Hey everyone! I know studying is really hard, but there are some simple things you can do to make studying easier and more fun. These are all strategies that I use to help me study.
There are two main ways to study: Alone or with a friend. Studying by yourself has so many benefits, and there are a lot of different techniques you can use when studying alone. Studying with a friend is more limited but it’s definitely more fun. Plus, you’re helping yourself and your friend in half the time!
Study by Yourself
Notes: Before you study
You have to have notes before you even start studying. I take notes on Google Docs. It’s easy for me and it allows me to take the notes quickly and make them cutesy!
I take extensive notes and I make great use of the Headings tool. Using headings makes it easy to go to the spot that you need to without wasting time scrolling because let’s be honest, no one really wants to be studying and no one really has the time or the patience for that.
I keep track of my vocabulary words, even though I don’t fill out all the definitions at first. I have them listed, and I can go back to them at some point.
I make my notes pretty because it makes me feel good and it makes me want to take more notes. Obviously, you don’t have to follow my method, but I highly recommend it.
My 5 must haves for notes are:
- Dates
- Vocab
- Titles and headings
- Names
- Highlights
Now, Studying!
Brain dump
First things first, look over your notes but remember that this on its own isn’t the same as studying. Reviewing your notes will help you remember everything that you wrote, because if you’re like me, you take really long notes. Once you’ve looked over your notes, it’s time to brain dump! Brain dumping is easy and fun! All you have to do is write down everything you can remember after looking over your notes.
This is an example of a brain dump. It’s a bad one because I did it on the spot, but it’ll give you the idea. In my first brain dump, I made many mistakes, I completely lost my train of thought and realized that the Yoruba wasn’t something that we studied. Now I know to look over my notes in those sections.
Once you finish your first brain dump, you compare what you wrote down to your notes. If you find a spot that you’re not as comfortable with as you thought you were, you can now zoom in on that section.
I did a second brain dump after I went over my notes again. The brain dump is now more centralized and not as broad. Now it’s just a rinse and repeat process until you feel comfortable.
Teach
Explain to someone what you learned, break it down to the easiest it could be, something that a 5 year old can understand
Time Blocking
Study for 25-30 mins, take a 5 min break, repeat 3 more times then take a longer break, 16-30 mins, repeat
Make Flashcards
When going through the flashcards make sure to have 3 piles. 1 pile is for something you got off of the bat, 1 pile for ones that took you a minute to get, and the last pile is for something that you just flat out didn’t get
Make a Kahoot, Blooket, Quizlet, Gimkit, really any fun online game study tool!
Make Use of AI
Use ChatGPT to ask questions for a math problem, and you can ask for the answers, AFTER you solve them
Motivational tips
If you’re struggling with motivation to study or focusing, pretend you’re in a movie. Make it fun! Snack on things while you’re studying to keep your brain working. Listen to music with headphones. It helps you focus and blocks the outside world so that you don’t get distracted.
TAKE BREAKS, I can’t stress this enough, breaks are essential for great studying, one person can’t do it all.
You can combine all of these strategies for the ultimate study session.
Study with a Friend
When it comes to studying with a friend, there aren’t as many variations than there are when studying alone. When studying with a friend, I like to use notes (typically my own notes). My friend and I quiz each other on each section.
For example:
Me: What is the chemical formula for a Monosaccharide?
Friend: The chemical formula for a Monosaccharide is C6H12O6
Then you can use one of the methods listed above for studying by yourself during your session with a friend. The online study game is great to play with a friend- this may strain your relationship with your friend if you win, but I am not liable for that.
Thank you for reading and have fun studying! Get those As!
