10 Tips on How to Remember More Information During University Lectures
Paying attention during lectures can be a tricky task for students due to the numerous distractions available today, such as smartphones. However, such distractions can have an adverse impact on the grades of students. It is important for any student to remember as much information from lectures as possible. This is the only way they can understand a particular topic and then produce the answers during their exams. So here is a list of the top 10 tips on how to remember more information during lectures at University.
1. Pay Attention
The most important aspect of ensuring that you acquire and retain information during lectures is to make sure that you are paying attention. It is a natural tendency for humans to lose interest in a theoretical topic after a few minutes. However, a short attention span can prove to be dangerous. You need to focus during the lecture and try to grasp as much information as you can by paying complete attention.
2. Take Notes and Highlight Important Topics
Obviously, it is not always possible to write down everything mentioned during a lecture. However, you need to make sure that you pen down as much as you can. This will ensure that you can refer to that piece of information later on. Also, writing something down can be a great way of remembering it. Further, it is important that you highlight all important sets of information or topics. Such a habit of highlighting can come in handy at a later stage when you are attempting to recall the important topics.
3. Acronym Based Learning
There are times when you need to remember complicated structures of names or sentences. Remembering these can be made simpler by making use of acronyms. You could note down the particular sequence of names that you would possibly need to remember later on and then create an acronym based on the first letters of those words. Such techniques can be extremely beneficial in remembering important names or topics. Acronym based learning has been around for decades and has helped a large number of students in remembering the tricky name sequences such as the periodic table.
4. Ask Questions
Asking questions and discussing various topics with your professor can be a great way to acquire and remember information. If you have asked a question and got a detailed description from your professor, you are more likely to remember it since it creates a sense of illustration in your mind. Also, asking questions often generates new ideas and examples which can be extremely beneficial to you in retaining information on any given topic. Questions should ideally be asked when your professor is in the middle of a topic rather than at the end of the class because then it becomes easier for you to connect the theory with any possible examples.
5. Use the Chunking Technique
Chunking can be a great way to remember information sets that are interconnected. It is nothing but a technique that helps you in remembering stuff better breaking down larger information into smaller sets. This is the same technique which is followed by people to remember phone numbers. For instance, if there is a 10 digit number that you need to remember, you break it down into two sets of three numbers and one set of four numbers. This is a prime example of the chunking technique which can also be used during lectures.
6. Use Abbreviations
Another technique that can prove to be extremely beneficial is the use of abbreviations. When you are taking notes during your lectures, you need not write down entire sentences with perfect grammar. By making use of abbreviations, you can ensure that you save time. At the same time, this can also help you in remembering topics and concepts during your exams. Thus, making use of abbreviations is a great way to absorb more information during lectures.
7. Create Visual Images
When you are learning a new topic in your lecture, it is always better to create a visual image of the concept or the topic in your mind. This will help you in learning the topic in a much better way. Humans have the tendency to learn better when they associate concepts with a visual element. This visual element could be anything that is similar to the concept or something which makes it much easier to recall.
8. Avoid Distractions
One of the most important tips is to avoid distractions during class. There is always a temptation for students to pick up their smartphones or to check their social media profiles, especially during theoretical lectures. Also, many students engage in whispering and have conversations with their friends during lectures. These distractions need to be avoided for your own good. If you are able to avoid these, then you can focus in a much better manner, and you will be able to retain more information.
9. Be Comfortably Seated
A lot of students underestimate the role of seating. If you are sitting in a comfortable position, then you are much more likely to retain information in a better manner. On the other hand, if you are not sitting at ease, it can have a grave impact on your learning abilities. Comfortable seating ensures that your attention spans are longer and you feel a bit more motivated to acquire new information during lectures.
10. Leave Gaps and Review Later
If you are taking notes during a lecture, it is a good practice to leave gaps in your notes when you feel that a topic is too complicated for you. This is because often students write down in haste and this can result in incorrect information being recorded in their notes. In order to avoid this, it is a much better practice to skip the topics that you feel are too complex. You could review these topics later by asking your professor or by discussing it with other students after class.
