If you are aiming to take the N2 or N1 level of the JLPT in December this year, I would suggest that you start studying now. Do not wait until it’s July until you actually pick up your books and cram as many Kanji and grammar points as you can every day. Why? Here is a very useful article on the benefits of daily study, written by Sean D’Souza on Writetodone.com
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Why Daily Learning Beats Gobble-Gobble Learning
Do You Enjoy Daily Learning?
There are two ways to eat a cake:
You can eat it in small pieces.
Or you can gobble the whole thing down.
Most of us would like to gobble, whether it comes to cake or learning.
But like cake, learning needs to be tackled in small portions. Small portions not only help you learn, but help you learn a lot faster. Here are three core reasons why:
1. The sleep factor
2. The tiredness factor
3. The mistake factor
1. The Sleep Factor
When you first learn something, the brain tries to make sense of it. After that, the brain goes about doing whatever it’s supposed to do.
Then, you go to bed. You might get just 6 hours of sleep, but as you sleep, your brain is processing parts of your day. And if you’ve learned a new skill, there’s a good chance your brain is processing your new skill.
My niece Marsha is just 8 (at the time of writing this). She comes across to my office to learn to implement a concept called Bal-Vis-X. It’s a combination of skills that makes students sharper and smarter than ever before. But here’s what happens during our exercise.
At first, Marsha struggles with a new exercise (there are over 300 exercises in the entire program). We don’t force the issue. She just goes home and goes to sleep.
Then she comes back for the next session. Between those two sessions, nothing has changed. The only difference is the sleep factor.
Yet, almost immediately you can see the difference. Marsha finds it easier to do some or all of the exercise with which she was struggling earlier.
The same principle applies to your learning.
You can learn just about anything. And then it’s time to sleep. The very next day there will be a difference, whether you are able to discern it or not.
Over weeks and months you’ll be able to see a chunky difference. Sleep, believe it or not, plays a massive role. So yes, turning off that stupid TV (yes, stupid) will make you a lot smarter.
But then, can’t bulk learning make you smarter? Surely the brain can absorb a lot more information at one go?
Yes it can, but there’s a problem called tiredness that steps right in.
Read more at Writetodone.com
