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Six Tips for Studying

Rubye Peyser

1. Create a schedule: Put all major assessments for the rest of your semester into a calendar. If you use an online or computer calendar, have it send you a reminder a week before the exam/paper is due. This way, exams will not come as a surprise and you can be as prepared as possible!

2. A little every day: A huge part of studying should take place before you officially begin preparing for an exam. Everyday before class, review your notes from the previous class and the homework from the night before. Then, preview the topic for the upcoming class (look through the slides, read the syllabus, etc.) This process can take as little as five minutes. Once you’ve done that, you actually need to GO TO CLASS. For almost any course, the material that you’re going to be tested on is what the professor discusses in class. Furthermore, the ways professors describe concepts, the kinds of questions the pose in class, and the examples they give will all they way they will evaluate you on an exam. With this information, you can direct your studying in a manner that will parallel the way the professor’s exam will test you.

3. Start “officially” studying a week in advance: This one doesn’t need much explaining. Begin organizing your materials and reviewing a week in advance. This will optimize the amount of material you can review and absorb. Some ways to remember to start studying a week in advance: set an alert in your phone or on your computer to remind you a week before an exam; write a note in your calendar, leave a post-it on your door; do whatever you have to do.

4. Make a study guide Include the important material from class notes, slides, reading, and handouts. Draw diagrams. Come up with examples for concepts. 

5. Effective flashcards Make flash cards. Making 800,000 flashcards is not always effective. Most classes do not require excessive rote memorization, so make sure that your flashcards are of only key terms, not every word the professor has said all semester. When studying terms, don’t just memorize them: pick out two flashcards and compare and contrast those two concepts. In doing so, come up with a few examples that demonstrate each concept as well ones for their similarities and differences.

6. Effective study groups: Sometimes study groups can turn into social hours. While spending time with friends is really important, make sure that if your planning on studying, that you actually do so. A good way to make use of this group work is to try to teach each other the concepts covered on the exam. This process benefits all group members: the listeners can learn/review important information, and the person teaching deepens hir understanding of the material and illuminates the areas where ze has gaps in hir knowledge.