10 Effective Study Tips to Spend LESS Time Studying and Get Better Grades
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At some point from a teacher or parent you may have heard the misguided advice to “study more” to get better grades. Although they probably had good intentions, studying more does not guarantee better grades. Studying more effectively, however, can save you time and improve your academic performance. In this article, we’ll cover
How to prepare for an effective study session
Effective study methods that improve memory and check understanding
A few helpful tools you can find on Amazon to enhance efficiency and organization
I’ve always found it unfair that we’re never taught how to study effectively. I was fortunate enough to pick up on some of these methods at an early age, but tutoring experience has reminded me that few students know how to effectively prepare for an exam or presentation. It’s a wonderful feeling when I help someone earn a good grade on an exam, but it’s an even better feeling when I can teach an invaluable skill that will improve their performance in the long run. So let’s get started!
1) Prepare Your Environment
When choosing a study environment, know yourself. Don’t be afraid to switch up your surroundings, as this can lead to renewed interest and increased focus. At the same time, stick to what works. If you have a favorite coffee shop, library corner, or desk at home, pick the environment that works for you. A clean, organized environment is the first step to a successful study session. Clearing the clutter in your space can likewise clear the clutter plaguing your mind and improve focus. Grab your water bottle and any snacks you’ll need so you don’t have to make repetitive trips to the kitchen or shop counter. Finally, try popping in some music, but select your songs wisely. Songs with many lyrics or fast beats can be distracting. My favorite study genres are lo-fi beats and jazz. No matter your environment, noise-canceling headphones are immensely helpful for blocking out any unwanted noise, turning up your study tunes, and locking in on your material. For a list of other helpful items to boost your productivity, see my post “15 College Dorm Necessities You Forgot to Pack.”
2) The Multitasking Myth
We all know you can multitask, but don’t fool yourself. Multitasking while studying is never as effective as a focused, uninterrupted study session. Taking short frequent breaks is encouraged, but making sure your study time is intense and focused is the key to success and information retention. For example, try studying for 20-30 minutes, followed by a 5 minute break. As long as that 20-30 minutes is fully devoted to your material, and not scrolling through Instagram, playing with your dog, or getting lost in TikTok, you’ve got the right idea:)
3) Mind Mapping
If you’re a visual person like I am, mind mapping can be life-changing. Start by writing down the main idea of your study material in the middle of the page and draw a bubble around it. Then, branch out around the bubble into the major related topics, working your way to the details. Drawing lines between related ideas and visually grouping them with colored highlighters and pens can greatly improve your memory of the concepts and understanding of the material. One of the major advantages of this method is that it helps you map out the big picture of how different concepts are related, which is one of the most important aspects of learning.
4) Create Your Own Study Guide
One of my professors allows her students to bring one sheet of notes to every midterm exam, and two sheets to the final exam. Her reasoning is because it encourages us to create our own study guide, reviewing material as we determine the most important information. Something interesting I’ve noticed is that I hardly ever use the study guide I’ve made when taking her tests. This speaks to her point. Going through the process of gathering the most important material, rewriting technical terms, and making connections between ideas is the perfect study method. It sounds like making your own study guide would take forever, but in reality it only takes a few hours and yields maximum results.
5) Practice Tests
You may have noticed that none of the study methods I’ve listed so far have been to just read the material. There’s good reason for that. Active study methods are most effective for information retention, and that includes practice tests! If your teacher provides practice tests, say thank you a million times. Practice tests are a valuable resource because they not only provide insight into the general format and content of the exam, but allow you to identify the gaps in your understanding. Practice tests are a chance to discover what you actually understand versus what you thought you understood, so you can focus your study time on clarifying any confusion. Taking a practice test can also increase your confidence during the real exam, so you can calm your nerves and channel your endless knowledge! If your instructor does not provide these wonderful resources, it’s not difficult to create your own. Pull together former homework questions, class exercises, and quiz questions of varying difficulty and topic, and voila! You have a practice test. It may not be as helpful as one provided by the teacher, but it’s much better than not having one at all!
6) Self-Quiz
Quizzing yourself out loud can be especially helpful if you have facts, definitions, or formulas to memorize. Verbally reciting material not only reveals what you actually know and can recall from memory, but it reinforces material as well. This method is especially helpful for auditory learners, because memory is improved when you can hear yourself say the correct answer. Try adding a funny voice or rhythm to the words! It can feel silly at first, but sometimes silly methods are the key to effective memorization.
7) Be the Teacher
Teaching someone else can be the best way to determine how much you really know, especially if you have an active learner who asks questions. Teaching a subject requires mastery of it, as well as a deep understanding of how ideas are related. I can’t count the number of times I’ve called my parents to explain a new concept, really just because I was excited about it. It wasn’t until later that I realized this was a perfect way to study. Even if they didn’t understand half of what I said, I was able to receive their questions as well as discover my own. One way to make this method even more effective is to learn with the intent to teach. Try this: you study one part of the material and your partner studies the other part. Then, come together and teach each other what you’ve learned. If you study with the intent to teach your partner, you will be more thorough in reviewing material, as well as more organized in your thinking.
8) Prioritize Comprehensive, Organized Notes
The most important step you can take to prepare for an effective study session is to keep comprehensive, organized notes. This has been my lifeline throughout my entire academic career. Knowing how to take notes in a way that is actually helpful is a skill that will serve you for the rest of your life. There are many ways to take notes, but a simple, straightforward method is to use visual hierarchy. When taking lecture notes, I use stars and underlines to indicate the beginning of a new overall topic or idea. For facts and subtopics, I use indented bullet points and arrows to indicate their pertinence to the larger topic.
Not only is it important to organize the information within your notes, but organizing each set of notes is critical to being able to study them later. Creating an organized notebook system can increase the efficiency of your study time. One way to make that process easier is to use a note-taking tablet. The awesome thing about note-taking tablets is that they’re not only lighter than a set of notebooks, but you can also create an intricate filing system for all of your lecture notes. Using this study hack has eliminated the time I spend flipping through unorganized notebooks trying to find specific information. It’s one of my favorite tools for increasing productivity!
9) Keep Past Assignments Organized
A backpack, or even a folder, full of unorganized assignments from various classes isn’t going to help you study for one exam. Either you’ll spend most of your study time trying to find relevant past assignments or give up entirely. Keep a separate folder for assignments from each class, and try to organize them by unit. This is another area where a note-taking tablet (mentioned above) can come in handy. Either way, the goal is to spend less time finding assignments and more time using them to study.
10) Create a Study Plan
Study tips 1-7 are methods you can use no matter when your exam is, whether it’s tomorrow (whoops!) or in two weeks. However, it’s always best to create a study plan as soon as you learn the material. Studying repetitively over the course of a few weeks is the best way to permanently implant the knowledge needed for an exam. After a lecture, you could review the material for 10 minutes the same day, 5 minutes two days later, revisit after one week, two weeks, etc. Studying this way doesn’t take much time, but it will definitely decrease the amount of time you have to spend cramming the night before. Scheduling your study time will help keep you accountable, and it’s easy and free with an app like Google Calendar. But if you prefer to use a physical planner, Rocketbook is the way to go. It’s an undated reusable planner you can write in, then scan your plans to the cloud. After wiping it down, it’s ready to use again!
Speaking of plans, do you have a plan for how to pay for college? You’ve already shown interest in improving your study habits, which tells me you have some forethought about your future. These study tips will improve your academic performance whether you’re in high school or the heat of college, but I also encourage you to take the steps needed to map out a financial future that doesn’t require you to eat ramen every night while you accomplish your higher-ed goals.
That’s why I’m offering this free workshop about how to graduate debt-free. I’m graduating with a master’s degree and no college debt, and I want to share the tips I used during high school and college to achieve financial flexibility, so you can do the same!
For a sneak peak, read my post “7 Money Saving Strategies to Help You Graduate From College Debt-Free.”
