Exam Hacks: How to Study Smarter for Every Subject and Remember More on Tests

If you or someone you love is in high school or they're in college or postgrad and they have exams coming up, this episode could be a real game changer. So here's the truth. Most students study the same way for every subject, and that could be a huge mistake. The way your brain absorbs math formula is different from how it processes historical events or a piece of literature. And so today, I'm going to show you tailored techniques for different subjects, plus some powerful, less-known brain tips that will help you absorb and retain and recall information faster than ever. These tips are based on my personal experience having students online in a program we have called Kwik Student. You can see it at kwikstudent.com, K-W-I-K student.com. It pulls in from neuroscience, memory science, and learning psychology. Some of them are so under the radar. I feel like most teachers have never heard of them or not aware of them or maybe using them. So whether you're prepping for finals or taking the SATs or you just, maybe you're taking the MCATs, you're taking the bar, you just want to learn faster and forget less. Let's jump into it. So let's talk about why one size fits all really fails. The brain is not One-size-fits-all machine, right? The school system was kind of mirrored on the assembly line where it was assembly line, one-size-fits-all based on your data manufacturing, like in terms of your birthdate and age and everything. And we know that in over 30 years of teaching this, especially academic success, that it's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart. You wouldn't train for a marathon the same way you would train for a chess tournament, right? Different mental skills need different kinds of practice. And protocols. For example, math engages more of a problem-solving and working memory. History could tap into more episodic memory, dealing with stories and sequences and timeline. Literature leans on more deep reading analysis. Maybe there's some more emotional, empathetic memory there. When we match the technique to the type of thinking a subject really requires, learning becomes easier. It becomes faster, and it certainly becomes more enjoyable and more permanent. So let's talk about a subject like history. How do you make it stick with story and space? History is basically one gigantic Netflix series. It has dates, it has characters, it has plot twists. The brain loves stories. That's the good news. So use that to your advantage. Step 1, melodic learning. Instead of raw, boring repetition, like how most people do it, rote memorization, try turning dates and sequences into story or song. Maybe you could turn it even into a rap. Studies on melodic learning show that things like rhythm, melody creates additional retrieval cues, making facts More fun. It's easier to recall under pressure. Think about how many songs you know, right? How many lyrics, words to songs that you know. Try saying the ABCs, the alphabet, without putting it to music inside your mind. So it helps to be able to accelerate that. Step 2, the magic of memory palaces. And this is kind of a mental palace where you're placing historical events along a very familiar route that you have. Maybe it's your walk to school. Maybe it's your home office or your Bedroom, or maybe it's the mall. You're taking a very familiar place and putting the key facts around that place. And this is a way of using location to be able to mark important information. So for example, put the Boston Tea Party in your kitchen sink and the signing of the Declaration in your living room. And then you could break it down into details. You could break down the details of what's going on in your kitchen. Something there by the microwave or by the refrigerator or by the dishwasher or by the sink, right? It's a way of using familiar places to store important information. They've been using this technique for 2,500 years. They did it back in ancient Greece also to be able to memorize speeches and facts. Step 3, let's talk about storytelling, specifically space storytelling. Once you've built your timeline, you could retell it maybe Every day for a week, then every other day, then maybe once a week. It's like interval training where you space information out in terms of a review schedule. And what does it do? It strengthens the effect of your long-term retention. It helps consolidate your short-term memory more into your long-term memory, which is really the goal. The goal is not to cram something in and pull an all-nighter and then just forget everything the next day. So that is very important for encoding it, for storing it, and for retrieving it. Let me give you another example. Let's talk about something like math. Many of you came to Limitless Live and saw one of our speakers speak each day doing these demonstrations. He's called the Human Calculator, which is, you know, you could find it online. You can message our team about some of the work we've done together, but it's like a way of using quick math, right? But how do you make math stick through things like using something out of the box, using movement, using the things we teach around mental models. Math should be more about understanding than it is about memorizing. If you skip the comprehension and jump straight to the rote learning, you're building a house on sand.

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So step 1, embodied cognition. This means learning through movement. So can you use your hands, your gestures, or even your whole body to model equations? This is a little bit playful, a little bit different, but you're activating more of your nervous system. You're in a fun state. So for example, what if you stretch your arms out to represent 2 lines converging in geometry, or you step forward and back to visualize positive and Negative integers, right? Physical encoding boosts neural connections to more of the concepts, right? And as your body moves, your brain grooves, but it gives you a kinesthetic learning and kinesthetic memory. Step 2, another thing you could do is desirable difficulties. What if you mix problem types instead of drilling one formula over and over? So what does this do? This is like interweaving, you know, you're switching between algebra, geometry and word problems. You're forcing your brain to work harder to retrieve methods, which actually improves your expertise, your level of mastery. Step 3, delayed feedback. What do I mean by that? When solving practice problems in math, resist the urge to check answers right away. Waiting before you see the solution, what does it do? It builds anticipation, curiosity. It strengthens your retrieval pathways. So let's switch from this one to— from we went to history to math. Let's talk about literature, how we remember English literature using different modalities like connection or visualization or explaining to somebody else, like teaching it to somebody else. Literature demands a different skill set almost. It's pattern recognition. It's emotional intelligence, emotional memory. There's a thematic understanding of what's going on, right? Requires empathy, being able to step into someone's point of view. And seeing it in a different way also builds your imagination so much. Have you read something in literature and you can kind of see it like a movie? And I find when you refine your mind, your imagination as one of your superpowers, it's hard for even the best directors in the world, the Steven Spielbergs and the George Lucases, to be able to do what you can do in your own mind. So step 1, what if you did some mind mapping? Mind mapping the characters, the themes. What if you drew almost like a web of connections through characters, symbols, colors, events. Visual mapping helps your brain see the big picture. And what does this do? It aids in things like that you need to do essay writings, analysis. Step 2, the rubber duck method. Pick a stuffed animal. Explain the plot themes and the symbolism of what you're reading out loud as if you're teaching it. And what does it do? They call it the explanation effect. We've talked about this before. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice. Speaking out loud specifically, it forces clarity. It forces you to understand. It shows you also the areas where you aren't quite sure. So maybe even ask how someone's asking you questions about something you read in literature and you don't have an answer about when this is going on or where it's going on, but your reticular activating system, your RAS, is now curious and starts asking questions and looking for clues and cues when you're reading. So find out when this is taking place or where it's taking place. Step 3 is anchoring. When you hit A powerful scene, and you take a pause and you think about a time in your life where and when you felt something similar. Think about what that does in terms of the anchor to that emotion. When you can relate to a powerful scene and you're pausing and you're thinking about a time in which in your life where you felt something similar and linking the content of what you're reading to something personal, something emotional. And what does it do? It makes it absolutely Unforgettable. And finally, here are some general exam absorption tips that work pretty much across all subjects. I'm a big fan of the Pomodoro technique, Pomodoro bursts, which is setting a timer for about 25 minutes, which is what most people have in terms of their attention span, like the length of a sitcom, 25-minute bursts. And that's the Pomodoro technique where you just focus, you're doing a reading, learning, studying sprint. And then what's very important is 5-minute brain break. All right, 5 minutes giving yourself rest. And I would highly encourage you to move, move your body. And so light exercise, maybe you're doing some jump rope, you're doing some calisthenics between sessions. What does it do? It boosts your alertness, it boosts your blood flow. Also during this 5 minutes, make sure you're hydrating also as well. Your brain is 70-75% water, and if you're dehydrated, it could significantly affect not only your cognitive health, but your cognitive performance while, while you're studying. All right. And you don't want to wait till you're thirsty because then it's already— it's already behind.

All right.

If you're waiting till you're thirsty, you're already behind. Just staying hydrated, by the way, can boost your reaction time and your thinking speed upwards of 30%, which is huge, huge advantage. So use that during your brain break. And then just remember, we talk about hydration, but let's also just emphasize sleep. These all-nighters aren't helping you learn something better. You have brain fog the next day. You also didn't— you also lost everything you learned, right? It's the difference between studying something to remember and And cramming something to forget. But your hippocampus, which is the memory center, needs the sleep to help consolidate what you've learned, to consolidate your short-term to your long-term memory. You could also, it's interesting, switching locations could be beneficial also as well. Studying potentially in multiple environments and places could improve your recall because your brain is creating different retrieval cues. It would be best if you could study in the place where you have to perform because then you know it's a set setting where unconsciously your environment is being anchored to the information and your state is probably going to be the same sitting there studying as well. But it's not always practical. Some people will use scents, like they use a certain— chew a certain gum flavor or a unique perfume or cologne or essential oil while they're studying, and then they'll use it when they actually have to perform and take an exam because that scent is a wonderful way, olfactory, to be able to trigger a memory also as well. So you stack all these techniques. A lot of this we teach again in Kwik And it's kwikstudent.com. This is a 30-day program where you learn how to read faster, improve your memory, and I use the examples of all these different subjects in school, whether it's law and it's history and it's math and it's language learning and so on, with speed reading and memory and also advanced study skills. So if you want more about that, kwikstudent.com. But just remember this, learning is not just about working harder. You know this, it's about working smarter. And so just as a quick review, for history, we have— we can use story, you could use melody, you could use space. For math, you can move your body and use your kinesthetic intelligence, embrace those, those challenges. For maybe literature, you could do mind mapping, you could do teaching, you could connect to something personally, emotionally. And I would just challenge you, as a quick challenge, try just one tip this week. Maybe for each subject and, or maybe some of the more general tips to be able to elevate your learning and your life. Because studying, while it is work, it doesn't have to be tedious work, right? When you work smarter, not only do you save time, but you enjoy it more and you get to see what happens when you match the tool or the technique to the task or the subject matter. I believe there's no such thing as a good or bad student. There's a trained student and an untrained student. Now go train your mind, train your memory. Just do something, even if it's not with us, do it somewhere because there's a version of yourself that's patiently waiting. The goal is we show up for ourselves every single day until we're introduced. You can find more of these insights like this on YouTube where you could join almost 2 million YouTube subscribers where they're getting weekly brain tips and techniques and insights and models of learning to help you live the life you desire and really deserve. Make sure you leave a You comment, you share, you save this. And if you feel inclined to take a screenshot wherever you're consuming this and post it, tag me @JimKwik. We're also posting daily on every social channel, brain tips to elevate your learning and your life. And I will repost some because you'll tag us and our team will see it and we'll gift out a couple of signed copies of Limitless as we often do randomly just for thank you, as a thank you for being part of our community and being on this journey.

Uh, together.

So until then, I would look forward to seeing you next episode. Make sure you subscribe and be limitless.