Three tips to study in your spare time

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Three tips to study in your spare time

As for deeper knowledge utilized at your work, what do you do?
Some people may study with books before or after work at home, some may ask questions to your boss and coworkers during the working hours. Although it depends on what you are focusing on for your goal, it is certain that you need time to do something for your growth.
Needless to say, time is limited. In case you are busy working at your office and do not have enough time to talk to your coworkers, is there anything you can do in order to deepen your knowledge with them?
Time management solves the problem without any help from others.
Make the most of your spare time, and you will have opportunities for further improvement.
Now, let us introduce some useful tips.


This article is for those who are...

・ too busy working to have time to study at home

・looking for an efficient tool for your study

・thinking to make the best use of spare time

This article is highly recommended if you are struggling as above.
Take a look at some strategies to help your goal.
 

Contents

  • 1. Study by listening
  • 2. Read a reference book
  • 3. Study with QuizGenerator
  • 4. Summary


Strategy 1: Study by listening

Strategy 1: Study by listening

If you do not have enough time, audio learning is recommended.

What is audio learning?

The following are examples of audio learning, that is, working on studying by listening.

・listen to a foreign language
・listen to lectures
・listen to what you recorded

These are the tips to improve your skills just by listening to the content you have.
If you make effective use of your portable devices such as tablet devices and smartphones, spare time may increase twice as much as you had before since mobile learning enables you to study wherever you are. Also, even when you are commuting to your office or on the way home, the time will be all yours for studying with your portable device. You do not need to sit down, nor take notes. All you do is just listening to your content while doing something.

Effects by audio learning

As it turns out, it is difficult to say that just listening to content brings great results.
That is because:

・A lot of unfamiliar terms make it difficult to understand the contents.
・If you continue to ignore what you don't understand, you'll never understand it.
・It's just a supplementary method of study.



Have you ever had an experience where you feel uncomfortable with technical terms in the new field? Or, struggling to understand foreign language? While listening to your content, it is possible that you have such difficulties in the same way. Continuing listening will not lead to great results if you do not understand the terms well because your focus is not the content but the unfamiliar parts. Therefore, for effective audio learning, it is recommended to understand the contents beforehand not to be distracted by unfamiliar terms.




Tips for more effective audio learning

Listening alone is not effective as explained above.
However, knowing how to study by listening will bring better results if you know the tips. Read more about the introduction of three tips below.

1. Start at appropriate level

Instead of difficult contents, start from what you can understand without a textbook or searching.
If you have difficulties in terms, you will not make it to acquire the knowledge.
It tends to make you motivated and focus on the content better when you start learning with easier parts especially for new fields. Remember to choose an appropriate level and step up little by little considering your improvement.

2. Focus on the content

Confirm what you are studying through the content while making use of the audio learning.
This is because it helps you organize and understand the content in your mind.
By organizing a variety of information in your mind, it is easier to input and output. If your memories are saved as a short-term memory, your effort will be in vain because you are not able to utilize them when you need to.
In order to understand the contents, it is not enough just to listen to them. Try to focus on them as much as possible to deepen your knowledge.

3. Repeat input and output

Now, take a look at the relationship between input and output.
No matter how much knowledge you input, it will not lead to achievements if you cannot output it.
Memories are taken root in your brain by reviewing the information.




For example, when your boss says a certain technical term that you are not familiar with, you ask him about it. This means you input the term into your brain. When you hear it next time, you understand it but you do not really remember it. You hear the term at your workplace often and after a while, you can come to say the term with your understanding. This means you output it.

Experiences of output will lead to deeper comprehension. Try to output what you learn after audio learning.
Repeat the same content at appropriate level over and over in addition to focusing on it while listening.
These tips will guide you to your goal even if you are busy working.

Strategy 2: Read a reference book

Strategy 2: Read a reference book




When buying a reference book

When you start studying, do you tend to buy a lot of reference books?
There are many attractive reference books and they all may look helpful for your study.
However, there is nothing beneficial even if you buy many books.
The reasons are followings:

・You may get satisfied just by buying books.
・They make you feel like you've studied enough.
・That could be a trigger for you to give up studying.

Why do you need to buy reference books?
Of course, they are helpful if you use it effectively while studying. Such a book can be one of the good learning tools in that a lot of information is well-organized in each page.
However, remember that buying them without a clear purpose will not work because most of them have similar contents. Choose one that you feel the best.
What is the most effective way to study with reference books then?
The following are our suggestions.

Effective ways to use reference books

Buying many reference books out of your needs does not work for the reasons above.
However, there are recommended ways for your study making use of them.

・Grasp the whole of the content of the book.
・Review and output the contents to deepen your understanding.


1. Grasp the whole of the book

First, read the book from the beginning to the end.
This is because it allows you to check the range of the contents you need or to find your weak points.
Once you know what the whole thing is about, your goal will be clear, which makes you more motivated.
Put sticky notes or highlight the lines with a marker where you don't understand. This will help you to make it clear what you don't understand and emphasize the important points. Also, it will be a prompt to remind you of the terms or content later when you read the book again.
Make your own reference book so that you can narrow down the key points.

2. Review and output the contents to deepen your understanding.

It is impossible to grasp and memorize all the important points just by reading a reference book once.
So as to make the information in the book stay in your brain, review what you have learned over and over again and output it as audio learning.
Talking about the spare time, however, you need to carry your book wherever you go. It may be a burden for you if it is heavy or thick. We have a suggestion to solve the problem meeting your needs.

Strategy 3: Study with QuizGenerator

How to study in your spare time 3: Study with Quizgenerator

Do you know QuizGenerator? It is the best learning tool to study in your spare time.
Let us introduce the details about it.

What is QuizGenerator?

QuizGenerator is a web service that allows anyone to create original questions for free.
The features are:

・Free for commercial use
・13 different question types of quiz
・Text and Excel available to create a quiz
・Multi portable devices available such as smartphone or tablet devices
・Great digital tool both for the preparation and review
・Available to grasp your understanding

For using portable devices such as smartphones and tablet devices, you can study in your spare time. Also, Quizgenerator makes you review the questions that you failed.
Furthermore, in spite of these immersive features, anyone can use it for free without any programming knowledge.


Quiz format

QuizGenerator offers 13 types of question formats and detailed option settings are available to use.

1. Insert images

Quiz format

You can insert images in the Quiz sentence. If you are familiar with GIFs, it is possible to animate them.

2. Speech synthesizer

Quiz format

You can add audio to the quiz sentence. It is recommended to prepare for listening comprehension.

3. Insert a formula

Quiz format

You can also create questions in math and chemistry using mathematical formulas.

4. Time limit

Quiz format

You can limit the answer time. It is good practice for the actual exam.

5.Shuffle quizzes


You can set questions to show randomly. Also fixing the order of them is available.

6. Master mode

Quiz format

[Start]
Not attempted, Ongoing and Failed questions will be shown. It is not available when the score reaches 100%.

[Retry]
If you are ongoing, failed questions will be given priority. When your score reaches 100%, five questions you failed will be given without limit.

[Review]
It is available when the score reaches 100%.

7. Normal Mode

Quiz format

Quiz format

By setting the Restart/resume function, you can resume from the middle of the test. Normal mode is recommended for one-time tests, such as tests and exams since it does not have an achievement rate.

8. Point settings

Quiz format

You can set the score for each question.

  • More options:
  • ・Test mode with time limit
  • ・Time settings for each question
  • ・Display the correct answers and passing grades
  • ・Time settings that switches to the next question after 10 seconds

Combine the options as you like, and
you can broaden your study and input/output effectively.
These features will help you learn efficiently even in your spare time.

Try QuizGenerator using Quiz and Test Creation Form.
※If you want to manage sore and members, see "learningBOX."


Summary

There are many tips to improve your skill or deepen your knowledge.
However, the ways in which you can study in your spare time are limited.
QuizGenerator is one of the most efficient tips you can make use of even if you are busy working.
A small amount of time can add up to a big time, which leads to your further improvement.
We are happy to help you with QuizGenerator.

Also recommended to read: "What is Quizgenerator? Enhance educational effectiveness.