What is the best way (when revising) to absorb LOADS of information?

Question

Ive abbreviated most of it (leaving out all the criticisms) and its all added up to about 32 pages! (on MS Word)

Honestly, all of it is in bullet points aswel and theres still loads more....so how can i use these abbreviated notes to revise? How can i get myself to remember it all? Any secret techniques?

(If you want to know, this is for A level psychology)

Answer 1

if you are anything like me and want to know everything becasuse you know/think that they can ask you anything then these are the things i generally do and still do cos im at college

dont slouch when revising/learning it puts your body into relax mode which makes it harder to absorb info.

avoid watching tv or listening to music at night. instead read/revise. the purpose of this is your brain keeps jumping after tv/music its like its still actively seeing/hearing. when you read your brain is more settled (and you tend to have a better night) and processes the info better.

always make sure you eat adequately (which i dont do) and take break between studies because as you should know from psych its info at the beginning and end that easily recalled and most of the middle is lost.

one lecturer recommended eating tuna as its good for memory

if all else fails try write the things you dont remember 100 time and believe me you'll remember them if anything else (based on the notion that it can take the brain hearing something 100 times before it remembers it eg with a child learning abc)

have you done the 7+ 2 bits of info (recall test), i scored 11 + 2

Answer 2

What ever subject it might be just try reading it without trying to absorb or understand it.
Maybe a couple of times.
This will set down the foundations of the work.
Then when you are ready, you will be able do it again (picking out specific points) and you will get an understanding of the details which will make absorbing the work easier.
My analogy is as when a new record comes out ... you don't try to learn each word but within a very short time you are word perfect with the song.
Hope you do well, try and relax about learning.
Good luck!

Answer 3

Keep taking notes on your notes. If you do it a couple of times, large concepts will soon become words that will encode to larger concepts.

Here are some other "insider tips":
1) Most college professors do not expect you to learn everything out of the books; they want you to learn how to pick out the most IMPORTANT ideas from texts. Look though the notes and star what you think are the most important concepts - then widdle it down through a couple of passes. You should be able to cut out things that the professor would too.
2) ASK your professor what he/she thinks are the most important concepts. I know that as a teacher, when a student asks me for help like this, I see that he/she is truly interested in learning & will give more specific ideas to focus on.
3) Ask others in your class to study with you. The best way to truly master something is to teach it to someone else. If you work together, teaching others the concepts, they will solidify in your brain.

Good luck!

Answer 4

In my time we called it "associaton". You associate words with certain events. Like the "blue" belly of the Leatherback sea-turtle, with "winter blues", etc.
or
Get one word that rhymes with a number of spot questions such as:

1. THE DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY = PAM P RESA

P = Pshycology is a study of
A = academic and
M = mental processes,

P = personality,

R = relationships.
E = emotion,
S = scientific study of behavior,
A = applied discipline

2. Fields of research psychology = ABSCOND

A = Abnormal psychology
B = Biological psychology
S = Social psychology
C = Cognitive psychology & Counseling psychology
O = organizational psychology
N = Neo-Clinical psychology
D = Developmental psychology

If you do these associations in your handbooks through-out the year, 80 percent of your studying would have been completed come exam time.

PRACTISE: Now you find a word to associate the following:

Educational psychology
Psychology and Law
Health psychology
Human factors psychology
Industrial and
School psychology.

Answer 5

group your bullet points into sections of about 8-10. Then think about your Mothers car and imagine one of your pieces of information on each seat, a bit in the glove compartment, under the bonnet etc. Keep doing this with other people's cars until you have allocated all the information you need. Then, all you need to do is think about sitting in the car and all of the stuff you need to remember will be around you. It works like magic.
It is a technique used by people who do memory tricks as well as by actors and such like.
If you run out of cars, think about the journey to school and you can 'put' information behind hedges you pass, in shops on the way.
Good luck

Answer 6

The 2 techniques I use for studying are:-
1. association. if u find it difficult to remember dates or names/words etc... associate them with something else. e.g I used to always forget how to distinguish between dessert and desert. Now I say to myself desserts (after dinner sweets) is "stressed" spelt backwards so I always remember the distinction between spelling it with 1 or 2 s'. If that makes sense.
2. WRITE IT DOWN. You have already said u have ur notes ready. but You retain more information by writing things out again and again then by just reading it. I hope this helps you. Good Luck

Answer 7

Break it up into different subjects, and listen to a different CD by a different artist for each subject. Keep a list of subjects and CD's so you always go back to the same one for each. As we remember music more easily than thinking of simple facts, playing the album in your head while in the exam will help to bring it back. Just make sure you don't find yourself doing exam room karaoke!

Answer 8

do little & often. i do alevel pyschology & i know its a lot of info to remember! did you do memory in yr 12? if so you should remember how important it is to go over things, otherwise it will just become a distant memory. good luck! dont stress

Answer 9

i'm doing AS level maths, english, physics and ICT. I just do a timetable