If you're like me, if you take notes, it's probably the standard handwritten/typed full page of words, directly copying down words of powerpoints or what the teacher says. Maybe the odd diagram or two, but mostly just writing down things slightly worded differently or verbatim, in a linear fashion down the page in bullets or paragraphs. This is seen as "normal" notetaking, but it's actually one of the worst ways to write notes, and is only slightly worth doing.

Our brains don't hold information in a linear way like that, and neither does the brain of the person teaching the info, whether that's a professor or a textbook author. Our brains hold information in a complex network, made up of countless relationships. When we learn new information, our brain then tries to relate that info to other info it already holds. And when it can't, it's much more likely to forget it. (Part of why languages are hard) Our brain uses 20% of your body's total energy, so it's very good about preserving that energy, by getting rid of unnecessary information. That's great in some ways. It'd drive us insane if we remembered every minute sensory detail of every second. But our brains often throw away info that we actually want to learn. When we forget things we study, it's because our brain deems it unimportant and irrelevant. 

So then our task as learners is to make our brain recognize that info as relevant. When we just copy down linear notes, or speed through a book without taking ample time to process the info, then our brain forgets most of it very quickly. (About 90% of new info after one week) The primary way of fixing this is through improving our encoding methods, which is how we transfer new info to our memory and make it stick. (Most "genius" students who can ace their exams with little to no studying are often just really good at some of these encoding methods, even if it's unconscious) For example, instead of linear maps, try mind maps, where you draw out info in a super summarized, visual format where you spatially arrange concepts and show relationships and make comparisons. (Plenty of examples and youtube videos on how to do them)

The very act of drawing the mind map makes your brain compare ideas to see how they relate to each other and to info you already know, which in turn makes you remember more of it. The key is to spend an equal time digesting info as consuming it. How often do you read a chapter of a biology textbook, then just sit and think about the content? Not writing it down, not highlighting, just thinking and processing it in your brain to relate it to other concepts and understand it. It can be time consuming yes. But if you're only retaining 10% of info, then you're already wasting time, and spending more time digesting will ultimately result in more efficient and higher quality learning.

Summarizing is also key. It helps you to remember the actually important bits, and that act of deciding what info to prioritize also helps your brain remember it better. One strategy that helps is delayed notetaking. After learning a new bit of info, especially via lecture, try to wait 30+ seconds before writing it down. Your brain can't juggle all that info for very long without having to write it down, so it forces you to summarize that new info to be able to remember it.

This all isn't to say that route memorization doesn't have its place. There's plenty of types of learning that doesn't really have much relationship to other info, like memorizing formulas or language vocab. In those cases, applying the info through practice problems/sentences is key, though you'll likely have to just grind through some of it with flashcards and the like. Also in high school, more of the learning tends to be lower level and not require as much higher order thinking (look up Bloom's learning taxonomy for more info on that), and there's a lot of brute memorization. But in some of the science classes like chemistry and biology, or history, can be learned really well via mind mapping and other techniques. It's also useful to pre-study before classes, since you already have a vague outline of the big picture and can fill in as the teacher gives the lecture

TLDR: When learning, if you spend ample time mentally organizing new info and focusing on how it relates to other info, how it compares and contrasts with each other, then it makes your brain consider it more important, and therefore remember and understand it better. 

I'd highly recommend the video linked above, despite it's length. It's really a goldmine, and most of ya'll likely spend 5 hours a week on the shard or scrolling anyway 

• Another key factor is sleep consistency. Research shows that sleep consistency is actually more important than sleep quantity for longevity. Try to generally go to sleep (or attempt to) and wake up within 15 mins of the same time every day. 
• Caffeine. It has a half life of 4-5 hours, which means that if you drink a Dr Pepper at 6 pm, half of that caffeine is still in your system at 10-11pm. Even if you "can still go to sleep after having caffeine", your brain still has to process it, and it'll worsen the quality of your sleep
• Try not to eat any heavy meals or intense exercise 3 hours before sleeping, and not drink anything an hour before sleeping
• As alluded to before, try to make your room as dark as possible when trying to sleep. Ideally, an hour before sleeping, turn off all devices and light whatsoever. You could use this time to do whatever, but I personally like to stretch, meditate, and listen to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Again, that's over-optimizing a bit, dimming lights is also good.
• Pick whatever time you want to wake up throughout the week you want to wake up, and try to go to sleep 8-8.5 hours before then. You can also fiddle around with the timing to see what your body naturally prefers when you're following the proper steps. I always thought I was a night person, but when I'm following this routine, my body starts getting sleepy around 9, and I wake up with no alarm at 6:30-7 
• Lastly, I know that this routine isn't always feasible. Some people work late, and lots of activities occur late at night. I've certainly spent many nights not following this routine. But when I do, especially consistently, I've personally found that I have way more energy that lasts throughout the whole day, I can retain learned information way better, and my mood is just better. 

Thank you for reading my ramblings, and go get some good sleep 


Disclaimer: I'm not a sleep doctor, but most of this is based on things I've learned from the book Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker, which I'd highly recommend. This is stuff that's just worked extremely well for me, and I hope it helps for someone else.

I know we've all heard the lecture time and time again about how bad phones are, how they're rotting our brains, etc, etc. I think we can all acknowledge that spending 2 hours scrolling on a phone or watching youtube on your computer is a waste of time. But almost as dangerous is the smaller, shorter uses. Checking your phone in the morning, or while you're walking somewhere, or even going to the bathroom. There's so many small snatches of inactivity or silence throughout our day that we are desperate to fill with something. Sometimes phone use, or music, or the Shard, or whatever it is. 
But these brief moments of silence are important, and we shouldn't rush to fill them. The past month or so, I've started walking to all my classes with my phone and earbuds in my backpack, where I can't easily access them. In doing so, I'm only left with my thoughts, and nature. I find myself appreciating more little things, like the big tree I walk by every day on my way to breakfast. But most importantly, it gives me more time with my thoughts. Oftentimes, a lot of our stress and anxiety is generated by suppressed emotions, and we often suppress them simply because we never take time to process and think, because we always fill up those spare moments with something else. Ofc, oftentimes we don't want to stop and think, and so phones (or whatever it is for you) become an easy avenue of escape, to scroll mindlessly instead of facing our own problems and emotions. 
Sometimes, when life isn't going well, we don't want to reflect on what we're feeling and what's bothering us, because it's painful. But if you can't identify what's causing you emotional and mental stress, you'll never find a way to fix those problems. Not cope with them, but fix them. 
Yes, having a dedicated time for meditation is good, and I encourage that as well. But I encourage you to take small moments throughout the day to really think and reflect, to analyze yourself honestly and objectively. Think about what's causing you the most stress emotionally and mentally, and think about what practical, concrete steps you can take to either change that cause, or change your response to it. 

* One more note on music (maybe I'll make another post about it more in depth about its Psychological effects), it's not inherently bad. Music can be both helpful and harmful to us. But if you're the type of person to listen to music all the time, take some time to just have silence, and really think. If you can drive, take some drives without listening to anything, as that's a great time for thinking.

** If you don't have a phone, I get this may not be as applicable to you. But it's still good to take time to really think. And also appreciate not having a phone, however cool it may seem