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Every student puts in their best efforts for competitive exams, but some qualify the exams with flying colours, while others wonder what went wrong. If you belong to the latter category and spend a lot of time studying but feel like your efforts aren’t paying off in terms of results, don’t panic. Here we’ll show you how to assess your present study methods and and determine what works and doesn’t to devise new, more productive study methods.
To do so, we’ll introduce you to the “Metacognitive Study” concept, explain why it can help you learn more effectively, and provide some ways to incorporate metacognitive strategy into your studies.
To learn about Metacognitive Study, we first need to understand metacognition. Metacognition is simply referred to as ‘thinking about thinking‘. It is the study of one’s own thinking and learning processes.
For students, metacognition refers to learning strategies that can assist students in comprehending how they learn. In addition, it helps them realise their own learning process and the activities they engage in to acquire personal and academic development.
For example, planning how to complete an assignment, identifying and applying the correct methods and abilities to solve a problem, self-evaluation and self-correction as a result of assessing one’s own progress towards task completion.
Self-reflective questions are an integral part of metacognition because they allow us to assess the following:
It assists you in becoming a self-aware problem solver and gaining control over your learning.
For studies, you can improve your learning using metacognitive skills. Using Metacognitive study, you’ll be able to master the art of learning on your own, assess what you already know, what you need to improve, and how to approach learning new information most effectively.
Metacognition helps you understand yourself, your learning process and your behaviour. Here we present some benefits of metacognitive study for students:
Metacognitive strategy requires you to recall your knowledge before you begin studying. So before starting any new topic, look at it and consider what you already know about it. What are your questions? What do you want to learn? Answering these questions can help you contextualise your learning and construct a framework for new information. It may also assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
Speak up your thoughts aloud. You can share your thoughts with your teachers, peers, fellow students, or even your pet. Simply vocalising your opinions can help you understand what you’re learning and assimilate it deeply. Speaking out loud is an excellent approach to seeing how well you know the content. It guarantees that you genuinely understand the concept and will reveal any gaps in your knowledge. Examine your actions and try to find a reason for them.
Asking yourself self-reflective questions is an essential metacognitive strategy. Take some time to reflect on your understanding and be honest with yourself. A few sample questions:
NOTE: These are some sample questions; consider creating some of your own questions.
Planning ahead will help you strategise your approach to finish the task. While planning, ask yourself questions like:
Answering these questions will help you formulate a robust plan to achieve your goal.
Different individuals have different learning styles. For example, some prefer to study quietly, while some feel more energetic with instrumental music. Some common learning styles include:
Identifying your learning style will help you increase the productivity of your study sessions.
Just like thinking aloud, writing will help you organise your thoughts and evaluate your knowledge. It enables you to figure out what you know and don’t know and how you’re learning from your own thinking.
Graphic organisers such as mind maps, flow charts, and spider diagrams are also known as cognitive tools that assist you in organising your thoughts, making connections between the ideas we already know, deep thinking, and visualising the process and procedures. It helps in improving our thinking skills.
Metacognitive study involves reading tiny parts at a time, pausing every now and then to recall what you’ve read, and jotting down that information in your own words. This method guarantees that you’re actively engaged with the information while you read and take notes, and it helps you better measure how much you’re retaining from what you read. It also enhances your memory and information retention capacity, making you more likely to remember and understand the subject in the long term. Effective reading techniques include:
Self-testing should be a regular component of your study sessions, so you know exactly what you know and don’t know. Solve questions, practice tests/ sample papers — anything that requires you to implement your knowledge and verify that it is correct.
Another important metacognitive strategy is analysing your test result. Use your test results to evaluate your exam preparation, and keep note of the things you’ve missed and why you’ve missed them. Then spend some time filling in the gaps in your knowledge and establishing a strategy for improving your preparation for the next time.
When you master the art of metacognitive study, you can prepare better for your exams. In addition, metacognitive strategies can be studied, practised, and developed into habits to help students learn, think and grow more efficiently in the future.
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