We are a week away from Mock exams, and you might already start feeling the stress and desire for them to end. Sadly, the only way to get rid of those nerve wrecking and stressful exams is by taking them. Studying really hard the day before your Mock might be one of the worst decisions you can take. We are talking about exams that cover the last two years of your IB course curriculum. Yes, a lot of content, I mean heavy content. I’ve spent the last 4-days studying Math as if the world depended on it. Because of this, I’ve been able to explore what suits me more as a learner. Unfortunately, four days of only Math taught me a lot, but not enough, not enough to find hard core derivatives. I seem to forget things the day after. Why? Because I am processing to much data.
Here’s what you need to do in order to remember.
Binge Studying. If you are not familiar with the word BINGE, here’s the exact definition: “a short period devoted to indulging in an activity” (Longman Online Dictionary). In simpler terms, doing to much of something.
When I was studying, I spent so much time working on problems and going to the next step that I forgot to space out my work. For example, 1 hour a day of trigonometry and 1 hour (that same day) of calculus. By doing so, I am spacing out my work so my brain doesn't get fried. So, if I go back to what I am doing, I will--scientifically proven--be much more capable of remembering my work. This happens, because I've given my brain a break and left some time for data processing. It's like when you are doing a math problem and you keep getting it wrong, but the next day you go back to it and you solve it in the first shot.
The site 300Hours.com gives us a great example that shocked me. “Doctors recommend that you avoid eating a whole tub of ice cream in one sitting. Less obvious, new research finds that binge studying is bad for your ability to retain information.” We need breaks
Space out your time, think about what you want to study next, but never exhaust yourself out of some topic of Math, a unit of Biology, or a story from your Spanish class. Instead of studying for one long period, study for many short periods. Your brain and memory will thank you.
And as always, thanks for reading.