Study smart!
BY ELYSE LADIA
Happy Spring Semester, USWIB! We hope you are getting settled back into the swing of things and are having an enjoyable start to your semester. Although midterms don’t start for a few weeks, it’s always helpful to stay on top of studying throughout the semester. I’ve compiled a few tips for smart and strategic general study habits that can make studying feel a bit less overwhelming as you get through your classes.
1. Change your environment
Especially during exam season, studying in the same spot by yourself with no mental stimulation can make you feel exhausted and delirious, and cause you to be more tired and unable to focus on the material. Even if the material you’re staring at all day feels mundane, you can help boost your motivation by having a new environment.
There are a lot of great public study spots around the city, where you can still be surrounded by other people working and studying in a mellow atmosphere while being in a new place than your typical study spots on campus like Bobst and Stern. For example, I’ve made a habit of trying out different public access hotel lounges this semester, with different aesthetics to please my senses as I work on my computer for a few hours. Some even have a cafe for a post-studying treat!
2. Take breaks
Especially during exam season, we can feel the need to buckle down in the library for all hours of the day with no breaks to really maximize our studying. However, research shows that your brain’s attention span works best in short but frequent bursts, with equally frequent breaks. Sometimes we try to prevent ourselves from taking breaks because we might get carried away and take too long of a break.
Instead, try setting a timer for an hour, study what you can as deeply as you can in that hour, then set another timer for five or ten minutes, use that time to stretch and get a snack, then repeat. This routine can help your brain stay stimulated and motivated, and if you find yourself in a groove you can always extend your study time.
3. Start early
The American Psychological Association says that “decades of research have demonstrated that spacing out study sessions over a longer period of time improves long-term memory”. Starting early also gives you time to create a schedule and break up all the long chapters of a subject into more manageable parts over a longer period of time, which also allows you to reach out for help along the way instead of adding to your worries the day before the exam.
It is undoubtedly advantageous to use the beginning of the semester before exams start to ensure you are keeping up with the subject and testing your understanding along the way.
Of course, different studying habits work for different people, so feel free to try these out in addition to some of your own and take away what works best for you and your productivity. We hope you have a great semester!