Let's picture the scenario; you have been at college for awhile and while you may need to study, you have not even started and it is not exactly your strong point. You are freaking out and wondering if this was such a good idea. Well, fret not my fellow over "anxious" student, for I have a few tips for you broken down in three stages to help you kick yourself into gear and kick those goals you have set for yourself.
The planning:
Without a plan, you are setting yourself up to fail and will not achieve a semi-flexible work/study/life balance that can be properly implemented.
- Set aside every week a certain amount of hours that you can be happy with in between your commitments and time for yourself (60 - 90mins a day should be fine) and stick to it.
- For each session set yourself some achievable goals in relation to what you are studying. This will give you direction and a focus each time you sit down.
- Set aside time for breaks from study to help you unwind and maybe get some fresh air. When people play video games it is advised to take a five min break every hour to give your eyes a break, therefore same should be said for when you are studying (5 mins every hour).
Prepare your environment (and yourself):
- Make sure your desk is clean and your seat is comfortable. They say have your desk near a window for adequate light, however, I believe that ventilation is more important. A little fan can do the trick if you don't have proper aircon.
- Stock up on your favorite snacks and coffee (or any liquid that you prefer, me I like beer but too much leads to no study).
- Change into comfortable clothes and make sure you give yourself some time to adjust to studying mode when you get home (shower and change of clothes should do the trick).
- Choose some music to study along to. This is for your own preference, but for some inspiration, I listen to "Two steps from hell" which you can find on Youtube, Spotify or Apple Music (Not my video)
- *************This point is the most important*************
Make sure you log out of all social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc) and put your phone to vibrate and put it away. Your time is important and your many fans, friends, and stars can wait till you are done. If you do not place importance on your time then how can you expect others to do the same.
The doing:
Okay, now you are totally prepared and ready to kick some butt. Here are some extra tips to help retain what you are studying.
When you are jotting down notes make sure that you stay away from the highlighter and rewrite in your own words what the notes mean. When you take into account what the author is saying in the text and can articulate your own paraphrased meaning, you are more likely to retain the information that is given. The only reason you would copy the whole quote is if you are mentioning it in an essay or report with proper citation.
Make flashcards of terms and definitions that you are not familiar with. Websites and apps such as Quizlet can help and are free to use as a student and it has options for teachers to include class sets for students to learn.
When reading an article for the first time, casually read it and make sure you understand the What, How and Why of the article, then you will know what notes are important. Also, note that in many articles the first sentence will introduce the topic of the paragraph and the last sentence concludes the topic with the rest in the middle getting more technical. depending on why you are reading the article, you can determine if it is worth reading the whole paragraph.
Color code your notes to help determine what is important and what is secondary. This will help for later when writing assignments to find important quotes or concepts.
Lastly, if you are preparing for an exam, find anything that can help you get an edge e.g past exams, key points or anything the lecturer did not really go over is almost expected to be a part of the exam.
Well, these are a few of the tips that I could share with you. If you have any others or even some cool music that gets you in the mood to study, be sure to let me know and let others know.