Studying can certainly be a struggle. I mean, in fact nobody want to to study, right? While studying can be tedious and tiring, it is virtually at all times necessary.
But fear not — I have some tips to help you study like a queen!
GIVE YOURSELF INCENTIVES
There‘There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself. When you have finished reading a chapter of your assigned reading, read the newest tweets on your Twitter timeline. When you finally remember all the definitions of your vocabulary words, watch your favourite show on Netflix. When you finish two full paragraphs in your essay, eat candy.
Giving yourself an incentive can certainly help you set personal boundaries during study time. You will ultimately get into a learn first and everything else stay mindset!
SET VISUAL GOALS FOR YOURSELF
I saw this tip on Twitter a while ago, but it is something that has proven to be very helpful.
To make yourself read EVERYTHING in your book, scatter gummy bears (or your favourite candy) between each paragraph. When you finish reading that paragraph, eat the gummy bear!
While this is also an analogous incentive to my first tip, this one is visual, so it might help a little!
STUDYING IN SCHOOL
In my class schedule, I have about two hours free between my two classes for the day. There was no point in driving all the way home and back in the span of two hours, so essentially, I was stuck on campus. Bored and stuck on campus. The BEST time to study is when you’re bored and don’t have anything else to do. You‘will ultimately be forced to learn — just because there’s nothing else to do!
When you are restricted from the TV, bed and other distractions at home, studying is much easier. If you have free time on campus, studying is the right solution.
HIGHLIGHTS, HIGHLIGHTS, HIGHLIGHTS
Everyone knows this, but seriously, highlighting really helps. The hardest part in this regard is deciding what to highlight and what not. You do not want to highlight a whole page of your notes, because clearly, you will not be taking anything of the.
And if you are sick of boring yellow highlighters, color code your notes with a different highlighter! It at all times helps me.
READ Aloud & QUIZ YOURSELF
Sometimes I retain information far better if I read all my notes out loud. When I in fact hear my notes out loud, their contents in fact stick in my brain. Or you can at all times have a friend read your notes aloud because listening to a friend might be a bit easier than listening to a teacher.
Flashcards are also a helpful tool. Find a friend or family member and ask them to ask you questions. And even if you do not have someone by your side who can ask you questions, quiz yourself!
ASSOCIATION
This is possibly my most used study habit, although it may not work for everybody.
Associate key terms with things that are easier to remember. For example, if you have trouble remembering which president came first, William Henry Harrison or John Tyler, you can think of the alphabet. The H (for Harrison) came before the T (for Tyler), so William Henry Harrison was president before John Tyler. Obviously this particular way will not work for all of your terms, but find out what works and what does not!
Another great way to use this tip is to find words that are similar to your key terms. Let’s say you cannot remember which president was a big advocate of national parks and nature conservation (Theodore Roosevelt!). What “Roosevelt” kind of sound like? Rose. And what is a rose? Part of nature! That’s why he became a big advocate. This tip is particularly helpful for multiple choice questions, because if you think of “rose,” you will have the ability to rule out all other options that do not sound like “rose.”
ACRONYMS/MNEMONICS
We all studied PEMDAS in highschool, right? Brackets, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. See! The acronym works so well that I still remember it. PEMDAS is unquestionably on my mind during every math test.
If you are trying to remember the order of something, try creating an acronym for each letter. Last year, we were learning about the stars in my astronomy class, so we were taught the mnemonic, “Oh, be a good man, kiss me” which symbolizes star type in decreasing temperature. If it weren’t for this acronym, I would NEVER remember the order of the star types.
As just an example, let’s try to remember the order of the presidents using mnemonics. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, and Jackson. That’s WAJMMAJ, so you might try to remember something like, “Wow, a jealous monkey married a jaguar.”
IF YOU ARE MUSIC…
Make a song! Or search for a song. Both work! Learning does not at all times must be boring!
There are tons of lesson songs and lots of of them are so catchy as to be maddening — which is a good thing, because they will stick in your brain!
All you need for this is YouTube’s magical tool. There are songs about grammar, foreign languages, presidents, and lots of more. There’s even a song about all the bones in the human body (come on, I can not be the only one who remembers that episode of Hannah Montana!).
CHEWING BUBBLE CANDY
I learned this technique in second grade and it certainly works.
While studying for a big test, chew gum (gum of every kind!). Then while in fact taking the test, chew the same piece of gum. This helps trigger your memory and also aids concentration. Trust me, there‘a ton of scientific data behind it!
But… if your school does not allow chewing gum in class, you might as well avoid this tip.
BREAK THINGS
Instead of reading the whole chapter directly, and then going back to reading the same chapter, break it up into sections.
Read one paragraph, then read it several more times until you really understand and understand the information. Once you understand it, move on to the next paragraph. This makes things a lot easier because rather than trying to remember plenty of things directly, you memorize things a little at a time!
Here’s another version: Instead of rushing through and reading all ten chapters of an assigned reading at the last minute, read two chapters each day until the assignment is complete. Two chapters today, two chapters tomorrow, two chapters until you finish!
If you rush and try to read everything directly, you possibly will not retain any of the information because you will be more focused on finishing the reading than understanding the content.
With these study tips in mind, my only hope is you‘can master all of your exams. You got it, girl!
