Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens

2Look out for the central message, and when you think you’ve located it you have a starting point for your Mind Map. Read on with an open, enquiring mind and try to bring the text alive by using your creative imagination. 3Try not to read passively. Think things through and question the logic behind various statements. If you play an active role du

We learn something not only when we connect it to prior knowledge and try to understand its broader implications (elaboration), but also when we try to retrieve it at different times (spacing) in different contexts (variation), ideally with the help of chance (contextual interference) and with a deliberate effort (retrieval). The

starting, sustaining, and optimizing the quality of one’s focus.

Split notes Before you start taking notes, make a vertical line one-third of the way across the page, as shown in the example. Then, try to capture the main ideas (not the word-for-word verbiage) in the space to the right of the vertical line. Use contractions and omit the tiny words your brain would fill in: the, a, like, thus. Use symbols (→ + =