With exam season just around the corner, many teenagers and young adults groan at the dreaded hours of studying ahead of them and the fear of forgetting all the information the next day. For students, exams have always been a weight atop other assignments, or perhaps an interference with extracurricular activities such as sports or clubs. Yet, as John Mitchell once said, “Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us”, and it is likewise for exams. It is time to start viewing exams as a chance to succeed and a learning opportunity. 

 

As students, it can be challenging to concentrate or possess a positive mindset toward schoolwork in general. So, here are three tips and tricks that will guarantee your success on your exams.

 

1. With understanding comes memorization 

 

One of the biggest mistakes most students make is exclusively memorizing material and not understanding it, which is the opposite of the overall goal of tests and exams. According to Iris Reading, “In memorization, information is stored in the working memory, but in understanding, the information is stored in the long-term memory. Thus, when you memorize, you'll remember the information for only a short term (like days or weeks). But when you understand concepts, you'll remember them for years”. An example of this would be learning addition as a child. If a child uniquely memorized how to do addition in specific situations for a test, they would fail in life as they would not remember or even know how to use addition in other scenarios. However, if the child understood addition, they would not only do well on the test, but they could also utilize that knowledge in other scenarios and build upon it later in life. However, it is not just studies and papers that have proven this, but our local community here at Mac. Nate McFarling, a student at Immaculata, believes that understanding is always better than memorization. He states, “I think that understanding is always better than memorization, but certain subjects can be hard to understand. In those cases try your best to memorize. I feel like with something like math, understanding is better. But with something like science, you can get by on memorization, at least for me”.

 

2. Find a quiet place to study.

 

This tip seems like a no-brainer, but it is common for students to enjoy studying in noisy places such as cafés or school lobbies. However, silence remains crucial for learning as it lowers stress levels and heightens concentration. According to a study conducted in 2021, 59 participants completed concentration-heavy tasks with the option to work in silence or a noisy environment. The study indicates that those who chose the noisy environment reported increased stress levels and an augmented cognitive load, referring to the number of psychological resources used on a task. Mindfulness educator and clinical psychologist, Supriya Blair, explains “Learning to become quiet helps us refrain from expending unnecessary energy, endlessly participating in the hamster wheel of thoughts in our head”. It has become frequent for students to be distracted by their thoughts even in silence due to their easy access to devices such as phones. Thus, if a simple change in environment can amplify such self-evoked distractions, it would be wise for students to study in silence and distraction-free environments, perhaps with music. Here at Mac, we have a variety of calm places for study, including the library or the Homework club in N203 that meets on all weekdays except Friday.

 

3. Put the phone away.

 

Although difficult for many students,  you should put your phone away while studying, as just one notification can lead to a 30-minute distraction. Time and time again, studies have proven that phones can decrease your attention span, and your ability to recall previously learned information. According to a study by Microsoft Canada conducted among 2000 young adults, it was proven that since the year 2000, with the rise of mobile phones, the average attention span of a person has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. In addition, the study analyzed the effect of mobile phones solely on young adults, not teenagers. In reality, the Child Mind Institute found that teenagers have even weaker impulses than adults due to social relationships developing on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. The study also found that the mere presence of a mobile device in a room can decrease your cognitive ability to concentrate and complete tasks successfully. As a result, it is crucial to put your phone in a different room while studying not only due to its invasive effect but also because of its impact in the long term, causing conditions such as depression, anxiety, as well as a chronic sleep disorder.

 

To sum up, many bad habits can lead to failure, yet many good ones can lead to success. Some examples include understanding rather than memorizing, finding a quiet place to study, and putting your phone away. As Tony La Russa once said, “You can’t do big things if you’re distracted by small things”. Get studying Mac!