique that involves quickly reading a section of a textbook or study guide then writing as much as you can from quickly skimming the words.
“The blurting method is something I have done to remember big chunks of information for subjects like AP History,” Keithline said. “It has been a lot more effective than just reading and taking notes so it’s definitely one of my best hacks.”
Active recall techniques are unique ways students can learn by retrieving information from their own brains. Active recall is regarded in scientific literature as the study technique that improves exam performance the most.
“I came about active recall techniques when I saw it on Tiktok,” junior Abby Wendte said. “I thought it wasn’t going to work at first but I found it helped me remember a lot better.”
Another viral study technique is called the “PQ4R” method. This method is an active approach that improves memorization and understanding of a topic.
“I hadn’t even heard of study methods until sophomore year, but this one I saw on social media and it actually works for me,” Nichols said. “You first preview the information you’re about to study, then you ask yourself questions out loud on the topic. Then you do the four R’s where you read, reflect, recite, and recall.”
Organizing your study schedule can be majorly helpful when you have a heavy workload. Planners and calendars can be useful tools for organizing your study schedule and using time well. According to Herzing University, using a planner helps prioritize tasks, improve time management, and be more successful in a out of the classroom. So writing down your study schedule will be very helpful to keep all your thoughts and tests organized.
