Geography & History Notes | KCSE, NECTA, ZIMSEC & GCSE

  Why Cramming should not be your primary strategy. There is a biological reason for this. The problem is that cramming information places it into our brains in short term storage. This is where you put everyday information that is not really worth remembering. In order to learn we have to transfer information into long term memory. Once there, you can retrieve it far easier over a longer period of time. Here's an overview the differences:  Short term memory All information is processed in the brain and stored in short term memory. The problem is that this information sort of overloads the brain and is not kept for very long. Can you remember every single event that happened to you in a given day? Think of the literally thousands of bits of information you are exposed to every day. It's not necessary to remember it all, so the brain dumps it after a short time. Can you remember what you had for breakfast the day before yesterday? What shirt you wore? How much lunch cost? How...

  Studying for exams can be difficult, and it’s easy to get discouraged or feel like you’re not getting anywhere when you’re studying and your notes aren’t making sense. But if you don’t figure out how to study, you won’t have time to do anything else with your life besides study, which will make you feel even worse about not being able to understand the material. Figure out your strengths Brainstorming your strengths is an important step in understanding where you are going as a student. Take time to write down all of your strong suits, whether it’s something general like your intelligence or a specific skill like playing a musical instrument. Next, think about how you can use these strengths to study more effectively. For example, if one of your strengths is creativity, you might use that to create flash cards with pictures on them instead of just words. Alternatively, if one of your strengths is organization, try setting up a filing system for notes or class handouts so that eve...