We’ve all heard the term, “study smarter, not harder.” Especially if you’re an inexperienced studier, you might think that you might have to study all the material at once before an exam. Not only are you wasting your time, you’re harming your chances of actually doing well on an exam. So, how does one study smarter?
1. Don’t miss your classes- Everyone has fallen into the pitfalls of “attendance optional.” Lecture sucks sometimes, especially if it’s lecture slide heavy, but class is the time to ask questions about the material that you don’t understand or need clarification for.
2. Set aside time every day to review all your notes- This comes down to scheduling and time management. If you’re like me, you have your classes back to back, which makes it more difficult to review directly after class. I like to schedule a time each night to sit down with my materials from the day and review them and make notations of any questions. After a while, you’ll actually know what you’re learning and retain it much better.
3. Revise, revise, revise- It helps to re-write the key points of a class or subject as a diagram. I like using a mind-map or flow chart, or color coding key elements of the topic. Then you can give it a quick glance before you go into an exam. You can check out my revisions post here.
4. Make a study group- I have a whole post on how to master study groups. You can peruse that here.
-Use a planner to better manage your time.
- @emmastudies has a whole lot of printable essentials that I like to use to help organize revisions and effectively plan for exams. I use them all the time and put them in the front of my binder and tape them to my wall so I won’t forget what topics need to be reviewed. Check out her page for printables!
-The syllabus is there for a reason, use it to review materials and take notes from the textbook before the topic is taught in lecture. Here is my post on how to take notes from the textbook.
How to Study Smart: 20 Scientific Ways to Learn Faster
Study Less Study Smart: A 6-Minute Summary of Marty Lobdell's Lecture - College Info Geek
Crash Course: Studying for Exams
