You need to balance school, work, and extracurricular activities. If you are struggling with your classes, you may want to give up the after-school job or an extracurricular activity until your grades come up. You need to prioritize your time. Remember: your education is the most important thing because it is the foundation of your future success. [2] X Research source For college classes, you should base the hours you study per class on how difficult the class is and how many credit hours the class is worth. For example, if you have a 3-hour physics class that is hard, you want to study 9 hours a week (3 hrs x 3 for hard difficulty). If you have a literature course that is worth 3 hours and is kind of hard, you may want to study 6 hours a week (3 hrs x 2 for medium difficulty).
Studying in 20-minute intervals will help you make it a lot easier to retain information. If you study more slowly, remember that you will need more time to study.
If you end up a little sleep deprived despite your best efforts, take a short nap before studying. Limit your nap to 15-30 minutes. After you wake up, do some physical activity (like you would do during a break) right before you start.
If you are easily distracted by social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, or others, download one of the available applications to instantly block some of the distracting sites on your computer. When you are done with your work, you can unblock access to all the sites as before. [8] X Research source
Don’t choose a place so comfortable that you risk falling asleep. You want to be comfortable, not ready to fall asleep. A bed isn’t a very good study spot when you’re tired. Traffic outside your window and quiet library conversations are fine white noise, but interrupting siblings and music blasting in the next room are not. You may want to go somewhere away from people who may provide distractions or ask them to keep quiet for a while.
If it doesn’t distract you, listen to familiar music with words. Turn off anything that distracts you from your studying. You may be able to listen to rock music with words but not pop. Figure out what works for you. Make sure to keep the music at a moderate to low volume. Loud music can distract you while quiet music can help you while studying. Skip the radio. The commercials and the DJ’s voice can bring you out of your study zone. [13] X Research source TVs can also distract you, so turn them off.
Avoid foods with high amounts of sugar and carbs, like instant noodles, chips, and candy. Don’t drink energy drinks and sugary sodas; they contain high amounts of sugar which will cause you to crash. If you drink coffee, skip the sugar-heavy drinks. [16] X Research source Have your snacks prepared when you begin a study session so you don’t get hungry and go rummaging for food.
Start with Survey, which means to glance through the chapter to look for tables, figures, headings, and any bold words. Then Question by making each heading into a question. Read the chapter while trying to answer the questions you made from the section headings. Recite the answers to the questions verbally and any important information you remember from the chapter. Review the chapter to make sure you include all the main ideas. Then think about why this is important.
Start with the title. What does the title tell you about the selection/article/chapter? What do you already know about the topic? What should you think about while reading? This will help you frame your reading. Scan the “headings” and subheadings. What do these headings and subheadings tell you about what you will be reading? Turn each heading and subheading into a question to help guide your reading. Move to the introduction. What does the introduction tell you about the reading? Read the first sentence of every paragraph. These are generally topic sentences and help you think about what the paragraphs will be about. Look at the visuals and vocabulary. This includes tables, graphs, and charts. More importantly, look at the bolded, italicized, and underlined words, words or paragraphs of a different color, and numerical lists. Read the end of chapter questions. What concepts should you know by the time you finish reading the chapter? Keep these questions in mind as you read. Look at the chapter summary to get a good idea of what the chapter is about before going on to read the chapter as a whole.
You can also readjust these portions to quickly review the material you have learned while it is still fresh in your memory, and help the main points to sink in. If the textbook belongs to the school, then you can use highlighted sticky notes or a regular sticky note beside the sentence or paragraph. Jot your notes on a sticky note and paste them beside the paragraph. It’s also a good way to periodically review in this manner to keep the main points of what you have already learned fresh in your mind if you need to remember a large amount of material for a longer period, like for a final examination, for a comprehensive exam in your major, for a graduate oral, or entry into a profession.
If you have enough privacy, it also helps to recite your summaries aloud to involve more senses. If you are an aural learner or learn better when verbalizing it, then this method could help you. If you’re having trouble summarizing the material so that it sticks in your head, try teaching it to someone else. Pretend you’re teaching it to someone who doesn’t know anything about the topic, or create a wikiHow page about it! For example, How to Memorize the Canadian Territories & Provinces was made as a study guide for an 8th-grade student. When making summaries, use different colors. The brain remembers information more easily when it is associated with color.
You can also download computer programs that cut down on space and the cost of index cards. You can also just use a regular piece of paper folded (vertically) in half. Put the questions on the side you can see when the paper is folded; unfold it to see the answers inside. Keep quizzing yourself until you get all the answers right reliably. Remember: “Repetition is the mother of skill. " You can also turn your notes into flashcards using the Cornell note-taking system, which involves grouping your notes around keywords that you can quiz yourself on later by covering the notes and trying to remember what you wrote based on seeing only the keyword.
Take advantage of your learning style. Think about what you have already learned and remember easily–song lyrics? choreography? pictures? Work that into your study habits. If you’re having trouble memorizing a concept, write a catchy jingle about it (or write lyrics to the tune of your favorite song); choreograph a representative dance; draw a comic. The sillier and more outrageous, the better; most people tend to remember silly things more than they remember boring things. Use mnemonics (memory aids). Rearrange the information in a sequence that’s meaningful to you. For example, if one wants to remember the notes of the treble clef lines in music, remember the mnemonic Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge = E, G, B, D, F. It’s much easier to remember a sentence than a series of random letters. [21] X Research source You can also build a memory palace or Roman room to memorize lists like the thirteen original colonies in America in chronological order. If the list is short, link the items together using an image in your mind. Organize the information with a mind map. The result of mapping should be a web-like structure of words and ideas that are somehow related in the writer’s mind. Use visualization skills. Construct a movie in your mind that illustrates the concept you’re trying to remember, and play it several times over. Imagine every little detail. Use your senses–how does it smell? Look? Feel? Sound? Taste?
If you type it up onto the computer, you can get a lot more control over your layout by changing font sizes, margin spaces, or bullet lists. This can help if you are a visual learner.
Do something physically active to get your blood flowing and make you more alert. Do a few jumping jacks, run around your house, play with the dog, do some squats, or whatever it takes. Do just enough to get yourself pumped, but not worn out. Try integrating standing into your studying. This may mean walking around the table as you recite the information to yourself or standing against the wall as you read your notes. [24] X Research source
For example, when you are reading an article about the guitar, the keyword guitar can be used. While reading, whenever you feel distracted or not able to understand or concentrate, start saying the keyword guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar until your mind comes back to the article and then you can continue your reading.
Taking good notes in class will force you to stay alert and pay attention to everything that is going on in the class. It’ll also help keep you from falling asleep. Use abbreviations. This helps you so that you can quickly jot down words without spelling anything out. Try coming up with your own abbreviation system, or use common ones like b/t for between, bc for because, wo for without, and cd for could. Ask questions in class as they pop into your brain, or make a contribution to the class discussion. Another way to question or make a connection is to jot it in the margin of your notes. You can look the question up when you get home, or you can piece together the connection when you are studying that day. [25] X Research source
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to understand or organize your notes at all; just don’t waste time doing something in class that you can figure out or neaten up at home. Consider your in-class notes a “rough draft. " Try to refrain from copying everything down from your teacher’s slides. You may find it easier to keep two notebooks–one for your “rough draft” notes, and another for your rewritten notes. Some people type their notes, but others find that handwriting enhances their ability to remember the notes. The more paraphrasing you do, the better. The same goes for drawing. If you’re studying anatomy, for example, “re-draw” the system you’re studying from memory.
This linking may be conscious, like performing chemical reactions, physical experiments, or manual mathematics calculations to prove a formula, or unconscious, like going to the park, looking at the leaves, and thinking, “Hmm, let me review the parts of the leaf we learned in bio class last week. " Use your creativity to make stuff up. Try making stories to go along with the information you are studying. For example, try to write a story with all subjects starting with S, all objects starting with O, and no verbs containing V. Try creating a connected story with vocabulary words, historical figures, or other keywords. [27] X Research source
Learn the most important facts first. Don’t just read the material from beginning to end. Stop to memorize each new fact as you come to it. New information is acquired much more easily when you can relate it to material that you already know. Don’t spend a lot of time studying things that won’t be on the test. Focus all your energy on the important information.
Divide concepts among the members and have each member teach or explain the concept to the rest of the group. Divide lectures among the group and have each group summarize the key concepts. They can present it to the group or create an outline or 1-page summary for the rest of the group. Develop a weekly study group. Spend each week covering a new topic. That way you study throughout the semester instead of just at the end. Make sure they are people who are interested in studying.
