With school comes studying, and studying can feel like an endless task. Whether you have to get in an hour of study before bed or you have a project due in the morning, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with how much you have to learn and how little time you have to do it all in. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to make the most of your time and learn more efficiently so that when exams come around, you can rely on what you know instead of stressing out over what you don’t know yet.
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Discipline is key
I love success stories. Whether it’s hearing about a pro athlete or billionaire entrepreneur, I love hearing how they achieved their success—and more importantly, what tools they used to achieve it. I’ve always been fascinated by people who are extremely successful in one particular area (for example, how Warren Buffett turned his $10,000 into over $60 billion) but you rarely hear about their failures along the way. The truth is that most successful people have failed many times before achieving success. The difference between them and others is that they learned from those failures, kept trying, and eventually found success. So my advice is simple: don’t be afraid to fail; rather, embrace failure as part of your journey toward eventual success. If you don’t make mistakes along the way, then you aren’t really trying anything new! Remember: if at first, you don’t succeed, try again!
Set a schedule
While it might seem counterintuitive, setting a study schedule for yourself is one of the best ways to spend your time more efficiently. A structured schedule ensures that you spend time working on your studies rather than simply letting hours slip by, or worse yet, not sitting down at all because you don’t know what to do next. If you don’t have specific deadlines looming over your head—the dreaded final exam or paper deadline—it can be hard to motivate yourself. Therefore, create some! Even if they aren’t real due dates, giving yourself small goals throughout your studying will help keep you on track. For example, if you want to read two chapters in an hour but find yourself struggling with focus after 30 minutes, give yourself permission to stop and start again later. By breaking up your studying into manageable chunks of time (and yes, taking breaks), you will feel less overwhelmed when trying to fit everything in during crunch time.
Start early, set goals
Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? It’s a productivity tip coined by a British government official in 1960 that states, Work expands to fill whatever time is available for its completion. In other words, if you have 10 minutes left before class, you may use that time trying to understand a concept or writing notes. But if you have an hour ahead of you? You’ll spend almost all 60 minutes working on your project. So start early! Set goals for yourself—and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
Organize your materials and make flashcards
Don’t waste your time. Set aside a set amount of time—let’s say 30 minutes—to study each day, which will make it easier for you to study consistently, which ultimately leads to better grades. Before you start studying, create flashcards or notes from class so that when you begin, you have information in front of you (you don’t want to have to write everything down). During those first few minutes of studying, organize your notes into flashcard form. For example, if you’re studying Chemistry, take all of your notes and group them by theme; then take all of those themes and group them by period; then finally take all of those periods and group them by time frame. By creating these flashcards, you can easily see what topics you need to focus on more during your studies. For example, if there are two periods with similar themes but one is more important than another in terms of test material, spend more time on that period!
Stay focused
Studying becomes a lot easier when you’re only dealing with one subject at a time. It’s much easier to focus on your studies if you spend your study time in solitude, away from distractions like social media or television. If you have schoolwork related to more than one class, do it all for one class before moving on. This will help you stay focused while studying.
A good place to start is by making sure that you have an appropriate space set aside for studying. Keep distractions out of sight—for example, put your phone in another room—and be sure that you have everything that you need (such as books) within reach. When it comes time to sit down and study, try some different lighting schemes until you find what works best for you.
Revise What You Read
Anytime you’re reading a textbook or academic text, it’s easy to get bogged down by all of those big words. Take your study time up a notch by reviewing key terms frequently while you read. Every time you come across a word or concept that’s new or difficult, stop for a moment and search for it in your text. If you can find it quickly, mark it with a sticky note so you can easily refer back to it later. If not, reread it until you understand what it means and how to use it. You might be surprised at how much more quickly you start understanding your readings once they’ve been broken down into manageable chunks!
Also Read: 09 Tips to Boost Your Study Skills
Eliminate distractions
When you want to study, eliminate any distractions. Turn off your phone and television. Close Facebook. And if you’re feeling especially ambitious, put on some noise-canceling headphones! The fewer distractions you have, the more effective your studying will be. You might even try going somewhere new to study—it can help you focus and stay motivated! But don’t forget: it’s important not to become too distracted by eliminating distractions—you still need to actually do your work.
Conclusion
You have to understand that you need more time for yourself than being fully focused on studying. On one hand, it can be hard because when you’re having fun, studying might feel like a chore. However, if you use your time wisely (i.e., don’t waste it on social media or TV), then there is absolutely no reason why you can’t study more in less time. You will find that you are much more productive and able to spend more time doing things for yourself.