Empress.of.study

It’s around the start of the semester for many of us, and here are some things you can do now that’ll help you have a good one!

🎯 Think of goals you want to accomplish

Whether it’s personal, financial, academic, etc., listing down specific, actionable goals will help you improve yourself and give you something to work towards. Reflecting on last semester/year also helps.

📚 Finalize courses and plan future courses

Some colleges (and even some high schools?) have a period during which you can go ‘course shopping’ and audit classes you want to take. But regardless of whether you’re still trying things out or have already finalized your courses, it’s important to keep track of your requirements.

You can do this however you think is best - I have a google sheet with the classes I’ve taken/plan to take and when I took/ plan to take them, along with my major/degree requirements.

At the beginning of the semester, I review my four-year college plan. I rethink the cohesiveness of my course combinations and whether or not I still want to take the courses I’ve listed (this mostly applies to major electives), as well as when I think is best to take each of these courses. I’ll also run this by my advisor to make sure everything’s good.

🎮 Create a game plan for each course

Based on the syllabi and my experience with the first couple weeks of the course, I’ll create a plan that’ll hopefully help me do well in the course. This includes planning

What kind of studying I’ll have to do (e.g. make flashcards? write formula sheets? keep handwritten notes or typed ones?)

How I’ll tackle assignments (e.g. do one problem from the problem set every day? work on projects over the weekend? meet with friends to go through the homework?)

How I’ll organize course material (e.g. how will I organize my digital files? will I need to keep physical papers and notes in a binder? how many sections will I need in my notebook?)

💡 Plan your ideal weekly schedule

I combine findings from my game plan and my goals for the semester to craft an ideal weekly schedule. After factoring in fixed meeting times like lectures, discussions, weekly club meetings, and meal times, the rest of my schedule is filled with time blocks, and is sort of a hybrid between regular time-based scheduling and flexible time blocking.

I try not to make things super specific, e.g. I’d plan for 2 hours of studying then a 30 minute break, but what I actually do with the 2 hours depends on what I need to get done that day. This leaves room for spontaneity, but of course, you could always plan things by the minute if that’s what you prefer.

📅 List important dates in a calendar

These are mostly exams and breaks, but what’s also really helpful is listing out all the dates when assignments are released and due so that you can budget your time and energy towards working on those assignments.

For example, if I find out I’ll have 3 problem sets due the same day, I know I’ll probably have to do a bit of each every day during the week before they’re due.

However, if I have one homework due Tuesday, and another due Friday, I’ll probably spend more time on the weekend working on the Tuesday homework, and more time during the week working on the Friday homework.

🛒 Buy supplies

After going to my classes and finalizing my schedule, I’ll get the textbooks I need from amazon/chegg/online/the university store (as a last resort), as well as any stationery I don’t already have stocked up from the previous semester.

It’s helpful to go to class the first day and ask about the textbook because some professors, even though they assign a book, they’ll say it’s fine if you don’t have it, maybe because the lectures/lecture slides are comprehensive enough, or the library has many copies you can borrow.

In addition to that, there are some classes for which a textbook is assigned but is only used for reference, i.e. for additional explanation. In this case, I’d ask my friends or other people I know who have taken the course and see if they think the textbook’s useful.

Some classes also have special software that’s required, so I’d look into getting those. E.g. some classes use iClicker Reef which is like an online polling system that you have to subscribe to. Or for programming classes, different languages may require different environments, so I’d spend time setting things up on my laptop. This can take quite a while sometimes, and small errors in setting up can have pretty big consequences, so I’ll try to do this as thoroughly as I can.

🗑 Clean

It’s ironic that this is at the end of the list, but cleaning is one of the first things I do once I get back on campus. I’ll organize my digital files, clean my room, tidy my desk, keep last semester’s material in storage, etc. It’s always good to have the things you already have in order before you add/get more things.

1. study for yourself, not others. don’t study because you like to say that you spent hours studying (or don’t not study just because you want to seem naturally smart)! do what you YOU have to do and not what others expect you to do.

2. understand, don’t memorize. especially if you’re in college!! 99% of the time the professor would rather you understand why something is rather than just what it is.

3. read the textbook. even if your professor goes over the chapter in class, a lot of times they’ll slip in questions on the exam that they didn’t go over in class but were in the reading. (sneaky!!)

4. don’t wait until the end of the semester to ask for extra credit. you are 20x more likely to get it if you ask in the middle. 

5. eat in class if you have to! not sure if this qualifies as a study tip but i’m including it anyway. if you’re starving there is no way you’ll be able to pay attention in class! keep some snacks in your backpack to eat during class to keep you energized and focused! the professor most likely will not mind, but if they did, it would probably say so in the syllabus.

6. make study groups! i know a lot of people find them distracting, but maybe try to meet with a study group for every class at least one or two times a semester just to make sure you didn’t miss anything in the notes. and who knows, your group might be able to explain tricky concepts to you better than your professor can!

7. take advantage of little pockets of time. do you have 30 minutes between classes? read over your notes! waiting in line for chipotle? pull out a quizlet!! college can get BUSY and overwhelming and you may have trouble finding a large chunk of time to study, so spend the down time you do have wisely!

8. ^ that being said, take breaks! if you just walked out of an exam and you’re feeling pretty brain dead, don’t pull out your notes and study! let yourself have some time to relax before you get back into your rhythm. you don’t want to burn yourself out!

9. don’t forget that you have a final exam! after you finish a chapter exam or quiz, don’t let yourself forget all of that information, it’ll make finals 10x harder! if you have extra study time every once in a while go over some of your old notes to refresh your memory.

10. go to office hours. that’s it. that’s the tip.

11. be flexible with your study time! don’t go to the library thinking “i have to stay here and study for 8 hours for my exam tomorrow or i am a bad student” because a. that is not realistic b. you might not actually need that much time. maybe you only need 3 hours to feel prepared! maybe you are planning on 2 but you really need 4! just be flexible!

12. have a clean & clear work space. we love our decorations and 20 mason jars full of pens on our desks, but at the end of the day, if your desk isn’t functional, change it. it is much easier to focus and get stuff done when you have adequate space to do so.

13. explain concepts out loud to yourself. you may sound crazy, but this works! this helps you work out the best way to explain things for the exam (especially if the exam is in essay format), and you can easily find out how much you actually understand by doing this! just go through your notes and explain all the major concepts. i always pretend i’m a professor teaching it to students (i know it sounds crazy but it really does work).

14. make sure to bring a water bottle to your study sessions. don’t be like me and only drink coffee!! coffee is great and all but doesn’t do much for your energy if you’re dehydrated and you are more likely to crash. water is really important and will keep you energized for a longer period of time!

15. switch between classes you are studying for every hour or so. your brain cannot focus on the same thing for very long, so switching between different subjects will help stimulate it so you can study longer! 

16. NEVER write an essay the day before it’s due! i guarantee it will not be your best work, even if you believe you work better under pressure. your thoughts and ideas need time to develop, and they won’t fully develop if you do it all in one night.

17. if you hit a point in your studying where you can’t focus or learn anymore, go to bed. the information will process in your brain overnight and you will wake up the next day with all the information fresh in your brain, and you’ll feel much more awake and focused on studying. 

18. mind map!! mind mapping will help you connect all the concepts together to better understand how it should all flow.

19. don’t wait to do tasks that will only take 5 minutes. get all of these quick tasks out of the way before you get on netflix (or studyblr tbh). this will help clear up your to-do list and get you into the groove of studying without doing anything too strenuous!

Hey guys, since my previous post on Morning Routines was very well received,  I decided to make a night version. This small infographic thingy outlines the things I do at night to prep myself for rest, as well as some other things you could try to ensure you get a good night’s sleep. Hope this helps, and don’t hesitate to drop me an ask if you have any questions!