First step is: Skip the laptop Although you might be quicker at typing Writing with pen and paper is the way to go when taking notes Not only are their oodles of distractions online But researchers have found that those who type process the information at a shallower level As opposed to simply train scribing verbatim re-framing the data into your own words while writing out physically leads to better performance on tests.
And to retain those notes STUDY, SLEEP, STUDY! In a French experiment, two groups were taught the Swahili translation for 16 French words Over two sessions, Group 1 studied in the morning then retook a break and study in the evening. But group 2 considered in the evening slept for the night and then resumed studying in the morning Though there was the same amount of time between the 2 study sessions, The sleep group could recall 10 of 16 words while the no sleep group could only get 7.5 Learning a new motor skill?
Try modifying your practice slightly A study of 86 happy volunteers were asked to learn a computer-based motor skill over 2 training sessions One group’s second training session had them learn the task in a slightly altered way While the other repeated the job with the same practice Those who used two different strategies nearly doubled the speed of accuracy of the task compared to the control group