Spring semester is upon us, collegiettes! After days of binge-watching Netflix and hanging with friends and family, sometimes it’s a little hard to get back into school and study mode. Here are some tips to get back into the study groove!
1. Prepare and organize all of your textbooks, binders, notebooks, and folders.
Personally, I like to make labels for each of my classes and put them on all of my stuff for each class. This way, I can easily grab what I need when I’m going to class or to study without getting them mixed up. However, you should do what works for you! Some people like to color code everything, while some like to use one big notebook for all their classes. If you want to try out a new system of organization, then now is the time to do it! Whatever it is you do, make sure it’s ready before classes start! This will leave you feeling prepared and ready to study when the time comes.
2. Print out all your syllabuses and put important assignments in your planner.
Printing out and reading all of your syllabuses allows you to see when important assignments are due so they don’t sneak up on you. Putting them in your planner allows you to plan to manage your time wisely for those weeks when it seems like everything is due. This can help to avoid unnecessary all-nighters and let you know when it’s study crunch time.
3. Put important dates and events in your planner.
Siena offers so many activities and clubs and each of these comes with their own events and dates that you’ll want to keep track of if you’re a part of one. A planner can help you avoid overbooking yourself and also allow you to block out time for studying. With all of your important assignments and dates in a planner, you’ll be able to look at the semester and plan your time accordingly.
Don’t like planners? That’s ok! Planners aren’t for everyone, but it’s always good to have some way to mark down important assignments and events. You may want to try alternate systems of organization, such as bullet journaling or Google calendar.
4. Find a study spot.
Maybe you already know where your “spot” is, maybe you don’t. Regardless, this is super important to have! Find a place where you feel comfortable and can concentrate on doing work. The conditions of these will differ for everyone, but having a good spot to study is essential. Make this the place you go when you need to do homework and study. This will prevent you from wasting time deciding where to study and from attempting to study in spots that just don’t work for you. If you don’t already know where your best study spot is, it’s fine to try out a few different places and see where you think you work best!
5. Read!
Any major requires reading and the reading that we all do is usually not the kind we partake in on our leisure time. In order to get ready for all the heavy-duty reading you may encounter over the semester, I suggest picking up a scholarly article on a topic of interest and reading it. It doesn’t have to be long, but practicing reading the type of materials you’ll be required to read over the semester can definitely help in the long run. This will get you used to the type of writing you’ll be reading and you’ll learn something new and interesting about something you like!
Good luck in spring semester, collegiettes!