Study Tips for Train the Trainer, CTT+ and MCT Trainers

As you prepare for your CTT+, MCT, or Train the Trainer Certification you will need to know plenty of study tips- not only to help yourself out as you learn, but also to teach them to your own students. There are plenty of study tips out there; however, here are several of the most useful ones: * Develop your study focus. Recognize what your study abilities are and work with them. If you study well for 30 minutes and then your mind starts to wander, take a short break and then come back to it. It is normal for your mind to wander. Think of your ability to focus as you would a muscle that requires training. Do you run a marathon the first day you begin training? No, of course not. As you develop your focus and mature in your study habits, begin to extend the study time frame. Increase your study periods in half-hour minute increments: 30 minutes to 1 hour, 1 hour to 1.5 hours, and so on, up to several hours. It may seem impossible to study for more than two hours at a time, but the individual who has developed their study focus skills can study for a marathon amount of time. The key is to increasing your study time and focus is to build gradually-like preparing for a marathon. * Get cozy. Recognize your favorite study area and position. It may be at a desk, at a coffee shop, in a library, in the living room, or lying in bed. Find a comfortable study position; some people study best by sitting at a desk and others by lying on their stomachs. Collect all your study materials and books, get something to drink and get ready for your study session. * After a lecture or during class, as quickly as possible, write down what you remember, and then review what you've just written. This will help cement in your mind everything that you just learned. If you skip this step, you are likely to forget most of what you just learned. * Jot down the basics that you are trying to remember on 3 x 5 cards. Just put one or two important points on each card. Carry these around with you. Whenever you get a spare moment, take out your pack of cards and look at a couple of them. That way, you can study wherever you are at, and yet you don't have to spend any extra time to do so. Repetition helps you remember. That is why the 3 x 5 cards work so well. You'll be surprised how much more you'll remember by looking at a few cards several times a day. It makes learning so easy that you'll almost feel like you're cheating. * I repeat, repetition helps you remember. :-) So study early and study often. If you only hear something once in class, and you don't hear it again, you aren't likely to remember it for the test. If you just take a few minutes each day to review your notes after you leave class, and then a few minutes a few times a day to review your 3 x 5 cards, you'll be in much better shape for the test, because you will have already seen the material several times. * When you study, try to study with as few distractions as possible. So don't try to study while you're watching TV or listening to music that has lyrics. These things compete in your brain for attention with what you are studying. Music without lyrics is okay, though, because it's processed by a separate part of your brain. * If you're having trouble memorizing something, try making up a song, mnemonic, acronym, rhyme or a heuristic, to go with it. This will help get your right side of your brain involved, as opposed to just the left side which is usually all that is used in memorizing words and facts. * Study with a group or study partner. Some people study best with other people; some other people study best by themselves. If you are studying with a group, be careful not to get too far off the study topic while you are talking to each other. * Lay off the caffeine. Some people get tired while there are studying, and naturally feel that since caffeine will help wake them up, that it will help them study better. This is a mistake. Research shows that caffeine can make your thoughts come faster, but more disorganized. So don't drink caffeine when studying, and don't drink it before a test. * The same goes for other prescription and non-prescription drugs, as well as alcohol and marijuana. They may temporarily make thinking about studying easier to handle, but they will make getting anything productive done much more difficult. And they will decrease the likelihood that anything you study will actually stay in your memory. These tips are simple yet effective. Don't let their simplicity fool you into thinking that they won't work. I've seen them do miracles in helping people improve focus and develop a mature set of study skills.

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