10 Psychological Study Tricks to Boost Brain Power __ Study Less Study Smart

Hi everyone! In today's video I am going to be sharing with you 10 psychological study tricks that will boost your brain power. Because, and I quote, the mind is everything. What you think you become. And so if you want to become a grade A student and know some psyche secrets to how to get there, keep on watching. Trick number one. Context dependent learning. Science has shown that if you take the exam in the exact same spot where you've been sitting for the entire semester, you are better able to recall the material and do better on the exam. The reason being is that your mind associates some information with an environment. So the environment is kind of like a cue or a trigger. To give you an example, let's say when you're in the kitchen, your mind is inevitably gonna be like okay kitchen, cooking, recipes, and it's gonna pull out everything you know on that matter based on where you are. Now you might say well Anna, my exam is not in the classroom where I learned. It's kind of like in an auditorium or in a completely different place. What you can do is you can make your desk mimic the same format and setting as when you studied for that class. So let's say in French class, if you have the eraser there, your bottle of water there, a pencil there, and your notes are a bit like tilted, mimic that pattern during the exam and that should be enough to trigger your brain of like oh this kind of looks like French class, you know French French French French French French. Trick number two, which is kind of a little bit the opposite of trick number one, but stay with me. When you study, change it up. So change the environment. Don't always study in the exact same spot. I like to study in my bed. Apparently scientists tell me that's not a great thing. I should change up where I study simply because let's say if you study for math in the kitchen and then you study for math in the library and then you study for math on the bus, the brain is gonna be like huh she is using these math formulas in a lot of different environments. Maybe these math formulas are crucial to Anna's survival. Let us solidify and make more lasting these math formulas because hey she's using it everywhere so it must be important right? The brain is a funny creature I have to say. Number three, pre-testing and the fluency illusion. Remember how in all my videos I tell you that you should learn from your mistakes? Well apparently there is proof that you actually do learn from your mistakes and you should make them a lot. A number of articles I've read recommended that you do a practice test before you study for the material. Pre-testing primes your brain to get ready to take an exam and also to get ready to see the material presented in question format. Also pre-testing yourself before you study for the material allows you to get rid of the fluency illusion which is a common thing with students. That time my friends when you're like uh you know I know this you know if it's a multiple choice question exam I'll find my way around it and it's cool I know it I know it kind of like a jay-z moment over there but you know what it shows that oopsie you might not know it as good as you thought you did so it breaks that bias and that fallacy and then you can actually apply a more you know realistic approach to study. Moving on retrieval practice practice practice practice it helps you recall information much better than just simply rereading the material. This is no mystery to you I've been preaching this on my channel since the beginning of time but now I have science backing me up so I'm gonna keep pushing it on you to make those practice tests make those practice tests it's so late I'm so tired but make those practice tests I'm almost done make those practice tests. Tip number five big word incoming metacognition it is important that halfway through your studying you take a step back and you understand and be aware of your thought process and what you know. What I recommend is to make a study guide or a simple checklist of all the theories and the concepts and the formulas that you need to know and halfway through your study like I said just stop take a break and just write down everything you believe that you remember and that way you can just be self-aware of where you are and this provides valuable feedback because it shows you the present and how long do you have to go until you stop studying and you're ready for the exam. Number six is gonna be an entire video next week so if you're interested in this subscribe because next week I'm gonna bombard you with this topic okay sleep on it. When we're awake we weaken memory connections if we're awake for too long connection between neurons so the synapses weaken or become saturated this just mean that you'll be having more difficulty remembering information so if you're trying to cram for an exam and stay awake for long periods of time and go on a little sleep or two hours before an exam you're gonna burn out your neurons and you won't remember jack black. Sleeping allows your brain to make new connections and also to solidify connections this always happens to me when I have a good night's sleep after studying for a material and I'm like oh my god I don't remember anything I'm frustrated I just reviewed this a billion times and I cannot recall anything for the life of me that's why I recommend that you do your practice tests in the morning so when you wake up all fresh and the material is all solidified and those connections have been made you're gonna see your hand is just gonna like have a mind of its own and you'll see you remembered everything but you have to not neglect your sleep. Number seven consistent brain exercises. Neuroscientists say that like fun games like sudoku or like puzzles or even reading a novel on the side of school like constantly like always reading a book or always reading poetry and so when it comes time to study you're gonna have a more easier time than if you're like dormant and then you have to make a huge effort it's as if you're telling me yo bro sick bro I'm gonna lift up this like two ton brick bro and I didn't warm up and I never did you know weight training ever watch me lift this I'm gonna be like you're gonna get hurt the brain is the same thing. Number eight improve memory through associations. When I tell you to think about a car I'm pretty sure you don't just see a car in your head you see the car on the street or like people around the car or the car in a parking lot or you know there's so many things that are associated with car color uh speed maybe so if your brain thinks in connections and makes them constantly why should you just think in isolated chunks that are not related to one another so next time you have to memorize a list let's say um apple lysol and bookcase try to make them somehow related if you go creatively and more ridiculously you'll remember it better so let's say make up a story um the lysol that was on the bookshelf uh made the apple fell because they stumbled you're gonna be able to remember those three things better if you create like a story around it rather than just like okay lysol bookcase apple lysol bookcase apple I'm hungry burger king what tip number nine mental hooks I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes now and I want you to think of a polar bear just gonna give you a second did you think of like polar bear like the words or did you in your mind see an image or a video playing of a polar bear surprise surprise we think in images human beings retain information much better if it is visual and in color these images are literally mental hooks that help you retrieve the information from your long-term memory a way you can use this to your advantage is using mind maps mind maps allows you to be visual to use color to use little doodles and images to help create connections with my previous points it is basically the best tool you can have to help you improve your memory and remember what you study and be ready for that exam and to finish off you know me I cannot not mention this in one video active learning is key I've done my research and if you don't believe me you can do your research but it is freaking factual pardon my french and more complex thought processes that engages more senses are more beneficial to studying because it involves a greater number of neuron connections and more neurological cross talk so if you do one of my active reading techniques I will link it down below it's awesome it will change your life and I will do so much more videos on active learning and active reading and active studying because it is key as you see with all the articles around us so with that being said I really hope you enjoyed this video please don't forget to give it a thumbs up if you liked it and subscribe to me if you like what you see because I post study videos every Thursday and one last thing do you like this background better or the one in my previous video with just the bookshelf let me know I thought this was more homey and inviting bye guys love you