As a student, you face more challenges today that may distract you from studying. The constant ping of your notification may take your focus away from the lesson you have been reading. Plus, there is a cognitive overload where you try to learn everything all at once and nothing sticks. What you learned just flies out of the window after a few hours. Passive learning methods where you re-read notes, memorize, and highlight key points are no longer cutting it.
But that’s not to say there’s no hope. In this article, we’ll tackle seven smart study strategies using AI that can help you retain what you studied more effectively.
1. Personalized content
When you study with your textbook or lecture, there are times when you feel like they don’t match your thinking style or your previous knowledge about the subject. This can make it hard to understand and grasp the context as it ignores potential knowledge gaps you may face.
AI platforms can personalize explanations, summaries, and study materials to fit your existing knowledge, knowledge gaps, and learning style. One great example is the StudyX.ai app, which tailors study materials to your individual learning needs, making it easier to grasp complex concepts.
2. Spaced repetition
Our brains are wired to forget. There is only so much information our brain can retain. If information isn’t reinforced with spaced repetition, especially with the help of AI, we will eventually forget it as our brain discards this information. For instance, if you cram studying before an example, you can only keep this learning in your short-term memory. You will forget it later on and will have to revisit it again in the future.
Improve your study habits by using smart strategies backed up with memory science. If you review the information right before you’re bound to forget it, you can retain this information much longer. Using AI, algorithms calculate ideal intervals and analyze your own forgetting patterns. The good thing here is that you don’t waste time reviewing the concepts you already know well, but you maximize your efforts to focus on what you’re more likely to forget.
3. Active recall
The usual process when studying is reading, highlighting, and annotating. Passive learning is not bad, but it doesn’t often build strong neural pathways. Being familiar with the concept is not enough. You must have to remember and have the actual ability to recall this information even without prompts.
When you use AI, you can turn passive study materials into active practice. The challenge is not in the materials you have, but on how you can make use of them to improve your studying process. For example, if you have the study notes for organic chemistry, instead of re-reading it again and again, you can put your notes in the AI platform. It then generates questions make you think and activate active recall.
4. Concept mapping and connections
Courses and textbooks often present information in chapters and sections. With this, information is compartmentalized. This is not wrong, but the challenge here is finding how these lessons connect. Our brain can retain information better when information is connected to existing knowledge.
The knowledge and information you need is already there, you just need to find the connection among them. For example, you’re studying world history. You can ask AI to develop you a concept map on the lessons you’ve studied or will studied and find the connection of the fall of Constantinople to the Age of Exploration. You might not have found these connections on your own, but using AI can help you quickly bridge these concepts.
5. Adaptive practice
Finding the best practice level can be challenging. If it’s too easy, there’s little to no value in doing it. You don’t get any additional benefit from it. If it’s too difficult, you could feel frustrated about it—some even end up closing their textbook and abandoning their lesson.
The perfect balance is when you’re challenged, but not overwhelmed. When you’re studying calculus, for instance, your first set of questions on an AI platform will cover the basics. From here, AI will analyze your level and adjust the next level of questions that match your pace better. Once you mastered a lesson, you won’t have to waste time learning it repeatedly. Meanwhile, if you find one subject challenging, AI will stay with you and guide you in the learning process with adaptive learning.
6. Multimodal learning support
There are not a lot of methods to receive lessons. They’re mostly in lessons and lectures. However, there are concepts that are better presented in a different way than this one-size-fits-all approach. For example, an engineering student may struggle to understand fluid dynamics if the lesson is only described in text. The mathematics behind it makes sense, but they might find it hard to understand and visualize how fluids move in that aspect.
One of the ways to use AI for studying is to take over the labor-extensive part of switching content to its right format. In learning, it’s important to understand that it shouldn’t be unchanging. Some concepts like spatial relationships are better explained through visuals rather than plain text.
7. Personalized feedback and analysis
It’s quite rare to give students instant feedback. For example, when a student submits their essay, it’s mostly normal to receive receive the feedback one or two weeks later. Teachers have to grade and check the work of multiple students, so it’s not particularly a fast process. At this point, it would have general comments like “improve the structure” without going into the specifics of what’s good and what to improve. It will be difficult for you to improve when you don’t know exactly what to improve.
Meanwhile, AI is nothing but instant. Of course, you should still prioritize the feedback of your teachers. But AI can give you instant feedback based on what you need to work on, patterns of your lapses, or your weak areas. You can ask questions and get answers immediately that you can quickly action.
Conclusion
Studying is not an easy task, but with the right strategies and help of AI, you can make the process much more efficient. Focus on understanding your lessons, not on the heavy lifting of planning how to study or what flash cards to work on next. With these tips, you will not just ace your exams but retain what you learned for a longer time.
