How to Make the Most of Your Study Time

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A disturbing number of students make it to college with no idea how to study. Some of them coasted in high school without ever cracking a book, while others were able to absorb enough knowledge in the panicked hours before a test that they never bothered to come up with a better system. But freshman year of college isn’t the 13th Grade, and work at the university level requires a bit more dedication and planning to pull off.

The best way to start making better use of your study time is to make a schedule and stick with it. Learning is a habit, and you’ll become a better student and retain more knowledge if you set aside time every day to study. It doesn’t have to be the same time of day or same amount of time from day to day; real-world demands, classes, and other obligations might require you to spend two hours hitting the books on a Monday night but 30 minutes Tuesday afternoon. That’s totally fine. The point isn’t to make every day uniform but to follow through on your plan. Regular, dedicated study time is the best way to ensure you retain knowledge over the long term.

It’s also a good idea to take breaks and change locations with regularity. The first part everyone knows: longer spans of intense studying can make facts start to blur, while small breaks can shake up the schedule and keep you fresh. But changing locations when you switch subjects is something a lot of students overlook. Whether it’s moving to a different part of your room or heading over to the library’s study area, a change in scenery will act as a kind of reset button for your brain and let you in effect start over fresh on a new subject. You’ll also come to associate the new space with the new subject, and the data will be more clearly organized in your mind than if you’d plowed through history, calculus, and physics all at the same desk.

You should also consider pairing up with a fellow student in order to work through more complicated material, especially ahead of mid-terms or final exams. Having a study partner lets you discuss the issues at hand to get a better grasp on them, and it also lets you run through mock-tests and hypothetical situations more easily than if you were just cramming by yourself. No matter what you decide, the key is to stick with it. Studying isn’t always fun, but it doesn’t have to be a pain.

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