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Successful Study Tips

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Successful Study Tips

Difficult courses in college challenge us to learn how to learn. You can become a better learner by developing systems to record, organize, recall, and use information. Specific skills you can learn to improve your learning include notetaking, creating study materials, textbook reading, asking questions, exam preparation, and time management. You may also need to adjust your study approach from course to course, professor to professor, and exam to exam to account for the different kinds of work you perform as a student.

You can schedule a meeting with an academic mentor or coach to work on your study skills. You can also try some of the strategies below:

  • College studying is filled with distractions: roommates, family, television, friends, music, and notifications from your phone can distract even the best-intentioned students. Try to choose and control your studying space as much as possible by creating an environment that is suited to concentrated, focused work so you determine when to start and stop, rather than having to worry about interruptions.

    • If you study best alone, plan your study time for when you know you can be alone.
    • Explore the library and find a quiet place where you can work so that if you know your room or house will be noisy, you have somewhere familiar you can go. Sometimes empty classrooms are great study spaces!
    • You may find that you need a quieter environment for some subjects than for others. Pay attention to what helps your productivity.
    • Choose background noise wisely. You may find working in a high-traffic area or listening to music with and without lyrics motivating. Be careful of movies, TV shows, or music that can start out as background but then draw you in.
    • Your body is also part of the environment in which you study, so listen to it and what it needs. If it needs some sleep, take a short nap. If it's hungry, eat a snack.
    • Protect your time. Say no to friends' requests to talk, go out, or help them when you have planned to study.
    • You may find it helpful to temporarily silence notifications or disable apps when studying.
    • If you get distracted by noise from the hall or adjoining rooms, try an electric fan, soft music, or white noise to help drown out the sounds.

  • Organization is essential to succeeding in college and is closely linked to time management. The goal of organizing is to give you control over your academic and social life. There are many ways to organize and each individual will find things that work for them. Here are some suggestions:

    • Keep a list of things to do on your desk, on your phone, or in a planner so that you can always remind yourself what needs to be done. Making lists is a good way to "see" everything you need to do and to begin to take control. Lists can help you minimize anxiety.
    • Buy separate, different-colored notebooks for each class. You won't bring the wrong notebook to class. If you type your notes, create a system to keep your notes together in one document in a way that is easily searchable.
    • Consider buying more than one notebook for each class, depending upon the different work you do. For example, use one notebook for lecture notes and one notebook for homework problems.
    • Make sure you have all the desk supplies you need: pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, pens, highlighters, post-it notes, paper, notebooks, paper clips, stapler, staples, index cards, etc.
    • Use Post-it notes to tab important textbook or notebook pages or the pages about which you have questions. The colored tabs will act as a visual reminder.
    • Use paper or electronic folders to keep papers, notes, homework, old tests, etc. organized and easily accessible.
    • Keep your study area neat by keeping your books and notebooks organized. A disorganized space can increase your level of anxiety or cause you to lose track of important materials. You may also be more tempted to put off work if you have to get organized before you can begin.

  • Going to class is probably the easiest step to take toward doing well in college, as well as the easiest way to avoid problems. Many professors believe that part of going to college involves the freedom to decide how to behave, and so many professors leave it up to the student to determine whether or not they attend class. Although your professor may not take attendance, don't let that fool you into thinking that they don't notice if you are there, or that attendance is unimportant. Attending class tells the professor that you are committed to doing well. They will also have more of an opportunity to get to know you. You also won't miss important handouts or homework assignments, and you will be there to note important changes in the syllabus, due dates, etc.

  • Essay Exams

    • Get enough sleep and eat before the exam so that you will be rested and alert, two things that will help you do the active thinking the exam will require of you.
    • During the exam, make sure to stay relaxed. Anxiety is very distracting and can drain your energy.
    • Read all of the questions first. Sometimes you will have a choice as to which questions to answer. Decide which you understand the best and which you can do the best job on. Also, get a sense of how many minutes you can allot to answering each question.
    • Read the question carefully, underlining important parts of the question and determining exactly what the question is asking for, i.e., note the kind of work the question asks you to do: compare, define, evaluate, etc.
    • Outline before you start writing. Use this outline to record immediate ideas and facts, to brainstorm, to list important supporting information to include in the answer, and to decide on an organizational structure. Organization is often crucial in a successful essay exam; it's not just what you know but how you present it.
    • Don't get off track. Remind yourself of your outline and of the question, so that you don't get sidetracked and forget what you are answering.
    • Provide plenty of supporting detail.
    • Use transitional sentences to show important shifts in your thinking and in your answer. They help your professor read your answers and follow your thinking.
    • Check the clock often. Don't get too caught up in one question and forget to move on and leave time for others.
    • Reread your answers to check for sentence-level clarity, spelling, and grammar, all of which count!
    • Don't worry if others seem to be writing more than you or are finished ahead of you. You have no way of knowing what they are writing, so don't jump to conclusions that shake your confidence. Focus your energy on your exam!

    Objective Tests

    • Get enough sleep and eat before the exam so that you will be rested and alert, two things that will help you do the active thinking the exam will require of you.
    • Before you begin, make sure you survey the entire exam. Make sure to count the pages and get an overview of what the whole entails. You will need to get a sense of how quickly you need to work and which questions are worth the most points.
    • Read each question carefully to make sure you know what is being asked. If the question is phrased in a long sentence or contains multiple parts, underline exactly what the question is asking.
    • Be alert to key words in the question such as:
      • Not
      • All
      • Except
      • But
      • All but
    • If the test is multiple choice, try thinking of the answer before you look at the choices.
    • Also, consider all the options before making your choice.
    • Mark any questions that you've skipped or that you've answered but are unsure of. Return to them when you are finished with the questions you have confidently answered and give them careful thought.
    • Make sure to check all of your answers before you turn in your exam.

  • Most of us feel the best or work the best during a particular time of day; some of us, for example, are "morning people," and some of us are "night people." Knowing the times of day during which you concentrate the best may help you with your studies. Too often, students let other students dictate their study habits and times. You must learn what is best for you.

    Tackle the hardest subjects or most complex projects when you have the most energy and save the easier ones for when you typically have less energy.