Ha! You thought my lame university advice posts would stop after I graduated university? That’s where you’re wrong kiddos. Now that I successfully completed school and I have a degree under my belt, that just makes me that much more credible to be writing posts like this. Because if even I was able to graduate, that means I must have done something right.
Now that I’m graduated, what better way to celebrate the fact that I’m never going to have to study for a test again than writing a post about all my favorite study tips for y’all?! Sorry, didn’t mean to rub it in. I’m sure I will be studying again before I know it seeing as there’s a 99% chance I will be going back to get my MBA sooner than later. Studying was no doubt the hardest part of school for me. I absolutely loved going to class and learning. I even loved writing papers and doing assignments (for the most part). I even would prefer doing presentations over studying for midterms or finals. I found it so hard to get motivation to study and like any university student, I found myself picking Netflix (or working on my blog) over studying more often than not. I’m quite the procrastinator. But here are some tips I picked up along the way that helped me study for big tests without totally dying. I only died a little.
Don’t force yourself to study
If you sit down and try to study but your mind keeps wandering, go for a walk, get some food, listen to music. There’s no point trying to study if your mind isn’t fully in it. Of course, if you have a midterm tomorrow and haven’t studied at all yet, please disregard this and force yourself to study.
Make studying fun
Studying definitely isn’t fun but there are ways to make it at least tolerable. I like to do things like making a study chart or diagram instead of just writing out notes. Or do fun practice problems. And to avoid getting too bored, switch it up constantly like reading one chapter and then doing practice problems and then switching back to reading the next chapter. This is so much better instead of just reading 7 chapters in a row and putting myself to sleep in the process.
Make a very specific timeline
when i forgot to do my practice final before my actual final last year, I knew I had to change my study habits. Talk about a rude awakening! There’s always so many things I want to review, read over and study before my exams, but I always end up forgetting to do every single little thing. So now, I write down exactly what I need to accomplish and when and check it off as I go. Plus how satisfying is it to look at a list of things you completed? I love that feeling. #nerd.
Stay organized
I’m pride myself on being an organized person and I gotta contribute at least some of my success in university to that. Before I start studying, I like to collect all of my notes, organize them by chapter and then print of all the important things I will need to study like review sheets, practice tests and answer keys. I feel so much better when I have everything organized and know where it all is!
Start studying early in the day
If you keep holding off till later, you will continue to procrastinate and it will get harder and harder to start. And then before you know it, it’s 2am and you watched a whole season of This Is Us yet you didn’t study at all for your midterm tomorrow. That’s when you know you have a problem. Plus, if you start studying early, there’s a chance you will finish before the day is over and you can still have time to do other things!
Have a break day
No one can study all day, every day (at least not without adderall hehe) That was a joke. Don’t do drugs kiddos. Unless it’s prescribed to you. Then definitely do drugs. i’m gonna stop trying to be funny now. I always tried to make either Friday or Sunday my relax day where I would put the books away and try to have fun! Having a day of rest would always leave me feeling refreshed and prepared to tackle another long week of stress and studying!
Did those tips all feel a little too obvious? Were you reading through them and thinking“huh, aren’t these kind of common sense”? Well, they probably are. But just use them as a reminder because I definitely did not do half of these things during my first year in university and my grades definitely reflected that. But, as I picked up these study habits, I did better and better on my midterms and finals so these tips really are useful! I promise. Good luck on the upcoming Finals kiddos. You better crush them.