1. Study everyday

At least seventy-five percent of what you learn today should be in your head by today. Study anatomy and physiology every single day to maintain your vocabularies in your brain. Otherwise, hundreds of vocabularies, functions, and name of diseases will get you and will eat your grades up.

2. Study the lecture

Study what you have to study first. It’s very nice if you could memorize everything in the book because every single information is important and worth knowing them. However, if you get behind because of studying too much on non-exam materials, you might be losing a quality time for the exam. Study what the teacher teaches and what are going to be on the test.

3. Use visual memory

Study with pictures. Visual aids are very useful in anatomy and physiology. Especially those good illustrations of body parts in the text book is extremely helpful as you memorize the parts of the body. Since it is illegal to copy the pictures, draw yourself a picture and try to name them.

4. Mnemonics

Use mnemonics to memorize parts or functions that are grouped, in order, or numbered. For example, the twelve cranial nerves have lots of mnemonics out there to remember; one of them is ‘Oh, Oh, Oh, To Touch And Feel Vintage Green Velvet, Simply Heaven.’

5. Review old stuff

Review the old information at least once or twice a week. Keep up with the information that you have already studied before to prepare the final exam. The final exams are almost always are cumulative, so it won’t hurt you if you study the oldies.

We will work with an example: 11 – 5 = ?

1. Counting up

Teach the kid to ‘count up’ from the second number. This means you are teaching the kid to look for the difference or gap between five through eleven. So, the kid will count from five (0 fingers), six (one finger), seven (two fingers), eight (three fingers), nine (four fingers), ten (five fingers), eleven (one or six fingers) to find out that the difference is six fingers. Therefore, the answer is six.

2. Counting down

Teach the kid to ‘count down’ from the first number. Let the kid start from eleven to count down till five. So, the kid will count from eleven (zero fingers), ten (one finger), nine (two fingers), eight (three fingers), seven (four fingers), six (five fingers), five (six fingers) to find out that the answer is six fingers. Therefore the answer is six. This method, however, is harder for kids to use than ‘count up’ technique because people learn to count up more than to count down.

3. Let them like it

Kids learn fast something anything if they like it. Make the learning fun and easy. Teach them with enthusiasm. Then you will see that the kid stays on his or her desk longer.

4. More practice

Practice makes perfect. Expose math to the kids more often. Although they might not like to work today, but they might find some interest tomorrow because of your different and fun teaching styles. Prepare well to teach the kids as if you are learning by yourself. Teach step by step and let them work by themselves as well. Give more practices.

5. Repeat

Let them repeat the thought process. Let them recite the process of ‘count up’ or ‘count down’ several times before the practice and during the practice. If you think studying is like practicing a sport, repeating the techniques are like drills.

1. Meaning

Why am I studying? Why am I pursuing this education level? What is my goal? Is it better to study than have a full time job? Is it worth to study in my life? Any of these questions are what you have already thought about or must have thought questions. Unless you find the meaning out of learning anything, studying, which is a process and part of education, is hard as building a skyscraper.

2. Goal

Obviously, you should have a goal. Am I going to be a designer? Am I going to be a architecture? nurse? engineer? or whatever you are thinking of, there should and must be a goal in your life. The goal may not be the ultimate one, but at least having a goal gives meaning to your life and motivation in studying. Set a goal right now.

3. Reward motivation

Think about the happiness, joy, and what you will get if you finish studying. It can be as small as ice cream or a snack in a vending machine. It can be as big as your life changing lesson from studying. Whatever the joy you can get, think about the rewards to motivate yourself in studying.

4. Competition

Compete against others and yourself as well. Try to compete yourself to stay 2 hours straight on the chair. Compete against anonymous person next to your table and see who gets up first. Who knows, you will meet a student who stays five hours straight and you beat that student. Oh my restroom.

5. Interest

Make studying interesting. I think this is one of the most important factor in studying. If you find studying interesting, you will stick on that text-book and literature book. So far, I tried to make a small book out of different text books to motivate myself, but it didn’t work out very well. However, for the beginning session, I found it pretty interesting and fun and I still remember those first parts that I had my interests on.

1. Flashcards

It is one of the best study techniques you can find. Flashcards are cheap, easy to make, effective, and can be used for long time. So, after making your own flashcards, bind them and keep them in a safe place so you can use it at the end of the semester to study them again. Moreover, if you have time, just keep flipping through so you can maintain the information.

2. Mind mapping

Draw an information tree or map. Visualize your study materials and your brain will take advantage of those information because pictures are easier to memorize. You don’t have to draw a nice defined pictures, but just draw a line between the word and definition to make the whole pictures like a tree. You will find that you are remembering the information much faster and easier.

3. Rewrite notes

Rewriting notes and explain on the paper. My friend uses this technique in history classes. He writes down and explains with his own thoughts about the study material. In this way, he is practicing his expression as well as memorizing the information. His tests, in fact, were short answers and writing a paragraphs, and he did well on them.

4. Listen to recordings

Record your professor’s lecture and listen to them. Some people are good at memorizing what people say. Just record with your iPod and replay two or three times. Then you will get the undiscovered world of science, math, and more.

5. Make test questions

Make a practice test. It may be the most time consuming process because there are tons of information to cover. However, if you make the right questions, you are already ahead of other students because you are taking the same test twice. Consider your lecture notes in high priority because many teachers like to give out word for word questions from the notes than from the textbooks.

step 1. Open ppt or doc files

Open your own Power Point files or Word documents. You can make your own study guide using Word or Power Point. Use different colors and lines.

step 2. Save as pdf

Save your ppt or doc files into pdf files. Click save as > pdf (minimum size) > ok.

step 3. Download pdf-notes

Download ‘pdf-notes’ application from App Store. You will see red icon with ‘pdf-notes free’ on it. You can buy the premium application paying $9.99, but there is not much difference between the free version and paid one. So, I recommend you to use the free version.

step 4. Send via iTunes or e-mail

Send your pdf files through iTunes or your own e-mail account. pdf-notes will provide you step by step procedure, so you can download pdf files into your iPad. You can connect your iPad to the computer, and send pdf files through iTunes. You can also send the pdf files into your own account, and open those files from the iPad e-mail account.

step 5. Write, highlight, draw

You can write, highlight, draw on pdf-notes. When you are flipping through the Power Point slides, you can write, highlight, or draw on the page. You can use three fingers to tap the screen to switch from pen to eraser to highlighter to no-function. Enjoy studying!

1. Online flashcards

FlashcardsExchange, Flashcard Machine, Free ESL Flashcards, Quizlet, and ProProfs are some flashcards that you can use on the internet. You don’t have to waste your time to make your own flashcards. Instead, just find the right flashcards or type with keyboard and the program will make the flashcards for you.

2. IPod, IPad Application

Flashcards Deluxe and Flashcards* applications are one of the better flashcards application in IPod and IPad market. However, there are many good applications that you can find in other stores as well. Look for the applications that you can get along the easiest with them because sometimes you want a specific function, but not all applications have that function.

3. Microsoft word

Use Microsoft Word to make flashcards. Not so hard. First, open Word. Second, make 2×3 or 2×4 tables. Then stretch the table to fit the whole page. Now, fill in with the vocabularies that you will going to memorize. Finally, do the same steps on second page except fill the information on reverse sides so when you can print the vocabulary and its meaning on the same card.

4. Flashcard program

Use flashcard programs. Programs like Cuecard and Memory Lifter allow you to make your own flashcards on the computer. You can download those by clicking the links. Have fun!

5. Make your own

Make your own flashcards. There are some benefits making your own flashcards; you learn by writing and reading your own flashcards; you have all the information you want to have; you can finish faster if you have only few study materials.

1. Speech volume

Mix soft and loud voices. Including your motions, express small, tiny, and weak with quiet voice and big, huge, and strong with loud voice. If you are a shy person, it may be hard to use loud voice at first, but keep practicing and observe how kids respond to your change. You will get more confidence later on.

2. Hand motion

Use your hand in expression. Point your finger to side. Stretch your arms fast. Draw a big circle using your both finger, hands, and arms. Do slow motion and fast motion. You can get all the attention you want by using your hands.

3. Facial expression

Use facial expression. Express sadness with lamentation; happiness with shock; smile with big mouth. In order grab kids attention, the teacher needs to differentiate and define what they are teaching or expressing. Since humans look at the facial expression the most, having a good facial expression is a success to teaching kids.

4. Use simple language

Use simple language. Use ‘small’, ‘big’, and ‘good.’ Use simple and to the point vocabularies. Accentuate nouns and verbs to let the kids understand the flow of the stories.  Do not use monotone, but use variety of tonalities.

5. Point with fingers

Use your fingers to point the object. Kids can get easily distracted. Use your fingers to grab their attention to the object, lesson, or things that you are trying to teach. It’s better to use your fingers than a pointer.

1. Divide into several decks

Make the whole deck of flashcards into several decks. Divide the flashcards into five or ten decks to study with. It would be better if the deck has same number of cards in each deck. Now, set aside all the other decks except what you are going to study with, and start flipping those flash cards. Dividing the deck is important because it motivates you to feel that you are progressing step by step.

2. Flip fast

Don’t try to memorize in first try; keep flipping. Sometimes, flipping through the cards give you more trigger to your brain than memorizing one card at a time. Try to read fast each words or questions and its meanings and answers, then, flip to the next card. Of course we have to come back, so you don’t have to worry about memorizing them yet.

3. First deck to second deck

After flipping fast with first deck, set aside them and start the second deck. Do third, fourth, and fifth in same pattern until you finish the whole decks of flashcards. In this first turn, you are trying to feel the confident that you have done looking at the information that you have to memorize. However, it doesn’t mean you are done. You haven’t done anything yet except gaining confidence.

4. Second turn

Now, is the time to study thoroughly. I mean study with all of your energy, concentration power, speed, and enthusiasm. Study like you are going to eat those flashcards up. In this turn, there is no specific procedure except focusing and have enthusiasm to study. Set aside the cards the you don’t really understand and keep going back to the cards to finally understand them. Do the same with second, third, and fourth decks.

5. Final turn

Go back to each deck day by day. For example, if there’re five days left, visit the whole deck just one time each day for five days. Since you already have memorized the information, looking at the flashcards one time is enough to maintain your test information until the exam day.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Having a sympathy to poor and weakness is what Jesus wants us to have in our minds. Look how the world is going around. We need to make the room for these people.

Not only in physical things, but also spiritually think about the people who do not have Jesus in their minds. Without Him, he or she is the poorest and weakest person in the world.

1. Set your mind

Set your mind to study. Make a firm devotion to study in your studying moment. It can be 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or an hour. Make yourself not to do anything except do fully-focused-study. You will be studying much more efficiently than before.

2. Clean everything

Clean everything else except what you study. Literally, clean set aside everything except what you are currently reading. Even your books, pencil case, computer, IPod, etc. should be at the floor or hidden. Because your eyes can catch information even in not focused area, make the desk clean as possible.

3. Use two or less

Use two or less colors to highlight. Using many colors in highlighting will only cause distraction to your attention. I would recommend using red pen and yellow high lighter and black pen for writing information.

4. Maintain posture

Sit up straight. What people wear sometimes make the person. If a person wears a suit, he or she would act more like a professional. Sitting straight would give you similar effect; you will study more efficiently and more professionally.

5. Cool environment

Study in a cool environment. Make your environment a bit cooler than general room temperature. If turning on your AC is expensive, go to local or school library. Cooler environment will give make you calm and give you clear mind.