Five Tips for Improving your Study Time

by Toby Maurice

 

Originally posted in June 2016, with the school year just around the corner we wanted to reshare these great tips for getting the most out of your study time. 

 

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High performing students aren't necessarily people with more brainpower than you. More often than not, they are simply people who have figured out what it takes to study effectively. Once you’ve master effective studying, you will have more time for stuff that makes your life enjoyable! You know what activities I'm talking about: perfecting your ramen noodle cuisine game, designing an eye-catching poster for your new campus club, "Cats, Candy, and Keyboards," or marathoning Law and Order on Netflix. 

In all seriousness though, effective studying is not that difficult. It takes a few common-sense steps and some follow-through, and once you start seeing how much better your time can be spent, you will quickly form new and better habits. 

Getting started is easy, just follow these five steps:

 

1. Eat before hitting the books

The brain needs fuel, it’s one of the biggest energy drains on your body. The more and preferably healthy fuel you feed your body, the better your brain will perform.

2. Leave your electronics at home; handwrite your notes!

Whether you want to accept it or not, your phone and your laptop for that matter are, well, distractions that will impede effective studying. Do you use your laptop for note-taking and diagrams? While this might be your norm, you should grab one of our reusable Wipebook notebooks for jotting down notes and sketching out your ideas as handwriting helps you retain information better. 

3. Make a measurable study plan

It's important to set goals ahead of diving in as it will help you measure and reward your progress. Pick a section, chapter, or unit that is doable, and complete it, then move on to the next one -- avoid CRAMMING. 

4. Reward yourself

Set a goal for time spent studying and then schedule in short breaks to keep productivity up. And remember those leisure activities we noted above? Make the activities you love part of your reward system. 

5. Chose a location free of distraction

You need a clean and comfortable workspace to get stuff done. And believe it or not, working at a desk is more productive than lying on your bed or couch.
 

 

Once you are properly set up to study, and your brain is fuelled,  you’ll need to think about materials. And if you are a tactile learner, this is where Wipebooks come into the equation. For us tactile-types, hand-writing is a helpful approach to studying. As we note in our productivity blog, taking notes by hand, and re-writing them helps tactile learners retain information. 

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Cognitive Psychologist Michael Friedman commented on the benefits of hand-writing notes, and imparted that "Note-taking is a pretty dynamic process." He continued, "You are transforming what you hear in your mind.” Normally all of this copying and note-taking would create a lot of waste, but using a reusable medium like our Wipebook Flipcharts or erasable notebooks, should help mitigate this problem.  

So follow these simple steps and you'll be well on your way to becoming a studying superstar.