Practice If You Want to Learn

By  •  Updated: 11/15/22 •  5 min read

If you’re going to take a test, reading strategies about how to pass it is not enough to optimize your study time and effort. Going for financial certification is best done by taking full-length practice tests. Brain research and educational experience suggest that you learn best by doing, by applying what you learn to an authentic situation.

Brain Research Says, “Practice!” if You Want to Learn

According to Dr. Bruce D. Perry, “[o]ver the last 40 years we have learned more about the human brain than in the previous 400 years.” All the research that has been done and resulting knowledge has been transformed into information educators and students can use to maximize learning.

First, it’s important to understand a bit about the brain’s make up. The brain is made up of neurons, which are made up of many parts, including fibers called dendrites. When you learn, the fibers grow, according to US News.com. They connect brain cells at contact areas are called synapses. The more the cells connect and the fibers grow, the more information your brain can store. Here’s the trick: dendrites can only grow from other dendrites already in existence. You must have a store of knowledge to build any new knowledge. I bet you didn’t know that!

Think about studying for the financial certification exam, CIMA for example. If you read about different test-taking strategies but don’t apply them, you’re not likely to remember to use them during the actual exam. Taking a practice exam that allows you to use the strategies will help you perform better on the test than if you just read about the strategies. I believe that Practice Tests Academy comes in handy here, don’t you think?

Neurons respond better to repetitive and pattern stimulation. Neurons in the brain need rest after three to five minutes of continuous activity. This is important because, when you learn a fact, you’re not as likely to remember it as if you learn it in context. When neurons link with each other and create pathways connecting new pieces of information, there’s a better chance you’ll remember them. You’re likely to get bored and become distracted if you hear factual information without any context. Now when you look at CIMA courses online (if you have ever taken them), you can inerstand why they always tell a story how Tesco did that or how Cadbury reacted on hostile takeover threat. It helps us connect the facts and remember it later on, right?

When you practice taking the exam (remember practice makes better), you’ll create quicker and stronger connections in your brain because the dendrites in your brain will get thicker and create a fatty layer to cover themselves. When you continue to practice, the thickened dendrites will actually create double connections to one another. The signals carrying information can go faster and to different areas of your brain, and the fatty layer also quickens your brain’s ability to process information.

Next, consider accelerated learning and how it makes use of contextualized information and hands-on practice to improve learning. This is a form of learning in which instructors take into account the different preferred learning styles and multiple intelligences of their students. Howard Gardner identified at least eight forms of intelligence. You might be a predominantly intrapersonal, interpersonal, musical, naturalistic, bodily/kinesthetic, visual/spatial, mathematical/logical, or verbal/linguistic learner. Likewise, you may prefer to learn mostly through auditory, visual, or kinesthetic means. Accelerated learning capitalizes on your preferences and teaches you in a way in which you’re likely to retain new information. That’s why it is SOOOO important to find the learning style that suits you – you will simply learn more and lern faster! 

Accelerated learning makes use of the following concepts to maximize learning. These concepts are based on research on how humans best learn.

  • Learning involves the entire body/mind along with its senses, emotions, and receptors and does not involve just learning with the conscious, rational, verbal parts of the brain. 
  • Learning requires creation, not just consumption of knowledge. When a learner incorporates new knowledge into his or her current self, the information is learned. According to AICenter.com, “[l]earning is literally a matter of creating new meanings, new neural networks, and new patterns of electro/chemical interactions within one’s total brain/body system.”
  • Humans learn the most when they learn in context. We learn how to do tasks by doing them. Doing real tasks that are concrete is a much better way to learn than trying to understand and memorize abstract and hypothetical information. Doing a task is not enough to truly learn it, however. The process should also involve feedback, reflection, and re-immersion in the experience to best master new information or skills.

Use accelerated learning as a model to study for your CIMA exam. Learn in context by taking practice tests. Practice does, indeed, make perfect, so take as many practice exams as necessary to ensure you attain the certification you want. Here at Practice Tests Academy, we want you to succeed as we believe that the world filled with happier people is going to be a better place for everyone. That is a bit philosophical, but that’s what we aim for. If you want to increase your chances of passing a CIMA exam by practicing more questions (just like this article sugests), hop on to this link

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