You need study tips? I've got study tips!
Let’s be honest here, studying sucks and will always suck. There is no universe where I would ever enjoy actually studying. But hey, what has to be done must be done, and as unfortunate as it is, studying is necessary for high grades, whether you still hail from high school or have moved onto the grander world of university. Since I have just completed my first semester of university, I thought I should share the most important things I have learned about studying (especially since high school study habits generally won’t cut it in university).
Finding a space to study is probably one of the most important things. Many people will claim that “Oh, I have a desk in my room and that’s just where I do everything!” Well, It shouldn’t be. I don’t know about you, but my room is generally the place I go to relax, watch some Netflix, read a book, scroll through social media, etc. When I try to do any sort of school work there, I get distracted, I feel like I’m not getting anything done (which is true the majority of the time) and I am restless. My mind is telling me to study, but my body is insisting that I do absolutely everything else. The point of all this? Find a place where you only study or do schoolwork, nothing else. For me, I did the cliche thing and found a spot in the library that I always sit at. During finals week, I spent a good 6-8 hours in that spot and actually got serious studying accomplished, compared to the half-assed studying I did later on in my room after the library closed.
Moral of the story: dedicate a specific space/area to studying. You’ll be glad that you did.
Yes, studying is important. However, taking a break is equally as important. Have you ever tried studying for six hours straight? It’s not fun and after the third or fourth hour, you begin to lose your concentration. After that’s gone, there’s really no hope in you actually retaining any of the information you are attempting to study. Therefore: TAKE A BREAK!
Your break can be literally anything. Listen to some music, scroll through your social media, close your eyes for a bit, draw, build up your playlists, get a snack, the possibilities are endless (although Netflix should be avoided, because who can stop at one episode, and reading might be a no since you’re most likely doing a lot of reading for your studying). My one suggestion with this however is to keep the breaks short, but frequent. Every hour, take a ten minute break. Every two hours, take a twenty minute break, and on and on. Just don’t take a huge break like 45 minutes or an hour, because after the break is up, you probably will feel zero motivation to actually continue studying.
You’ve most likely heard this one before or read about this one somewhere else, but that just emphasizes how important it is. You don’t learn when you’re tired. You don’t retain knowledge when you’re tired. You don’t recall information when you’re tired. So get a decent amount of sleep.
A thing I’ve learned is that to get good grades, you don’t need to stay up until 12 AM studying every single night (that actually might hurt your grades rather than help). I find that my brain is done past 11 PM, so I try to end my homework/studying by 10 PM. Why, you ask? Because going straight from studying to bed will make falling asleep difficult (at least for me). I have to let my brain unwind and do something that requires little to no thinking before I go to bed. This usually entails an episode of Gilmore Girls, or reading a book much too easy for the level I read at, but is still enjoyable (ie. Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson series, the Pendragon series).
Don’t think studying until you’re dead at your desk will help you be more prepared for your test. It’s better to get sleep than to try and figure out a concept that you could leave until the next day.
Now, my first semester I spent pursuing an engineering degree, so most of my knowledge of how to study for things revolve around science and math classes. I am taking some arts classes next semester, so I might update this section come the end of April when the semester is finished. For now, lets talk how to study for the sciences.
Questions is the way to go. Do lots of questions, tens of questions, hundreds of questions, THOUSANDS OF QUESTIONS! No, but really, there is no better way to learn what you don’t know than by solving questions. Just the way my classes were set up this semester, I found the textbook questions to be more than enough. Often times, you can find past midterms from students who have already taken the course, and if you are studying for finals, redoing the midterms you already took is another good source of questions. Re-reading notes is practically useless in this subject matter (re-writing notes however can be useful for topics like Chemistry and Biology). I don’t know about you, but I also find flashcards useful if I have to memorize any formulas or equations.
Study methods will always vary from person to person since everyone is unique in how they learn, so the methods I have talked about might not be what you prefer, they are just how I learn best. Feel free to add your own methods and other habits that work for you!
Happy studying (which is such an oxymoron in itself) and good luck on your upcoming semester, midterm, final etc!
