Getting the most out of study

Awimmera

counsellor identifies relaxation and discipline as key components of retraining the brain to be able to get the most out of learning practices.

Horsham mental health counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist Brian Basham believes breaking study into small blocks can help maximise learning outcomes for students.

He suggests incorporating music into study sessions which can also enhance students’ brainwaves, allowing for greater focus.

Mr Basham, a former police officer, applied the technique to help trainees who were going through the police academy. Many officers passed the testing criteria under his guidance, improving by as much as 20 percent.

He said students would likely be feeling additional pressure as end of year exams were fast approaching in a year where the school curriculum was upended due to COVID-19.

Mr Basham said in using his hypnotherapy technique, he would firstly identify the student’s dominant learning style and apply that to 45-minute study blocks.

“I did this with more than 2000 police recruits. We developed a structure where we identified their dominant learning modality whether that was reading, writing or kinaesthetic,’ he said.

“It’s combines education with common learning modalities, the hypnotherapy approach and using music. You do 45 minutes on, 15 minutes off – there is research that suggests that anything after 45 minutes, you’re not learning.

“You have to be really disciplined and do three or four of those sessions a night.”

Mr Basham said adding music into a study session was an effective tool to increase focus.

“I get people to listen to classical or baroque music. The science shows that it changes the brain waves,” he said.

“Classical music is not something you’ll sing, dance to or hum to.”

Mr Basham said stress and anxiety associated with schoolwork was likely to make it harder for students to retain knowledge.

He said using these simple study techniques was an effective way to minimise stress while still reaching study goals.

“When we get overwhelmed, you become stressed or anxious and can’t focus. Students have a tendency to study for hours on end,” he said.

“If you said to them, ‘what have you learnt?’ they would have no idea, because they’re just going in and reading material over and over again.”