Anonymous: you said you graduated summa cun laude (congratulations btw!!!) i was wondering if you could share your study tips and stuff. i've been doing poorly in school the past 2 years and i need all the help i can get ;;
it took me 8 years to figure this out, here it is
- clean your desk! your mind is only as clean as your desk. put away everything except your pencils, books, etc. a glass of water and small snacks dont harm as well!
- reduce your time on the internet to a minimum, its really distracting. put your laptop and phone under your bed or somewhere else where you cant see it!
- start. early. enough. if you start studying the night before a test you will feel stressed out and nothing will stay in your head! if you start soon enough you can divide your subject material in smaller parts and you will remember them better.
- get up early! if you get up at 1pm, start studying at 2pm and study for 4 hours, it will already be 6pm and you will be tired! but if you get up at 8am and study for 4 hours, it will only be midday and you will still have the whole day left and feel way more relaxed! it makes a huge difference really.
and now the actual studying guide
- concentrate on one subject a day. if you study all of your subjects on the same day your brain will mix everything together and everything youve learned will lose its context.
- when reading texts, grab a fluorescent marker and highlight the most important parts that are essential for your understanding. (ONLY the essential parts. dont highlight the whole text, it doesnt make sense and….looks ridiculous)
- after having read through a specific topic, write down a short summary of it. on that summary, highlight the most important words again!
- write headings and subheadings on your summary so its neat. it will be easier to remember that way!
- use different colors
- dont listen to music while studying!!!! its super distracting and, in my experience, you will just end up lip-syncing or jamming or looking out the window instead of doing actual work.
- take breaks while studying, if you study for 10 hours straight your brain will melt. study intensely for 1-2 hours, take a 30 minutes break and study again. get a bit of fresh air, eat ice cream or anything else thats relaxing to you. DONT go on your laptop or phone though, leave them where they are!
if you take all of these points to heart and study continuously, im sure everything will work out fine :-) good luck!!
