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What Are Your Kick-Ass Study Tips?

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Topics In This Article

CORNELL NOTES!!!
Everyone may hate them, but taking notes then re-writing them and following the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.uwec.edu/ASC/resources/upload/Cornell-Note-Taking-System.pdf">Cornell Process</a> makes information stick.

Rewrite your notes after a lecture. This will not only force you to go over the material once again, but means you can focus on organising them and making them look 'pretty' outside of class, rather than while the lecturer is talking.

My study tip is to get super behind in your studies then spend the day or two prior to your test studying like a mad person. 
I am working full time and going to school, plus have a family and am probably the biggest procrastinator on the planet so...hopefully there will be some good study tips on this post lol

Always physically write out your own notes!! Another thing I try to make a habit of is telling someone else about the material I need to know - I find teaching someone else not only helps me remember what I need to know, but also helps me to actually learn.

usually tell this to everyone I tutor, if you're not understanding the textbook or the professor, Google the same class at another college. The way to do this is to type into the Google search bar: site:edu (SUBJECT) what you want to study 
So if you want fluid mechanics lectures you type: site:edu (fluid mechanics) lecture
If you Want an exam, change lecture to exam. This is especially helpful for my engineering classes because it's really difficult to find materials related to what you are studying in class. I've used this method thousands of times over the years

A few tips that actually work:

- Read and study from a actual paper book
Online issues may be cheaper, but studies actually show we remember things better when we read from physical books then electronic ones. Why? Because humans never evolved to learn how to read, that was something we did outside of the evolutionary process. Our brains developed to earn from physical contact and direct, physical interaction with the world (why do you think they say reading is a workout for your brain? Because it's forcing your mind to work hard at a task that it's not designed to accomplish easily). Studying/reading from an actual book, turning pages, writing in the margins, it all helps your brain better understand and compartmentalize and learn what your interacting with.

- Study in the room/seat where you'll take your test
Again, we are creatures designed to learn from our environment, not books, so study in the location where you'll take your test. Situational association between your work and that place will allow you to recall information easier and not have those 'oh! I know this but I can't remember' moments as often on a test.

- If you have to memorize anything, do it right before a good nights rest. Science shows that we retain the last information we learned before going to rest the best.

- Do not pull all nighters! Trust me, I was a full time science major working 40+ hrs a week and I definitely had to do a lot of all night study sections, but understand that getting no sleep at all will hurt you more then those two hours you feel you can't lose. Understand that you won't have time to learn everything and then choose which chapters you want to learn the best (you're odds are better knowing 50% of the information on a test then not really knowing any of it) and make time for two-to-three hours of sleep time.

- Do not drink all those Monsters and Red Bulls to get by. Caffeine rushes will keep you awake but prevent you from focusing and stress your body out as well as dehydrate you, all of which prevents you from 

Make a sheet with all your formulas when studying for a math test! Rewriting the formulas helps you memorize them

I study while listening to movie scores...it's not distracting because there's no lyrics but it's also energizing and makes me feel like I'm on an epic quest!

Cornell notes! 10/10 would recommend. I avoided using them through undergrad because they seemed too time consuming and I regret it now. I started using them now that I'm in grad school because the reading and lectures suddenly became much harder. It is so helpful to have a column on the left hand side of my notes where I can write down any terms/concepts I don't understand to look up later. It helps with both lectures and taking notes while doing the reading. Summarizing everything after also makes me focus on the main theme instead of picking out all of the details.

Also, GRAPH PAPER for notes! It has changed me life. No wasted space because of margins. Easy to make columns for Cornell notes. Easy to easily "tab" over to create bulleted lists. Easy to make diagrams and drawings. It's perfect. I am a very visual learner so being able to rely on the lines of the graph paper has made it easier to quickly make diagrams and break up sections of my notes.

Advice for any math class: always do your homework! Many times professors take questions from the homework and add them to the tests! Also, have study groups! They honestly help so much!

What Are Your Kick-Ass Study Tips?

Studying isn't exactly the most fun activity in the world.

But there are a lot of ways to make it easier and more interesting.

Maybe you've got a killer colour-coding system.

Or perhaps you make things harder for yourself to boost your focus.

Maybe you even have a great strategy for nailing the exam itself.

We want to hear your tips for acing studying/exams!

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