Help! Study Tips?

Test Preparation
1

Hi.
I’m in 9th grade and i’m terrible in studying. I achieve pretty good grades without studying too much but i know I can do better. But I have trouble studying and I always end up stopping to play games or read fanfiction.
So does anyone know any study tips, both to:

  • keep studying for longer periods of times
    -other general study tips to get better results (if that makes sense?)
    any recommended apps or habits or routines or something?
2

Take short breaks (short) in between studying. Don’t get yourself off track though.

3

Okay, I am a Junior who is still bad at studying but here’s what I’ve learned can work if you take initiative.

Pomodoro Technique: Look it up on YT if you want to hear the actual technique technique. The normal technique is work 5 minutes, take one minute break, work ten, take one minute break, work fifteen, something like that. I’m not sure, exactly because I do a variation of it that now that I think of it, isn’t very similar. But, what I do is that I’ll say maybe 10-15 minutes of work, then I go on duolingo, I complete an easy lesson of duolingo to get my dopamine going while still learning and being productive, and then get back to work for another 10-15 minutes and so on.

I definitely recommend YouTube videos for things your trying to study that you don’t understand because teachers will post their lessons online which can really really help.

Also, no music. Studies show music is bad. I think everyone knows that. When I have to do a whole math packet of tedious math, I’ll sometimes play music to feel alive BUT if it’s reading, don’t distract yourself with music!

4

My personal study habits:

  1. Create a priority list - either on paper, on phone, I use an app called “Trello” to organize daily tasks. On this app, I sort all school assignments, EC commitments, etc. under what they call “cards”, and anything that you have to accomplish in a day should go under a tab called “Today’s tasks”.
  2. Assign times to your priorities (as above) - students have a tendency to underestimate the time it takes to complete an assignment. I always think I can finish something (i.e a project) in an 45min, but it ends up taking nearly 3-4hrs. Therefore, prior to starting your tasks, assign a reasonable time to each for more effective working. s
  3. Use weekends effectively - at some point in high school you will realize having to work on a Saturday is inevitable:) Anyways, its a good time to do assignments thoroughly, without the usual rush that may occur on weekdays.
  4. Set goals - I personally have an often overwhelming course-load, and I found that setting goals helped me a lot. These goals may be as specific as what you need to complete in a day, or broader goals such as GPA, quarter grades, satisfying your parents, college, etc. Whenever I am going through agonizing studying, I look to my goals to find motivation.
  5. Split your work load - between morning and night. I find that this works for particularly stressful or busy days. Do half your work after school, and relax the rest of the day, get a good nights rest then wake up early in the morning to finish the remaining half. I find this refreshes me and reduces stress.
  6. Take a 20min nap for optimum productivity - I actually learned this in psych:) Whenever you just cant bear doing more, just set a timer for 20min and power nap. This is scientifically proven to refresh your mind and make you more productive.
  7. Review your material - according to the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, humans tend to forget material rapidly after first couple hours, and can recall only about 40% following a day. Hence, frequently reviewing your notes, even if it just means quickly looking over them, can improve retention. I do this usually in the classes before I have a test next period, during lunch, etc.
  8. Settings - keep your work, sleep and play settings separate. This was a real problem for me. I did everything on my bed/room: working on my laptop, eating dinner, watching movies, so what happened was when it came time to sleep, I couldn’t. Likewise when I was trying to study, I couldn’t help but feel sleepy. It got to a point where I had to go to the library whenever I had to focus on something important. In short, establish a study zone.
  9. Study groups - this saved me 9th-11th grade. Find a group of 3-5 friends and have a chat group to discuss homework, assignments, questions. It really helped me save time when I was confused and actually reduced my stress knowing that other people were going through the same thing (kind of sadistic i know). An added benefit is that whenever they start working on something, you often feel motivated to do it at the same time. A tip, choose smart friends for your group:)

Hope this helped. Happy studying.

5

Thanks a lot for your study tips fireflamer5 and onmyway2harvard. i found this rlly helpful. thank u :slight_smile:

6

Write notecards. I think I read somewhere that writing something down is equivalent to reading it 30 times for getting it into your head. Even if you don’t end up using the notecards, you’ll devote more time to studying in making them, and you’ll know the material better.

Set a concrete reward system to help pushing through. My vices were comic books and guitar, so I would read one comic or play one song after reviewing one chapter of reading.

Food motivation sometimes works too, especially if it’s something that will take a set amount of time. I had to watch a movie for French this past weekend, and once I realized I wasn’t digging it, I made hot chocolate; by the time it was made, cooled, and consumed, the movie was over halfway over.

Phone on silent and out of sight. There’ll be a learning curve for a couple weeks where you’ll check your phone MORE frequently because you can’t tell if you’re getting notifications or not, but after that you’ll forget it even exists.

Get a physical notebook to put a to-do list on, so you’re not looking at your phone and you can physically cross things off. Divide each big task into smaller parts. The little rush of dopamine you get from checking off one small part will inspire you to do the next. I was arranging a Black Keys cover for band, and I was hitting a wall as long as “arrange” was on my to-do list. Once I divided it by instrument parts, I was flying through them.

Keep your work space clear of non-school things and then spread out everything you need, so it’s all within sight and reach. (I’m really bad about this one, I notice as I look at my desk of dirty dishes, potato chips, coloring books, and tax documents).

7

Here’s my advice (what worked for me):

  1. Make a study plan. Write down what you’re going to do on every day. Be careful not to plan to do too much (Give yourself lots of time, plan off days, etc). If you feel like it’s hard to keep up, adjust your plan, but don’t fall behind or skip planned study.

  2. Get rid of distractions. I can do the most study when I’m at the library, where I can’t do anything else. If that’s not possible, next best is to close myself in my room with nothing but study materials. Just do something so getting distracted isn’t possible.