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  • Hello.

  • My name is Emma and in today's video I am going to teach you my top study tips.

  • So if you are having a test coming up or an exam,

  • this might be a high school test or

  • it might be the IELTS, the TOEFL, the CELPIP-there's so many different tests-maybe it's a university

  • exam, whatever the case - if you have a test coming up, this video is for you.

  • Okay? So I'm going to teach you a lot of well-researched tips that can really help you improve your

  • marks and to feel more confident the day you're actually taking the test.

  • Okay, so let's get started at some study tips.

  • My first question to you is I want you to think about it.

  • You have a test coming up, where do you study?

  • Some people study in their bed, some might study in the library, maybe a coffee shop,

  • a classroom, or your home.

  • In your opinion, what is the best way to study?

  • Okay, well, if you said your bed, for most people this is a very bad idea.

  • The reason why is if you're studying in your bed with all your books and your notes, your

  • brain, when you're in bed you start thinking about sleep.

  • So if you're studying in your bed, you might become very sleepy and it might be harder

  • to study.

  • So, in...

  • I would not recommend this.

  • Okay? I don't think the bed is a good place to study.

  • What about a library?

  • Some people like studying in libraries, and sometimes it's a good idea.

  • But if you're doing an English test, like where you have a speaking component, a library

  • may or may not be a good place for you.

  • What you really want to do is think about: Where are you taking this test?

  • If you're going to be in a room with many people who maybe are talking or are being

  • loud, you want to study in a similar environment.

  • Okay?

  • So, for some people the library, you know, might be a good place.

  • For other people, maybe the library is not the best place.

  • My point is: You want to study in a place that is just like the environment you'll be

  • taking the test in.

  • So, this is a possibility.

  • Other people might study in coffee shops.

  • Now, if you're doing the IELTS or the TOEFL, this is not a bad idea because at least you're

  • surrounded by people, you're surrounded by distractions, and on your test day you probably

  • will have some sort of distractions around you, especially if people are doing speaking

  • tests where they're talking and you can hear them.

  • So, being around people, if you're doing a test where people will be kind of loud and

  • distracting, a coffee shop is a good idea.

  • But if, you know, there's no speaking component to your test, maybe you're just writing an

  • essay or something like that, then maybe a classroom might actually be a better place.

  • If you're in school and you can go to a place that looks like where you're taking the test,

  • this is the best thing you can do.

  • For home, I personally don't think home is the greatest place to study and I'll tell you why.

  • At home you have your furniture, you have your bed, you have all these distractions

  • around you, so it's easy to stop paying attention to what you're studying, and also your house

  • is not like the environment you'll be taking the test in.

  • You want an environment as similar as possible to where you're actually taking the test,

  • so I would not recommend studying at home.

  • One thing, though, is sometimes it's good to study in multiple locations because the

  • more places you study, the more memories you'll actually have of what you're studying, you'll

  • remember: "Okay, I remember studying this at this coffee shop.

  • I remember studying this at this library, and this at this classroom."

  • So that can actually help...

  • You know, the more places you study, the more memories you will have.

  • Okay, another important thing to note is: Think about your personality.

  • Are you an introvert?

  • This means: Are you a quiet person who kind of prefers to be alone most of the time, where

  • you don't really like big groups?

  • Or maybe you're an extrovert. Okay?

  • So this is where you love big groups, you're, you know, the life of the party, you like

  • being around people.

  • Do you like being alone or with people?

  • Because depending on your answer to that, it can really affect your studying.

  • If you like being around people, one of the bad choices maybe for studying is going somewhere

  • alone and studying alone, especially maybe in a library.

  • Because if you like action and you like being around people, and then you have to study

  • in a very quiet environment and you don't have your friends around or your classmates,

  • that might be very boring for you and you might not pay attention, you might get distracted

  • because you're so bored.

  • Whereas if you're an introvert, maybe you like quiet places, maybe a library is a good

  • place to study for you.

  • You know, maybe it's not good to study with other people.

  • So know your personality.

  • Instead of just doing...

  • You know, going to the library and studying, if you're an extrovert, this might be a bad idea.

  • And it's the same with study groups.

  • If you like being with people, a study group is a great way in order to learn the information

  • and to find out maybe things you don't know so well, because during a study group everybody's

  • asking each other questions, so you start to think about things maybe you're unfamiliar

  • with, you don't know as well as other people.

  • So a study group is a very good idea, but be careful with who is in your study group.

  • Okay?

  • You don't want to study with people who are going to distract you by watching Facebook...

  • Or watching YouTube videos of puppies and cats.

  • Okay? That will not help you with studying.

  • You want to be with people who are focused and serious about studying.

  • Okay?

  • So be careful with who you study with.

  • Okay, another key thing about studying is about being bored.

  • A lot of people, they don't want to study and they find it very boring, and so they

  • go, they sit there, and they're so bored, and yet they just keep reading the material

  • again, and again, and again.

  • Your brain hates being bored.

  • Okay? It's not good for your memory if while you're trying to learn you're very bored.

  • You are not going to learn that much.

  • You need to make the material interesting.

  • Okay?

  • Very important.

  • One way to do this is, you know, thinking about the material maybe in more fun ways.

  • Maybe the material will help you in your life later on or maybe...

  • Maybe being in a study group might be more fun for you.

  • So there's different ways to make what you're studying more interesting.

  • Very important you think about: How can I actually study in an interesting way instead

  • of just, you know, readying the textbook, or reading, you know, the material again and again.

  • That's really boring.

  • How can you make it more interesting?

  • All right, so now let's look at some more tips on how to study better.

  • Okay, so one very important thing to think about when you're studying is if you're studying

  • in an active way or a passive way.

  • So an active way is where you're actually doing something with what you're learning,

  • you're taking it one step farther.

  • So I'll give you some examples of active in a second.

  • First let's talk about passive.

  • Passive is where you just keep reading the material again and again and again.

  • You're not actually doing anything, you're not drawing any pictures, you're not imagining

  • the material, you're just reading again and again, and this is very passive, which means

  • that you're not really using your brain that much for this, and so you're not remembering

  • the information that well.

  • The better approach is to do things actively.

  • So, how can we remember...?

  • How can we do things more active when we're studying?

  • Well, one active activity you can do to help you study is to teach somebody the information.

  • Okay? So if you're learning about the present perfect, teach your friend: What is the present perfect?

  • How do I use it?

  • You can even make a small presentation about the material you're learning, because that

  • way you're actually really thinking about it, and the person you're teaching might have

  • questions for you and those questions might make you realize:

  • "Oh, I don't actually know this about this subject.

  • This is something I want to learn."

  • Diagrams.

  • A great thing to do.

  • Draw different images.

  • Okay? So you can do flow charts, diagrams, putting the information...

  • Instead of just writing it, you know, sentence by sentence, using different types of visual

  • aids can really help you in your studies.

  • Similarly with pictures, if you're learning new vocabulary, draw a picture of it.

  • You know, this really helped me when I was learning French.

  • Every new word I would learn, I'd draw a funny picture with it, and those pictures really

  • helped me remember the words.

  • Doing past tests.

  • If you can get a copy of a previous test, that is, you know, one of the best things

  • that you can do to prepare.

  • So if you're taking the IELTS, doing previous IELTS tests; if you're doing the TOEFL, past

  • TOEFL tests; or if you're in a university course, doing a test from the years before

  • can really, really help you in your studying.

  • Creating your own test.

  • This is a great idea because you really start to think about: What information is important?

  • And creating your own test will really help you remember the answers.

  • So it's an active way to study.

  • And this is also a little bit more interesting than just reading, you know, the same thing

  • again and again.

  • Memory tricks.

  • There are a lot of different memory tricks you can use to remember information.

  • I'm going to give you an example of one for math.

  • When I had to learn math, I had to learn about how to solve an equation, and so they taught

  • us this, BEDMAS.

  • B stands for brackets, equation, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction.

  • So, each of these letters stands for something and it's a lot more difficult to remember

  • that when you're just thinking about all those words on their own.

  • But if you use something where you take the first letter of different words, it can really

  • help you.

  • Same with if you think about music.

  • If you've ever learned to play an instrument, you might learn the different notes.

  • In English what we say is "Every Boy Deserves Fudge", I think that's what it was.

  • Something similar to that.

  • But using these types of mental tricks can really help you in your studying.

  • Visualizations.

  • You know, the more you can imagine what you're studying the better it's going to be for you.

  • And especially if you're learning new vocabulary, trying to come up with, you know, different

  • images of that vocabulary can help you.

  • There's the rule of ridiculousness where if you're trying to remember something, the crazier

  • a mental picture is or the crazier a visualization is, the easier it is for you to remember.

  • Okay?

  • So I do this all the time.

  • Even, you know, if I need to remember my groceries, what I need to buy from the supermarket, I

  • don't even have to write down a list because I can imagine the different food I need to

  • pick up in funny, crazy ways, and then I really remember what I need.

  • So the rule of ridiculousness is the crazier, the stranger something is, the more you're

  • going to remember it.

  • It's the same with emotions.

  • If you can...

  • You know, you remember things that are very emotional.

  • Okay? So if you're angry, if you're sad, if you're happy, you tend to remember things a lot easier

  • than things that are boring.

  • So think about: How can you add emotion to what you're studying?

  • Maybe something you're studying makes you very happy, or maybe, you know, something...

  • You know, makes you scared or whatever emotion, if you can harness your emotions they can

  • really help you remember better.

  • Time lines, if you're learning different tenses in English-present perfect, past simple, you

  • know, present continuous-these are really confusing for students.

  • Drawing a time line can really help you get your head around this while you're studying.

  • Okay? So if you're learning the present perfect or the past simple, you know, here is now,

  • here is in the past, you know, making different images like this can really help you.

  • Mind maps.

  • Okay?

  • We have, you know, a lot of resources on mind maps.

  • Pretty much you have a word or an idea in the centre, and around you write connected ideas.

  • These are great ways to visualize information.

  • Even if you're writing an essay, doing something like a mind map can help you get out your

  • ideas on what you want to write and organize what you want to write, so they're a great

  • tool.

  • If you're interested in using mind maps, if you look in the description of our video,

  • you can actually find a link which gives a lesson on how to do a really good mind map,

  • so I highly recommend that.

  • All right, so now let's look at some more tips on how to study better.

  • Okay, so my next tip is really important.

  • You need to try to find out as much about the test as possible.

  • Okay?

  • You need to know: Is it multiple choice?

  • Is it short answers?

  • How long is the test?

  • If you're doing the TOEFL or the IELTS, you might want to know, you know:

  • When does the listening section happen?

  • When is the reading section?

  • When is the speaking section?

  • So, you know, what kind of instructions am I going to see?

  • You really do need to know what to expect on...

  • On the test and on test day because this is going to help you with your anxiety.

  • The more you know about the test, the less nervous you will actually be on the day of

  • your test, so very important to find out as much information as possible.

  • And this is why doing practice tests and past tests is a very good idea.

  • Okay, this is something I found really interesting that I just learned maybe two years ago about

  • the importance of your body and your physical state on the day of the exam.

  • When you study, what you do in terms of what you're drinking, what you're eating, you know,

  • what time you're doing it, you really want to try to match it to the day of the exam.

  • So, what do I mean by this?

  • Well, for example, if you drink coffee while you're studying, it's good if on the day of

  • the test you drink coffee before your test.

  • If you are drunk when you're studying, something I don't recommend, but this is actually strange

  • but true, if you study drunk-and again, it's better not to, but if you do-you'd actually

  • probably do better on the test drunk than sober.

  • And this is why what I'm saying about what your body is doing is very important.

  • If you drink tea while you study, drink tea the day of the exam.

  • Try to match what you're doing while you're studying with what is going to happen on the

  • day of the exam.

  • You will actually notice quite a difference.

  • Same with when you study.

  • If your exam is in the morning at 8am and every night you study at 9pm, there's a bit

  • of a mismatch because your body is going to be different on the day of the exam.

  • So I would recommend: Study around the time your actual exam is.

  • That will actually have a difference in terms of, you know...

  • It will really help you on test day.

  • So if you study at 8pm and the test is at 8pm, that's great.

  • Also, you know, it's a good thing to time yourself.

  • If on the day of the test you only have 40 minutes to do the test, practice the test

  • with timing.

  • So, do the test in a 40-minute span.

  • If you have four hours, try the test at least one time the full length of the test.

  • That's definitely a good way to prepare.

  • Okay, this is the most important thing I am going to say in this video, more important

  • than any of the other tips: You need to sleep before the test.

  • Many students try to study all night, and then they do the test.

  • This is the worst thing you can do.

  • Your brain, in order to remember...

  • In order to remember things, you really, really need sleep.

  • Your memory and sleep are so closely tied together that if you don't sleep, you don't remember.

  • So this is why it's very good to actually plan when you're going to study in advance.

  • Make a study plan, so you have many nights to study, which means you have many day...

  • Or many nights of sleep.

  • Because each day you study you really want to sleep well so you will remember the information. Okay?

  • Very important.

  • If you ignore everything else, number one thing is: Sleep well before your test.

  • And when you're studying, sleep well.

  • Okay, and this is number eight which I sort of already touched upon.

  • You need to review multiple days.

  • Okay?

  • For those people who think:

  • "Oh, you know, two days is enough.

  • I'm just going to study for two days and, you know, do my test", it's a terrible idea

  • because maybe if you're lucky, maybe you'll do okay on your test, but you're just going

  • to forget all that information later on, and so it's kind of a waste of an opportunity.

  • If you study a little bit every day, you know, for a couple of weeks before your test, you

  • actually remember the material a lot more and you're going to remember it for a lot longer.

  • So you might as well study a little bit every day and have, you know, two or three weeks

  • before the test do this, instead of just doing everything the night before.

  • Okay, my next trick is called the KWL method.

  • This is a great way, you know, especially when you're starting to study.

  • K stands for know, W stands for want to know, and L stands for learn.

  • So, what you can do when you're, you know, studying is you can...

  • Before you start studying, you can write about what you already know about the subject.

  • So imagine I want to study about the present perfect.

  • I'll write down everything I already know about the present perfect, and so, you know,

  • I can do it like a column and write down everything I know here.

  • For W it stands for want to know, so I can think about any questions I have about the subject.

  • Okay?

  • You know, maybe I want to know: When do we use the present perfect?

  • Or: Why do we use the present perfect?

  • Is this an example of the present perfect?

  • And it can be for anything.

  • Even if you're studying biology, you know, you're studying the human body, you can use

  • this also.

  • It's good for any material you're studying.

  • So you write down questions on what you want to know here.

  • And then after you study, think about: What did you actually learn?

  • Okay?

  • There's always something you're going to learn, maybe some interesting fact, maybe you learned

  • the material.

  • You can write down under L everything you learned.

  • This way, you're actually thinking about everything you know about a subject, which helps you

  • to kind of put together the pieces and to see what you already know, what you need to

  • know, and what you learned at the end.

  • So this is a great method for learning.

  • Okay, so now let's look at a couple more tips on how to improve our studying.

  • Okay, so my next tip is about thinking about your body's health, which is very important

  • when you study.

  • My first tip is actually, you know, be aware of what you're eating.

  • If you eat, like, you know, healthy, it will actually help you with studying.

  • So keep eating and keep hydrated.

  • Drink a lot of water, that's very important, too.

  • Breathe.

  • A lot of students get very stressed with exams and tests.

  • If you're writing the IELTS and TOEFL, maybe...

  • Or a university exam, just those words actually cause your body to, you know, get really nervous.

  • So one way to deal with this is just deep breathing.

  • Okay? So when you think about something that makes you really nervous or maybe you're looking

  • at something while you're studying and you have no idea what it means, and you start

  • to panic, take a deep breath because that will help.

  • It tells your body...

  • You know, it sends a message to your body and it will help you to calm down.

  • You know, this is similar also with stress management.

  • A lot of things people don't think about when they're studying is:

  • How do they deal with the stress?

  • When you're very stressed, you don't actually learn as much, and this is actually really

  • a problem on a lot of tests.

  • You know, especially if you're doing a language test, the speaking part, because when you're

  • stressed out your language actually declines, you're not doing as good a job.

  • So it's important to learn stress management techniques in order to deal with the stress

  • so you can remember more and be more successful at your exam.

  • So breathing is one good management tip, you know, listening to calming music can help.

  • There's different things you can do in order to help you with stress.

  • Exercise is another good thing to do when you're studying.

  • You want to get blood up to your brain, so walking is excellent.

  • You know?

  • Make sure you take breaks while you study and do some sort of movement.

  • It will really help you with remembering the material and, you know, not overwhelming your brain.

  • So exercise, especially walking is a really good idea.

  • Okay, so now we've done a lot of study tips.

  • What about on the day of the test itself?

  • So it's important to have a plan on the actual day of the test.

  • My one very important thing is arrive early.

  • A lot of students come late, and then they're just so much more stressed because, you know,

  • now they're looking for their pencil, they're looking for their pen, they're panicked.

  • No. Arrive early, it's very important.

  • Like I said before, sleep well before the test, also very important.

  • And be prepared.

  • Okay?

  • Have your bag ready the night before, have your pens, pencils, know what you're going

  • to wear the day of the test.

  • Have everything prepared so you don't have to think about it, because you're going to

  • be thinking about other things and you might forget something, you might forget your ID

  • or what you need, so have it all prepared the night before.

  • I already mentioned walking is very good.

  • On the day of the test itself while you're waiting, you know, instead of just sitting

  • there, you can walk around.

  • That will help get blood up to your brain and that will help you, you know, prepare

  • yourself for the test.

  • And also, it will help you with stress.

  • Power poses. So, I've done a video on power poses before, which you can check out.

  • But pretty much know what your body is doing while you're taking the test and before.

  • If you're like, you know, closed up like this, that actually makes you more nervous, versus

  • if you're, you know, bigger and more comfortable, you'll feel more confident.

  • So even while you're writing the test, you know, be aware of what your body's doing because

  • that can actually impact how you feel and that can impact how you do.

  • If you're doing an English proficiency test, speak English during the test.

  • Well, not during the test while you're writing, but I mean during breaks.

  • You know, for example, sometimes you have a listening part and then you have a 15-minute

  • break, and then you have a reading part.

  • During the break time it's a good idea to keep English flowing into your mind.

  • Okay?

  • So if you want to call, you know, your parents who speak a different language, that's not

  • a good idea.

  • It's better to keep...

  • You know, keep the material in mind.

  • So, you know, even talking to somebody in English can really help during break time.

  • Okay? So think about: How do...?

  • How can you use your breaks in the most effective way possible?

  • All right, so we have just a couple more tips.

  • I know we have a lot, but just a couple more tips to go.

  • Okay, so we've talked about, you know, some really important tips already.

  • The next one is actually really important also, and that's: Read the instructions.

  • Okay?

  • So whenever you have a test or exam, be very careful and make sure you actually read everything.

  • A lot of students, they're very nervous and they're anxious, and so they rush and they

  • don't read everything, and as a result sometimes they put the wrong answer just because they

  • didn't read the question correctly. Okay?

  • So I'm going to give you an example of that.

  • A lot of the times on tests you'll have a question, for example:

  • "Which is/are not an example of...?"

  • You know, and it might be something like the present perfect or the brain.

  • Okay?

  • So it can be anything here, but what a lot of students don't notice is this part.

  • First they miss the "not", so this means that you're actually, you know...

  • If this is a multiple choice question and it says: "Which is not an example of...?"

  • students who don't read the question might actually put what is an example of something.

  • So be very careful of the word "not".

  • Okay?

  • Another thing to be very careful of when you read questions: "is" and "are".

  • Sometimes you'll just have the word "is", and that just means you just need to find

  • one thing.

  • Sometimes you'll have the word "are", and that means that you have to find multiple things.

  • So if you're doing multiple choice and you have: "Which are", there might be two correct answers.

  • Okay?

  • I know for the IELTS a lot of students make mistakes because they don't read the instructions,

  • and they're actually supposed to put down, you know, multiple things, but they just put

  • down one.

  • So be very careful and read all instructions, especially when it has to do with, like, how

  • many answers to put down or how many, like...

  • If you have letters A, B, C, D, E: How many of those can you put down?

  • How many choices can you put?

  • Okay, very important.

  • Another thing, I always do this whenever I'm doing an exam or a test is I underline key words.

  • Okay?

  • So, for example, that means underline.

  • So, every question I look at I actually will look for the main idea and underline it.

  • This can also really help because sometimes you'll see where it's like always or never,

  • even in the answers.

  • There are certain words that might trick you, and so it's a good idea to actually underline

  • key words because you'll pay more attention then and maybe be more careful with these tricks.

  • Okay, number 14: Star-and this is a star-what you don't know.

  • So many students waste time because they don't know the answer to something, and they just

  • look at it, and they keep thinking and thinking and thinking, and it takes them forever.

  • And then, you know, maybe they do get the answer, but then the test is over and they

  • haven't finished.

  • So a good idea is actually to put a star beside what you don't know...

  • So, for example...

  • And this means you'll come back to it later.

  • Do what you know first.

  • Sometimes it's even good to do the easiest questions first, because then you feel more

  • confident and you feel better.

  • You don't panic if you do what you know first, and you don't run out of time.

  • So do what you know first.

  • Anything you don't know just put a star beside it, and come back at the end.

  • Oftentimes, too, this is good because sometimes other questions will actually have clues or

  • will help you with that question you're having trouble or difficulty with.

  • Okay, my final tip, when you're doing multiple choice...

  • So, multiple choice is when you have A, B, C, D, E, and you have to pick which one is

  • the correct answer.

  • There's a lot of different tips for multiple choice specifically.

  • I'm going to tell you two things you can do if you have multiple choice on your test now.

  • My first tip is think about each answer, and why it is true or why it's not true.

  • Too many students, they look at what A is, B is, or they don't even look.

  • They see A, they think: "Oh, I think A is correct", and they just circle it.

  • No. You need to read every single one.

  • You need to read A, B, C, D, and E, and really think about it.

  • "Okay, I know it's not B. Why?

  • I know it's not C. Why?"

  • So definitely the key question here is: Why is it this and why is it not that?

  • So always during multiple choice ask yourself: Why?

  • Another tip for multiple choice, which I always do on my exams and I find it really helps

  • me, is when I go through them I will put an X on the ones I know are not correct.

  • So, for example, if this is A and I know it's wrong, I'll just cross it off.

  • As soon as I ask myself: "Why?

  • Okay, it's wrong", I put an X on it, and then I go to B. Is B right or is it wrong?

  • I think about it.

  • If I know it's wrong, I put an X on it.

  • So as soon as I'm sure the answer is wrong, I cross it out and then I leave what, you know...

  • Maybe I don't know if it's C or D, so then I'll take some time to think about those.

  • But I always cross off which answers I know are incorrect.

  • I find that really helps.

  • Okay, so we've covered a lot which is really good.

  • There's a lot of tips on how to study.

  • And again, I'm just going to say this one more time because out of everything, most

  • important thing: Sleep before your exam.

  • Okay?

  • So, I hope you've enjoyed this video

  • and I want to invite you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com.

  • There, you can actually do a quiz in order to practice some of these tips.

  • And like I said before, doing a quiz is actually a great way to remember things because it's active. Okay?

  • You're doing something.

  • You're not just sitting and listening, you're actually doing so you'll actually remember

  • the tips a lot better that way.

  • I also want to invite you to subscribe to my channel.

  • We have a lot of cool things there on all sorts of different topics, from how to write

  • an essay, to pronunciation, to speaking.

  • Okay? So, very good resources there.

  • And also at our website, www.engvid.com, we have a lot of great videos on other things,

  • so I highly recommend you check it out.

  • Until next time, thank you and take care.

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