Eliminate Distractions - This is the most important thing you can do to help yourself study. Stay away from social media. You may have your laptop or tablet with you when you study, so this may be more difficult. However, you really need to force yourself to stay away from social media and from texting. Put your phone far away from you if you have to in a drawer or in your closet to eliminate the temptation to check social media or your text messages. That being said, also put your phone on silent. Not vibrate because you can still hear it - put it on silent. You really need to eliminate those distractions in order to have productive study time. Also - don't watch TV while studying. Go to the library if you need a quiet place that eliminates any possible distraction.
No Last Minute Studying - Your college exams are much longer and much more of a big deal than they were in high school. Studying for 20 minutes before the day of the exam is not going to cut it. At all. You need to study days, possibly weeks (don't get scared! You have multiple classes you're taking, after all, all of which need to be studied for!) in advance in order to have the most productive study time. Also, studying for 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there may also not be good enough - that isn't enough time to get involved in the study session and then the next study session may be spent re-looking over what you studied during your previous study session.
Look Over Things Multiple Times - Studying for a major final exam means looking over things multiple times. This isn't a time to skim material or read it once and call it a day. Look over things multiple times. If it was a concept you had trouble with, look it over many times. If you find that you're having a lot of trouble, or you just have a few questions you need clarification on, take advantage of your professor's office hours or the tutoring center. This isn't a time to be shy or embarrassed. You're not the only one that needs help. That's why there are office hours, especially during Finals Week. And there's no such thing as a stupid question.
No All Nighters - We said it last week, and we'll say it again because it's just that important - don't pull an all nighter. Don't do one massive study session the night before the exam. This time is stressful enough - you need your sleep. And not just a few hours each night because you're studying a lot. Stick to your normal sleep schedule. Studying all night won't help you do better on the exam. All it will do is exhaust you, causing you to make small mistakes that add up on the exam.
Materials - Make sure you have study materials handy. And plenty of them. This is essential if you're going to be looking over concepts multiple times. Whether you're having trouble with a certain concept or there's a really important area of the text, make sure you mark it so you can come back to it later without wasting a lot of valuable studying time trying to find it. Sticky note flags are essentials and life savers when it comes to this type of studying. They'll mark the exact spot you need and then if you need to make extensive notes or jot down ideas about the concept, you can also stick a larger sticky note on that same page with your notes. And don't go highlighting everything important. You'll look back on the page and find that you highlighted everything, making studying a lot harder. Use highlighters sparingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment