Well, it’s that time again, folks. Finals are nearing at the speed of light, so why not get a head start? Here are 8 great study tips, brought to you by students of the Emmanuel College Performing Arts Department!
[Courtesy of Unsplash]
1. Flash cards
Let’s start off with the basics. If you’re studying for a language, or trying to memorize some equations, it’s time to break out the 3×5 index cards. This is the easiest way to memorize anything, ever! And once you’ve done about 10, you get real fast at making them. Bonus: it’s a great way to stay productive during your down time!
2. Brain food!
Go out and buy yourself some yummy snacks to make study time more appealing! Go for something low calorie, and easy to eat! Who can study when they’re slurping a bowl of soup? If you can, that’s impressive; if not, you’d be a pretty normal human. Go for some delicious dried fruit, chocolate covered espresso beans to keep you awake, or maybe even some Smart Food! It’s time to make studying a little bit sweeter.
3. Play the same song on repeat (Jazz or Classical)
You’ve heard it before somewhere: by listening to classical music, you’re stimulating your brain and retaining knowledge faster. And who doesn’t love a little background noise? By listening to the same or similar songs on repeat, you aren’t going to get distracted by it. Sounds like a good idea to me…
4. Create a personal study guide
We all know that feeling: you take a look at the study guide your professor provides, and you already know half the stuff on it. But what are the odds your professor ACTUALLY gave you everything that’s going to be on the final? Probably slim. Your professors will expect you to know things that weren’t included on their study guide, so take a quick browse through your class notes and create your own personal study guide based on the things you may have forgotten! It’ll only benefit you more in the end.
5. Change up your study space
Studying in your bed? Booooooring! Why not take a trip to your festive local coffee shop, head to a park on a beautiful day, or head to the closest public library? Campus can get so dull after awhile, especially after you’ve exhausted all of the creative study spaces you found last semester. So take a short trip somewhere new, and study it up among a brand new environment! Who doesn’t love to try new things?
6. Listen to music in a different language
This one is my personal favorite! I took Spanish all throughout highschool, but I’m still pretty sub par to say the least. But despite the fact that I still can’t speak Spanish, I LOVE to listen to Spanish music! Why? Because I have no idea what the lyrics mean, so I don’t ever get lost in them! Plus, you can impress all of your friends when they ask what you’re listening to, and you respond with “Baila Esta Cumbia by Selena Quintanilla Perez”. Try it sometime; you won’t regret it!
7. Space it out
DO NOT try to do all of your studying in one 5 hour session. That’s just ridiculous. Our brains don’t work like that! Do yourself a favor and space it out, get into the habit of studying for 20 or 30 minutes at a time and then taking a quick break. That way you won’t feel too overwhelmed, and you can get a proper study pattern going. Let your brain relax every once in awhile, and don’t wait until the last second to do it!
8. Just start studying!
We all know that the hardest part is getting yourself started. You have 10 other short term things to accomplish, so you put off studying, and now it’s midnight and you have a 9am exam. We’ve ALL done it before. And let me guess, you got a crap grade? Go figure. Do yourself a favor and forget about the laundry for a day, do the dishes in the morning, make your bed some other time… get your studying done NOW!
So now that you have all of these study tips under your belt, try to apply a few! What could it hurt? Odds are, you’re going to do much better on your test than you would if you don’t try at all! Good luck with finals, ladies and gentlemen, do good work, and aim for that A! (Or C- if its a gen req; no one really cares about those anyway…)