What does it mean to truly understand a concept? Unfortunately, in secondary and tertiary education it is common for students to “learn” a concept, without having any true understanding. Perhaps you have been asked to memorise a concept or learn a list of items and recall these items in a test or exam. This type of learning is commonly known as “rote” learning and often involves short term memory, making the application and use of the information very difficult. Applying creativity to study techniques is a powerful tool in understanding and memorisation, particularly for students who have a creative edge. 

At AIT your creativity is not only encouraged, it’s celebrated. Offering degrees in 2D animation, 3D animation, game design, and film, a creative edge can help you reach your highest potential. AIT understands that learning by doing is essential not only for creative people, but for everyone. This is why our bachelor degrees offer a hands-on experience, to promote learning, growth and understanding of subject matter. 

Here are four study techniques that can help you smash your exams, absorb more information and have a better understanding of content.

1. Watch and Create Study Videos

YouTube is fast becoming one of the best and most popular ways of studying. You can create your own channel dedicated to creating lessons on a particular topic. This not only helps you to learn the information, it also helps others with their learning at the same time. 

Teaching others allows for active engagement in the learning process. This helps to consolidate the information in your mind and increases recall ability at a later time. This method results in higher memory recall than other common study strategies such as flash cards, writing and reading.

2. Create Your Own Infographic

Infographics are a fantastic way to visually represent information. Pinterest has a range of pre-made infographics that share content of the Australian Year 11 and Year 12 curriculum. 

However, the BEST way to utilise infographics is to make them yourself using Canva or a similar online platform. Your infographic can contain images, diagrams and words. It is best to summarise the topic in the most succinct way. Try to leave the heavy details for your study notes. Once you have created your infographics, print them out and even laminate them.

For a creative person, looking at visually pleasing content can increase recall and reduce study fatigue.

3. Draw a Lesson

This one is for all of the artists out there. There are so many budding 2D and 3D artists out there and now is the time to show off your skill. Find a way to visually represent the topic, using diagrams, images and colour. 

Photo by GoodNotes 5 on Unsplash.

If the topic is difficult to represent using images, it is still possible to incorporate your artistic skill by creating coloured sketches for headings and subheadings.

This process can liven up your boring study notes and can help to trigger recall during exams.

4. Use Colour

According to a study completed by Olurinola and Tayo (2015) colour can be a key component in learning and memory. 

Studies have shown that the colour blue is best for challenging learning situations. For that reason, it can be useful to use black ink for topics that you understand well and blue ink for those topics that you just can’t get your head around. Blue ink, blue paper and blue highlighter can also increase reading comprehension. 

In addition to this, colours can be used to divide your notes and information into different levels of difficulty, different topics or different types of questions. For example, you may highlight general recall exam questions in green (indicating the easiest style of question), use orange highlighter for mid range questions that ask you to describe or explain a concept and a blue highlighter for questions that require application and analysis of complex topics. You may target orange questions first, as these are generally worth more marks, or you may start with green questions if you struggle with the topic or subject.

Make sure you try different things when preparing for exams and next time you are cramming, be sure to try out some of these techniques. 

Don’t get stuck in a study rut. Use your creativity and unique learning style to create a study plan that works for you. It can take time to learn which learning and studying strategies work for you, so continue trying new things to help you ace your Year 12 exams!