Deputy Editor Caroline Mullooly brings you Bwog’s best study tips for this semester—live from quarantine. 

Study Tips
Methods

  • Pomodoro method for studying! Work for 25 minutes, relax for 5 minutes. Repeat, and give yourself a longer 15-minute break after five cycles.
  • Set timers while studying with flashcards and try to recount as much as you can as fast as you can.
  • To see if you’ve really mastered a topic, try to explain it to someone who knows nothing about it. This exposes what you don’t know and need to study more. (If they can’t understand it, then there’s probably work to be done.)
  • Incentivize! I work fairly well under rewards/incentives for doing work, so sometimes you just need to give yourself a treat. Watch a TV show over Zoom with a friend after you’ve both met your benchmark for work, or give yourself a manicure!
  • If you are studying for a math or physics test: go chapter by chapter through your textbook, and do the practice problems. I usually do one easy, one medium, one hard, one proof. Take note of what you don’t understand and come back to it.
  • Quizlet is very helpful if you want to memorize material quickly. (I like it especially for math formulas and vocabulary.)

Establish a Study Space

  • Don’t study where you sleep or relax. It’s important to separate the two spaces so you’re able to properly study and properly sleep.
  • Change your location! Study in a different room, a different chair, or pick up the desk and turn it around.
  • Create a ritual for when you start studying. Try lighting a specific candle when you start studying, so it creates a sort of habit for you to follow during your next study session.
  • Hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your door when studying to signal to your housemates that you’re in the zone.

The Unforgettables

  • Know when to quit. If you just don’t understand Green’s Theorem at midnight the night before an exam, it’s more important to get good sleep and ace the rest of the exam than cram. If you’re lucky, maybe it won’t even be on the test!
  • Delete Tiktok.

 

Organizational Tips
Scheduling

  • Write out a realistic schedule for the next day the night before. Try to plan the day in 20-minute increments, blocking out time for certain papers, for studying, and for breaks. If you start to fall behind on your schedule, you’ll know that you’re procrastinating.
  • Include how much time you want to spend on each task.
  • Rank all assignments and exams by the due date and the time needed to complete them to best prioritize your time.
  • Hang up the schedule in a place where the people you live with will see it. The public shame will force you to stop procrastinating.
  • Make to-do lists, and include small tasks on them. Checking stuff off is fun and motivating! We all need some ~external validation~.

Make it pretty

  • If your exams are open book, mark up your books and your notes as much as possible so looking for information is easier. Make a table of contents for your notes, highlight important formulas and definitions, and get familiar with the contents of your notebook.
  • While you get organized, play a calming playlist in the background.
  • Organize your material for the class by rewriting your notes by hand into a smaller study guide. You can make the guide pretty and colorful, so you’re more likely to want to use it.

Accountability

  • If you have a problem getting work done, find an accountability buddy! This is someone who can text or call you and say “bro how much have you done” and “stop playing animal crossing,” It’s easy to ignore your personal alarms, but it’s hard to ignore your friend calling you telling you to finish your code.
  • Make study groups! Study with friends over Zoom, or join the virtual Butler Ref Zoom call.

And my favorite…

  • Make flashcards! Actual paper flashcards. Even if you don’t use them, writing them out helps your brain retain information

 

 

Mental Health Tips
General Health

  • Set alarms so you remember to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at reasonable times.
  • Move your legs! If you need a break, go for a walk outside or do some jumping jacks/
  • Drink a lot of water!! Being well hydrated is not only good for the body and the skin and keeps you from getting hangovers, but it also helps to keep you awake.

Catch Some Zs

  • Get 8 hours of consistent sleep every night
  • Don’t let yourself sleep in. If you normally wake up at 9 to go to class, wake up at 9 and study.
  • Sleep when you feel like you need to and don’t overwork yourself. Better to fall asleep now than during the exam

What you need to hear

  • Don’t get mad at yourself for fucking up. It’s only natural and it will pass.
  • Don’t be hard on yourself.
  • Don’t compare yourself to others.
  • Remember that millions of people have come before us and have done the exact same things as us, and have become successful. You’re no different. You’ll be fine.

 

If all else fails…
Panic. Pay no attention to detail. (Just kidding, you’ll ace it.)

Ref via Bwog Archives