My Tips on Studying

August 6, 2015 by Stephanie Witten 3 Comments

  
Hey guys!

So this quick post is just on how I like to study. Whether it’s a Bible study or just prep for a test, I find this method the best way to knock out any task.

I’m also going to link my favorite video on studying tips that are unique, and I often don’t use all of them. These are the methods that work best for me and are tried and true!

I am one of those people that used to be a slacker and then more recently (as in my junior year of high school… I’m now a college freshie) fell in love with education. This means, I’m going to give you the most effective, in my opinion, ways to help!

If you know me, you know I actually love to study. Something about the supplies and the smell of a fresh new textbook gets me all warm and fuzzy inside… which is so weird. It brings me to my first method though.

Pre-Study Preparation

Method 1 part A-

I find hyping up the study session really works to motivate me. I honestly lack motivation, so this is super important for me. It isn’t about just sitting down and then applying tips… you have to really want to do it in order to get productive. So, for me, school supplies and stationary gets me super excited. I KNOW I’M NOT ALONE! If you’re this type of person, here’s what I do. I get my absolute favorite pens out, I grab an adorable notebook (1,2), and I clear my desk of all the clutter. The excitement of using my favorite pens and a cute notebook keeps me motivated, while the empty workspace gives me a clear mind. This normally works for me for about a month until I have to buy new stationary to revamp the excitement, and that’s one of the best tips I have. Spoil yourself with this! It’ll give you a reason to want to study.

Part B-

If you don’t care much for stationary, just find a nice work space that is not your bed. NEVER study in your bed if you can help it! Once you have your clear workspace, grab your favortie snacks or candies and place them beside your text. I find this works better than if you were to place them on the text for milestones (like this) because first of all.. ew. If you’re using a used book or a school-distributed book… you’re putting someone’s dirty hands in your mouth. But secondly, it makes the actual text harder to read, and you may actually just skim through the text and not retain the information just to get to the candy.

If you like both methods, great! Do them both. The more you do to make yourself look forward to the session, the more likely you are to really spend time to retain the information.

Method 2

This one is really simple. Grab your favorite drink from Starbucks (or Dunkin’ Donuts if you’re into that) and take it to your study session. If noise doesn’t bother you, you could even study at your own Starbucks. Actually, there’s a 2 story Starbucks in Charlottesville, VA (home of UVa CAVS! WA HOO WA!) That has a study nook that is SILENT. I fell in love! This way you could buy yourself a cakepop for every large task you complete (calorie overload but WHO CAREZ, CUZ EDUCATSHUN).  However, if you’re not fortunate enough to have a quiet Starbucks… I wouldn’t completely recommend sitting down. Just hit up the drive thru!

Method 3

Lastly, if you’re at home to study, light a candle! And no, you may not burn your favorite Leaves or Mahogany Teakwood from B&BW. Try some new, unfamiliar scent! First off, you may find a scent that just knocks Mahogany Teakwood off the shelf (who am I kidding? Not possible?) but more importantly, I read that studying around unfamiliar scents or tastes can stimulate a part of your mind that  allows the information you’re taking in to be retained along with the scent/ taste. If you’re in a dorm room that allows wax warmers, I totally recommend Scentsy warmers and waxes. Seriously, I have a million and one of them. (I currently don’t have a consultant. My mom used to sell, but if you happen to be a Scentsy consultant, email me and I’ll link you as well as purchase my products through you!)

The Study Session

First tip: put your phone on do not disturb and away from you. I know it’s painful, but it’s the most effective way to actually get things done.

Method 1:

BEEMINDER! This website just helps a ton to keep you focused with multiple methods that may work for you. (I’m not sponsored. I totally love this site!) More information will be mentioned in the video below.

Method 2:

Setting 45 minute timers (or however long to fit the task) with 10 minute breaks in between. This is a pretty basic tool, but this is where it gets really intense. Take a sheet of paper and every time your mind wanders, add it to the paper. At first you probably will need more than one page, but this allows you to tackle the urgent tasks during your break, and even pinpoint exactly what to take care of before going into your session. Most times, it’ll be stuff like “check phone. check phone. call grandma. check phone. pizza? check phone.” So you’d most likely call your grandmother and check your phone during your break.

Method 3:

Association. This works best for vocabulary or terminology in my opinion. For example, I used this in high school when I took Health Science 2 and wrote, for example, “mandible” on a note and stuck it to my tooth paste because your mandible is your jaw. It helped a ton.

Those were my top 3 ways to tackle study sessions. In my opinion, it’s all about how you feel when you go into the session. Most of the actual tips for studying I got below in the video! Hope you enjoyed!

My favorite studying video

(embing was disabled!)

-Stephanie