Perhaps your lifelong dream was to become a dentist. After joining the dental hygienist school, you may soon realize that passing exams is not as easy as you had imagined. Subjects like anatomy and dental pathology may be weighing you down. But there’s really no reason to panic. You just need to make adjustments in your study habits. Below are a few guidelines to help you learn and excel in every subject at the dental school.

Read to understand and not to memorize

Some topics can be so difficult to understand that you are tempted to take the easy route of memorizing the answers. This is one of the quickest ways to fail. When you don’t understand any topic, you are more likely to get confused and fail during the test. Take your time to understand why the information is important and how it applies to the real world. You can even picture a situation where you are dealing with a patient and you’ll need to share that information. This will help you to remember it better.

Visualize information

Many students find it easier to digest visual information as opposed to long pieces of text. Perhaps it’s because the brain processes visual information faster. That is why the Toronto College of Dental Hygiene will emphasize a lot on the use of imagery when teaching students. They have developed strategies where students are given imagery which helps them to improve their memory.

Be ready for quizzes

Studying for the next quiz can really help you to improve your understanding and memory in time for the main exam. Don’t just wait to study for the main exam. Quizzes can alternate between different topics which will give you time to study and understand different areas. When studying for the main exam, you have to combine different topics, some of which you may not have grasped well, and this can be overwhelming. Take your time to study for different quizzes as this gives you the opportunity to try and grasp different aspects when there’s still time.

Reread to boost your level of understanding

One of the biggest mistakes dental hygiene students make is reading material passively. They end up not getting all the information on important topics. This means that even the exams can cover more of a topic that the student did not understand. Start studying for that exam or short quiz early in advance. There’s a high chance that you will grasp the topic better after reading it a couple of times. Don’t just go through the text once and assume that all the information is well understood.

Test your level of understanding

It’s important to read while challenging your memory. You can do this by making use of flash cards of summary notes that contain just the keywords. You can even give yourself a few quizzes to try and see just how much you can remember. Testing yourself allows you to focus on the important areas of any piece of information you are reading.