Pomodoro method: how a technique that provides study breaks can improve your performance in entrance exams

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With one month left until Enem, being able to stay focused can make a difference in your performance at the time of the test. See how this and 5 other study methods work and choose yours. Six techniques that can boost your studies With almost a month to go before the National High School Exam (Enem), having a good study technique can help you stay focused, optimize your time and ensure more productivity and better performance on exams. One of the methods widely used in schools that can make a difference in this final stretch is the pomodoro. (See others at the end of the report.) ⏲️ Context: the pomodoro technique was developed by the Italian Francesco Cirillo. In the 1980s, when he was still a university student and needed to read long texts, he had the idea of ​​using a kitchen timer to manage his study time: he would set blocks of 25 minutes of study, interspersed with 5 minutes of break. The timer was shaped like a tomato (pomodoro, in Italian) – hence the origin of the method’s name. ✅ Click here to follow the new g1 Enem channel on WhatsApp 🍅🍅🍅 How it works In practice, it’s very simple: the student decides the activity they will do or the content they will study and defines spaces of time to do this with total concentration . The classic period is 25 minutes of study for 5 breaks, but these can be shorter blocks, from 15 to 20 minutes, or longer blocks, from 35 to 45 minutes. And, for each block studied, he takes a break of 5 to 10 minutes. To apply the technique, you only need study material and a timer — it doesn’t necessarily need to be a kitchen timer. See step by step: Make a list of the exercises and content you want to study. Set a timer or stopwatch for 25 minutes. Carry out the chosen activity until the time runs out. Avoid interruptions in this process. After the time is up, take a 5-minute break. After every 4 complete study cycles, take a break of more than 30 minutes. 👉 The ideal is not to interrupt your study time with anything that is not urgent, such as checking messages and emails or looking at social media. This can be done during rest time. 📲 To set the time, you can use your cell phone’s stopwatch or alarm clock. But, if you want something even more specific, there are applications and websites developed especially for this, with time settings for each user. And what happens if the student doesn’t solve the equation or doesn’t finish the chapter within the allotted time? If there is little left to finish, it is worth extending your study time a little longer. But if that’s not the case, it’s best to take a break and come back to it later, with your mind rested. And there is no maximum recommendation for how many cycles can be done throughout the day. This will depend on each person’s time and the proposed task list. Francesco Cirillo, creator of the pomodoro technique, used a tomato-shaped timer (pomodoro, in Italian) to set study time. Barbara Miranda / g1 Helps with concentration The method is effective especially for those who have difficulty maintaining concentration for a long time. “If the student disperses easily and has ‘blackouts’ in concentration during study time, he will probably benefit from the pomodoro method”, assesses Paulo Viegas, professor and pedagogical coordinator at the Saber e Aprendir school, in Divinópolis (MG). The advantage of the technique is that it can be adapted by the student, according to Camila Cavalieri, general director and responsible for the pedagogical strategy at Ao Cubo school, in Rio de Janeiro. If a person cannot concentrate on the same activity for 40 minutes, they can try doing it for 20. The important thing is to respect the blocks and breaks, to create a functional system.” Clutter impacts performance: see why (and how) you should keep your study space or desk in order Anxiety relief For Margarida Aidar, who is a psychopedagogue and a master’s student in teaching and learning at the University of São Paulo (USP), One of the biggest benefits of the technique is helping to manage anxiety. “People under pressure are more likely to procrastinate and, currently, the most common way to do this is to use their cell phone. Therefore, many people deprive themselves of using their device while studying, but feel anxious. The pomodoro gives a kind of ‘ escape is allowed’ to the student, as long as he returns to concentrate at the end of the break. Generally, this works well. Professor Paulo Viegas agrees. He says that it was common to see students scattered and nervous due to the lack of productivity in the classroom. It was then that, 2 years ago, he decided to adopt the method and saw an improvement in the students’ behavior and performance. “Before, they paid attention for up to 10, 15 minutes, and started playing. It was difficult to bring their attention back to activities. Now, our agreement is to do an activity in 15 minutes and I allow a break. Everyone reacted well to this new proposal,” he says. Another positive point, in his opinion, is seeing students feel more secure and confident as they feel more pleasure in studying. “It’s a relationship of action and reward. They feel that the rest is deserved because they did well in what was proposed during the study time. So, they enjoy studying more when they take a break”, explains Margarida Aidar. Applicable in entrance exams The technique is still one of the most popular when it comes to entrance exams. Whether in Enem or other long-term tests, the technique can come in handy. In Enem, time is limited and the questions are complex, which requires concentration. In this case, it is valid for the student to take useful breaks. That is, answer a block of questions and go to the bathroom, answer another block and do a snack, respond to another block and pause again. According to the expert, the technique can be more useful for those who are already familiar and conditioned to this way of studying. Students who adopted the pomodoro method report that their study time became more productive and less tiring. Amanda Meirielle, 16 years old, who is from São José dos Campos (SP), has been using the technique for 2 years for Enem. She wants to study biomedicine at a federal university and, to do so, she needs to do well in the tests The first time I took the Enem, I didn’t do very well. So, I researched study methods, tested them, and this was what worked for me. Last year, I was much better and this year I have improved too. Eduardo Gerpe, 17, who studies in Rio de Janeiro, admits that he was never very studious. About to finish high school and with his eye on a place in medicine or biology, he says that the technique has made a difference to him. I didn’t know how to study and needed extra focus, but I wanted to study without getting too tired. Then, in an academic guidance class at school, the teacher introduced the pomodoro method. I found it interesting and decided to give it a try. As it worked for me, I still use it today to study. Other study methods In addition to the pomodoro technique, other methods can also give good results when studying. Some of them are: Summary: as the name suggests, it involves summarizing the content. To do this, the student reads the study material and writes a summary, preserving the main concepts. This summary can be reviewed and improved over time and also used in reviews. The practice is useful for those who find it easy to understand the content when translating it into their own words. Summary: Similar to the summary, ideas are also synthesized in this practice, but organized by topics or cards. Here, sentences are shorter and more direct and the main ideas need to be preserved. The technique is recommended for those who can remember the content based on keywords. Mind map: The mind map suggests mapping ideas in a less linear way. In this technique, the student transforms what was studied into a list of ideas. It starts from a main point and relates this point to other topics. Distributed practice: The student will distribute study time throughout the day. So, if you plan to study a subject for 3 hours on a given day, you can study one hour in the morning, one hour in the afternoon and one hour in the evening. The strategy is useful for more tiring subjects or students without much free time. Feynman Technique: This method is based on the idea that, to explain a subject, you need to understand it. The technique is divided into four steps: 1) Write everything you know about a certain topic. 2) Try to explain it out loud, as if you were giving a class. 3) Identify the topics that you were unable to explain clearly and confidently. 4) Review the topics you did not do well to try to learn what was not understood. So, just repeat. EDUCATION VIDEOS

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