Evan Gibson
Is it any surprise that studying leads to higher grades? With the semester underway, it might be time to start improving on your academic life. According to the Office of Academic Success at Dartmouth University, next to simply attending class, no other technique has proven to be as useful in improving grades as studying (Chaka 2014). Sitting down for a few minutes a night and opening up a few of your textbooks can make your academic experience much better.
So, how exactly should one go about “studying”? For many, the answer may seem self-evident. Taking good notes in class is a good first step. The point of studying is to go over class material in order to better understand a subject. This process obviously begins with attending class and taking notes. After all, how can your studying be effective if you don’t have a means of reviewing the information covered in class?
Still, pinpointing exactly what to study is often challenging. What can you do if you don’t have a study guide? Well, for starters, many teachers assign supplemental material to help students better understand the class. This material can help to bring class concepts into context. As it turns out, however, short cuts are often enticing. Homework can be relatively simple to work through if you just skim over your readings. And in the case of math there are a ton of websites that will even do your work for you! However, when the tests come rolling in, you’ll often find that these quick fixes for homework don’t end up helping you very much.
Establishing rhythm and patterns with studying can give us all an edge when it comes time to take exams. That means trying to set up times for ourselves that are specifically dedicated to studying. So when should you study? A recent study published in Child Development shows that sacrificing sleep in order to study will actually backfire (Gillen-O’Neel et al. 2012). So, don’t save all of your studying for the night before a test. Pace yourself over the course of the semester and you should find your results are more consistent.
According to researchers at Mayland Community College, finding a quiet spot to study can increase your efficiency by tremendous margins (Mayland Community College 2002). Now, what are we to interpret as a “quiet spot”? Does it simply mean finding a place where music isn’t blasting and where cars aren’t constantly rolling by? While getting away from all of those decibels can be helpful, researchers have found that the trick is to distance yourself from the “noise” of everyday life (Mayland Community College 2002). In today’s world, that means turning off your phone for a bit and logging out of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Finally, according to a team of psychologists at London Metropolitan University, bringing a good attitude to your study sessions can help to increase your productivity (Rogaten et al. 2013). This means that if you don’t treat your study sessions like a drag, they will lead to better results.
So, remember, pace yourselves for the long haul and your test scores will turn out fine!
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