How to Study Effectively

You frequently find yourself cramming for a test, up all night, stressing, wired, tired and frustrated. All because you procrastinated and now you need to STUDY! Here are a few tips to keep you from falling into this particular hole again. You will find yourself better able to manage a heavy course load.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Persistence
• Study materials
• (Optional) Study-Buddy
• Highlighter
• Library/Internet
• Printer

1. Get to know your classes as soon as possible! This step is probably the most important. It will help you to prioritize. You only have one chance at a final and a lot of times the work is cumulative. The sooner you know what is expected of you, the better. You will benefit from knowing how much homework/work is required in comparison to your other classes.
2. Prioritize. Decide which projects are due/what test comes first and work on that. After that, decide which ones take the most time.
3. The next step is a bit trickier. You need to mix time spent on the most URGENT and time spent on the more TIME-CONSUMING projects. The best way is to pick the one you feel most anxious about, then hop to it. When you find yourself getting tired, take a 10 minute break then switch to the other one for 30 minutes.
4. After your 10/30 minute break/switch-up, switch back. You might find that mental break provided you with a new perspective.
5. If/When you get tired of your big projects, take another 10 minute (ONLY) break and switch to one of your smaller/easier tasks.
   
   Complete it if possible! You will be refreshed with a sense of having accomplished something.
6. The following is an excellent link for creating flash cards online:
   http://www.flashcardexchange.com/login. It's free!

Tips & Warnings

• Choose the same time of day to study, even if you don't have work to do. It will give you the sense that you are still on top of everything. You can say to yourself "See? You're doing extra, right?"
• Not procrastinating (I know... everyone says this) takes away from the gut-wrenching anxiety. Seriously. Just get your work done.
• You need breaks. The weekend is just that. Do not think about school work between your last class on Friday and 3 pm on Sunday. This is your down-time. If you do not procrastinate, you won't even have to give it a second thought.
• Get enough sleep. Shut down at 11 pm or midnight. Set your alarm for 8 hours later.
• Read for leisure or watch TV when you quit for the night. Do something different, but mind that you do need sleep.
• Playing video games might be your idea of a break, but remember the last time you got sucked into that vortex? You spent two hours playing! Games are not a break- Have a drink of water! or a cup of coffee or tea! Eat a light snack! Then get back to work!
• TV is not a break - even sit-com are 30 minutes long! Take a walk outside if you have to, resist the urge! Your stress level will be reduced for it.
• Warning: this last tip might get you into trouble. If you absolutely need to finish a project/paper, and this reiterates "know your class," you could skip a (COLLEGE NOT HIGH SCHOOL) class IF you know you won't be doing anything critical to your grade. You could get into some serious trouble skipping school as a minor. IF you have the absentee time clause in a class you can afford to skip, do it. Sometimes the extra few hours makes a huge difference.