Study Your Way To Success

Let’s face it. Studying is a big part of everyone’s life, whether it be in high school or beyond. As a freshman in high school, I won’t say I have a lot of experience, but I will share a couple of study hacks that I’ve found to be effective throughout my academic journey. 

Finding your method

 This is a crucial part of effective studying. Finding a method of studying that works for you will help you be productive and stay on task. Here are some methods I discovered when I was finding what works for me:

• Start with the subjects you don’t like/seem hard to you. Do them first and then move onto the easier classes.
• Pomodoro technique: Involves studying for 25-minute intervals and then taking 5-minute breaks in between. After 4 rounds of this, you get a longer 15-minute break.
• Active recall: Studying a little bit every day. Studies show this improves memory and helps you do better on quizzes and tests. This method involves reading and then closing the book and writing down what you remember. It encourages your brain to activate its memory mode.
• Set goals for yourself: This will motivate you to work hard to achieve something

Creating a study schedule for yourself

As boring as it sounds, creating a study schedule for yourself is probably one of the best things you can do throughout the school year. My advice is to study a little every day instead of cramming before an exam (but let’s admit it, we’ve all done it before). I also suggest benefiting from technology and downloading apps to help you stay on track. Some of my personal favorites for productivity are: 

• WidgetCal: A calendar app that allows you to track your month and can be displayed as a widget! It’s also fine without the widget function
• Be Focused: This app incorporates the Pomodoro Technique and allows you to set intervals for studying. It also tracks your studying habits throughout the week. You can see your productivity report at the end of the week!
• Flora: With this app, you can set a timer for how long you want to study. You set your timer, and a tree starts to grow. If you exit the app, you get a reminder to go back or your tree dies. You can collaborate with friends to keep yourself accountable. The best part: If you pay for a subscription ($2.79/ month), a real tree is planted every 24 hours in rural parts of Asia and Africa. So you can save the planet while getting your work done!

And Finally… 

• Put your phone away: Silence it or put it somewhere it won’t distract you. You can check it between breaks but try to stay off it while you’re studying. 
• Ask for help: Your teachers are there to help you! Shoot them an email or ask them in class if you don’t understand anything.
• Clean your room: Although this may sound out of context, keeping your surroundings clean can have a positive physiological effect on you and help you focus. 
• And lastly: Hard work pays off so make sure you stay on task to achieve your goals

Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them

– Anonymous