How to Learn Everything Faster

By WR!TERS@WORK

How to Learn Everything Faster

Is it weird if you had to learn how to learn? Certainly not! Despite being a skill that no one really ever teaches us, learning how to learn is essential for personal and academic growth. Developing effective learning strategies can enhance our ability to acquire and retain new information, making it a crucial skill for lifelong success. In this blog, we will be sharing some evidence-based tips that could ease the learning process next time you are studying or exploring something new.

1. Make Preparations

When studying or preparing for examinations, refrain from immediately delving into your revision. Rather, find ways to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of these sessions. This ensures that you can get quality work done, studying smart instead of hard. You can begin by exploring various study techniques like Active Recall and Spaced Repetition. Invest time in understanding these methods and plan out how you would like to implement them in your study routine.

2. Be Disciplined

When you devote time into learning something, commit to it and remain focused throughout. Start by removing distractions around you like your phone, turning off the notifications and chucking it out of sight. If you experience resistance in starting work, try using the 10-minute rule to get the ball rolling. To learn more, check out our blog post titled Studying Tips: How to Stay Focused.

3. Work on Your Weak Links

We might tend to avoid practicing topics that we do not fully comprehend and are less confident in. However, this counterintuitive practice leaves these gaps unaddressed, and we should drill these weaknesses to improve them as soon as possible.

For instance, your strength could lie in writing expository essays, and it is absolutely correct to choose these questions you are confident in during examinations. However, it is still important for you to practice essays of different genres on a daily basis to be fully prepared for whatever comes at you. Here are some examples of essay questions from different genres, but the list could go on and there could be more hybrid combinations as well.

Argumentative: “The grass is always greener on the other side.” What are your views?

Expository: What changes would you like to see take place in the next five years in your country?

Personal Reflective: “Behind every dark cloud, there is a silver lining.” Write about an occasion when you found this to be true. What have you learnt from it?

Descriptive + Expository: Describe some school activities or events that you will miss after graduating from secondary school and explain why.

Note: At WRITERS AT WORK, we pride ourselves as the Best English tuition in Tiong Bahru, as well as in many other locations around Singapore. Our secondary school enrichment classes cover a wide range of essay questions, so you need not worry about not having the necessary exposure and skills needed for tackling O-Level English!

4. Test Yourself

If you have checked out our other blog post on how to use Active Recall to study for exams effectively, you should know that this mentally taxing process of retrieving information will benefit your understanding and memory retention. Cover up your notes and conduct a brain dump, scribbling every knowledge and information you have about a topic on a piece of paper. This is a great strategy for learning, and you are able to identify and fill in your learning gaps in the process as well! Do note that you would want to set a desirable level of difficulty during your study sessions. While you do not wish for it to be too simple which could be boring, you also would not want it to be too challenging, causing you to be resistant to learning.

5. Seek Feedback

The truth might be hard to bear sometimes, and it is understandable that you might take feedback (whether constructive or critical) too harshly and lose confidence easily. However, receiving feedback from others can help accelerate our learning process as they offer an outside perspective on our work. We could be blind to our own mistakes at times, and having another pair of eyes to evaluate our practice papers and essays could help us correct our mistakes and refine our skills. This makes learning more efficient and effective.

6. Overlearn

When approaching a new topic in school, we actually want to learn it in greater depth than what is required of us as stated in the syllabus document. This fosters a deeper understanding of the subject beyond rote memorisation. Overlearning involves delving into the underlying principles and reasons behind the concepts you might have studied in school, and this enhances your critical thinking skills. A deeper understanding of the subject results in better application of the knowledge learnt during examinations, eventually translating to better grades.

7. Space Out Your Revision

Similarly covered in our other blog post, spaced repetition is a technique that allows you to retain information easier and for a longer period of time. Space out revision sessions on the same topic over the course of a few days, reviewing it at suitable intervals. This also reduces the need for late night cramming sessions right before the examinations, which are not going to be as effective anyway.

8. Teach others

Teaching your classmates or juniors gives you an opportunity to solidify your own knowledge and understanding about the particular concept(s) covered in class. When explaining these to others, you will first organise and clarify your thoughts, reinforcing your understanding of the topics and identifying any learning gaps. You exercise critical thinking and this process of active learning will also make it easier for you to recall information in the long-run.

Attain Stellar Results With W@W!

If you are interested in our primary English tuition and secondary English tuition in Singapore, WR!TERS@WORK has expanded to 8 convenient locations. To find the nearest location that suits your needs, please explore our options. If you have any inquiries regarding our range of programs or class schedules, please feel free to contact WR!TERS@WORK!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

1. How Do I Find the Best English Tutor?

Start by seeking recommendations from family and friends. Next, research online and read the reviews of tuition centres to find suitable candidates. A good idea is to drop by the tuition centre and let your child participate in a trial lesson to find a good tutor.

2. What is the Purpose of An English Tutor?

An English tutor’s role is to help your child reach their full potential in mastering the English language. Since children have varying academic skills and capabilities, it is important that the tutor is able to identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses and provide them with tailored assistance.

3. What Skills Should an English Tutor Have?

A tutor should have a discerning eye for strengths and weaknesses of the student, patience to deal with different students, the requisite qualifications and experience, and they should be up to date on the relevant changes in the Singaporean English syllabus.

4. What are Some Important Skills in English?

Mastering English involves understanding basic rules like grammar and sentence structure, as well as developing more advanced skills such as inference and synthesis, which are needed for tackling more complex exercises as the student progresses.