Maintain healthy study habits early in the semester.
Well, it’s over a month into the semester for most of you. Hopefully you’ve found your rhythm and have hit the ground running. Getting back into the swing of things, especially if you have been out for the summer, can take a little while. So, that’s why it’s great to develop good study habits as early in the year as possible.
Here are some tips that you can use as you crush this semester.
If you have a planner, you should track more than just your homework in it.
When keeping up with your busy schedule, you need to remember that you have much more going on than just your projects and assignments. You don’t want to miss out on an important date. Getting organized helps with your schedule as well.
Take small bites.
If you’ve got a big assignment coming up, like a project, stay motivated by completing a piece of it every few days. For example, write one paragraph each night or do 5 calculus problems from your problem set at a time. Then give yourself a break.
Keep a routine.
Find the time of day that works best for you that you can study or get things done. It’s best to write this schedule down and keep it somewhere where you can see it every day. Remember it can change day-to-day, depending on what you have to do.
Get to know someone in every class.
Nothing is worse than when you must miss class and you don’t know anyone to get notes from or ask a question about your assignment. You can also be a help to them as well. And, of course, that becomes a bonus study group.
Study a little every day.
Take it from me, taking the time to do a little bit of studying each day goes a long way. I remember being in college my first semester and deciding to go to the library every day after class with a group of friends. Was the best decision I made in my college career! It’s also important to look over your notes after each class to make sure that you understand what was taught that day. You may have a question that you want answered prior to an exam.
Learn how to create a distraction-free zone.
Turn it off!! A study on workplace distractions found that it takes workers an average of 25 minutes to return to what they were working on pre-interruption. You don’t have to turn your gadgets off but try turning off your notifications temporarily so you can concentrate on the tasks at hand. If you want, you can check once every hour if you are just checking for emergency calls or texts.
One bad grade shouldn’t keep you down.
Just because you may have had a rough start to the semester doesn’t mean that you have completely sunk your semester! Make sure to keep an eye on your grades regularly and get a tutor if things just aren’t clicking.
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