Hello Steemians
Are you a student looking for answers on reasons why you may not understand when reading? Or reasons why you understand but tend to forget quickly? If yes, then this message is for you and also parents with children as students.
There is no one way to approach learning how to study and understand effectively. Studying methods should be analyzed critically and tailored to each student based on their abilities, speed and retention of knowledge.
Now, concerning the people who are exposed and familiar to the use of technical devices like smart phones and computers, solely for the purpose of entertainment, it's high time they realized that they are the ultimate tools for ensuring self growth and development.
There are series of enjoyable hard and soft copy materials found in libraries and online respectively, that are huge sources of knowledge to students all over the world.
One should place in mind that the voyage to educating oneself is difficult and should be done diligently and with focus, because many distractions shall arise, especially from the online world. Therefore, it should be your goal with great perseverance, to reach the point of acquiring knowledge to a considerable satisfaction. 
STEPS TO GET THERE
TIME MANAGEMENT 
This is one of the most difficult issues to tackle in learning. Between school hours, extra curricular activities, family time and resting time, there is little or no time for anything else.
There is no perfect manager when it comes to timing, so one way to do this is by creating a schedule or a timetable, and try to eradicate unnecessary things from it. This often increases the motivation of the student and promotes an organized way of working.
CONDUCIVE AND COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT 
To achieve good results in self education, you need to find a conducive and comfortable environment of study. It should be free from noise, odour, heat, cold and visual distractions and should be well equipped with good chairs, tables and learning materials (books,laptop,etc). This is one key factor of good study.
USING A DICTIONARY
Text books are usually written with high intellectual language. The need for interpretation of this language arises and therefore a dictionary must be made available when studying in order to easily and swiftly understand what is being read.
HIGHLIGHT AND TAKE KEY POINTS 
Take key points of whatever you study in your book and also use markers to put accents on elements that are crucial in the text being studied These key points would be need for quick reviews especially before exams.
WIDEN YOUR LEARNING MEDIUMS 
Try not to limit yourself to one source of knowledge because it may not expose you to everything. Consider, reading articles, journals and specified books, attending seminars, watching tutorials and TV documentaries from the niche of your interest.
Analyse all the mediums and choose from them, the one that inspires you the most, based on understanding and it's content.
REFERENCES 
Many good books have references varying from books to articles to essays and other publications, to support facts. Studying them can open you to new dimensions and reveal other hidden facts. Ensure to find and use them.
TALK DIRECTLY TO GREAT SCHOLRS AND EXPERTS
One-to-one communication beats general speeches and even reading, because it gives room and enough time to ask direct questions and get answers. Find experts, and have a meaningful conversation with them concerning any issue bothering you or anything that seems difficult.
FREQUENT STUDY 
A well organized schedule or timetable is very important. Having a good routine with frequent sessions to keep you focused is very good. It is better to study thirty minutes for every single day than to binge study for a whole weekend. It keeps you healthy and makes it easier to recall and remember what you have studied.
**NEVER ASSUME EVERYTHING YOU READ ON PAPER OR ONLINE IS TRUE **
"not everything you read online is true. It can be edited or revised anytime"
Even when you have the most relevant series of reading materials, they may contradict what you already know. You need to go in depth in research to resolve the issue, in order to get the true and universally accepted version of the contents.
LET LEARNING BE A LIFESTYLE 
Let learning be something that gives you comfort. You may decline in desire as you grow in your knowledge life. So ensure that the eagerness to wonder and discover new things doesn't decline and aspire to learn more everyday, because, you can never know it all.
JOIN ONLINE GROUPS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ON LEARNING
No man is an island. Learning in isolation prevents you from series of ideas of other people, so join social media groups and watch video tutorials to learn from people's ideas. Check educative websites, study their contents and try answering questions.
REVIEW AND MEMORY TRICKS 
Don't just read and stop there, do a check to see if you remember what you've read. This would help in absorbing what is read and retaining it. It would also help during examinations.
SET GOALS AND ASPIRE TO ACHIEVE THEM
Setting goals and aspiring to achieve them would help you persevere, until you reach your destination. When you fail to meet up as you planned, you feel guilty within yourself and you tend to focus more. Therefore, ensure to be focused in whatever you do.
**WRITE ESSAYS, TEACH AND IMPLEMENT **
Try to impart what you've learnt in your society and job. This would help you infuse some practical experience and you may learn new things. It may also expose you more. because no one can know everything.
FINALLY, NEVER BE AT COMFORT AT ANY POINT
Try not to ever have a feeling of comfort after studying. You might have not grasped everything. Who knows?, after studying a material over three times, you may still learn a lot of vital points by just reviewing it. Therefore, ensure that studying is part of the things that give you comfort.
How can I remember facts?
Once the journey of self education is over, you may then be faced with the problem of remembering what you been reading, especially when you are preparing for an exam. To face and conquer this, you may adopt a technique called the "Mnemo technique". This form of technique is connecting images and information to make a story. To do this you must know how your body functions and what distracts you. You must then be focused and put in much effort to perceive and remove these factors.
Everyone has something that interests them, something that they easily remember such as cartoon characters, letter, names, etc or something that keeps them in a positive mood. We learn better when we have a good state of mind, so during study, connect all these things to what you read and you will remember them easily.
BEFORE EXAMS
Why do you read? Do you read to pass exams, and just graduate to the next level and forget what you have learnt? OR ** Do you read to know, even to remember after exams? **
Many students read, cram and once they take tests and exams, they forget everything.
That practice is so wrong. Students should start their study at the beginning of school sessions and not a month to exams. This practice will help them to remember what they've learnt and defend it wherever it's needed.
Before exams you must be settled and have an belief of being 80% prepared. You must make sure to complete all materials at least once and have seen the references. Review the materials ask yourself series of questions, and try revising mentally.
Healthy tips to proper education
Ensure to take breakfast and that your meals are of a complete diet, having protein for good growth, enough sugar because you will need a lot of energy and other key nutrients.
Ensure to rest when you feel tired. Never study when you are tired, else your time is wasted and you may fall ill and end up not recalling anything.
Make sure to engage in social activities to keep you physically active and your emotions in a good state. This would remove any form of dullness in you and develop you to be smart and think fast.
ADVICE: Basically any student that reads this post completely, should apply all these in their education life and it would be easier and more productive.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK