Study Tips for College Students

Adjusting your study habits to the demands of college can be difficult at first with managing complex classes, the heavy workload, and maintaining a school-life balance. It might also be your first time away from home, making it more difficult to adjust. Thankfully, there are many ways you can enhance your study habits. Follow these effective study tips for college students and apply them to your routine!

Prepare and Plan

Fortune favors the prepared, and that applies to all aspects of life. So, planning your semester or year ahead of time will help you immensely. Get a planner to help outline your activities, especially ones that already have dates on the syllabus. Block out dates for studying before major exams, as well. If you prefer digital planners, you have plenty of options. These have additional functionalities, such as alerts or notifications that can help keep you on track.

Manage Your Time Efficiently

In connection with planning, managing your time is one of the best study tips for college students. Our specific tip is to create a routine that allows you to dedicate a few hours of your day to just studying. That way, you won’t get overwhelmed during the latter part of the semester with overlapping final exams.

Join a Study Group

Working with a group solely dedicated to studying will help you stick to your schedule and avoid distractions. This tip is particularly helpful for those who need extra help on difficult subjects. By having other people around, you can exchange ideas and get well-rounded insights about your topics or lessons. Finally, joining a study group gives you a sense of responsibility and helps you avoid procrastination.

Be Mindful of Your Location

Don’t study where you sleep. More importantly, find a clean and quiet space where you can study and stick to it. Anytime you’re there, your mindset will automatically go to study mode, allowing you to concentrate on the task at hand. If sticking to a certain location doesn’t work for you, then vary your study spots. Changing it up every now and then may help improve your performance on memory-based exams. That’s because being in new locations enhances information recall.

Get Enough Sleep

When we sleep, the brain links together related memories and stores them for easy recall. That’s why getting enough sleep daily helps improve memory retention by between 20 to 40%. Make sure you get enough snooze and sleep for a consistent time period to help you remember what you studied.

Don’t Forget to Relax and Enjoy

There’s such a thing as overstudying. Not only will you feel stressed and burnt out, but constantly having your nose in your books or notes can affect how you retain information. So, catch up with friends, hang out by the pool, or visit the gym after a few hours of studying to relax and take a break!