After all of the partying, hanging out with friends, procrastinating and upcoming deadlines, our midterms and finals are always approaching and lurking from around the corner. As a junior at Stony Brook University, the pace is quick and if you start to fall behind, it’s very difficult to get caught up in time for the next exam. I never quite knew the best way to study. Sometimes, I get distracted and I lose interest. We think we can cram a month’s work of information into a single weekend. Sure it’s doable, but not efficient. We are in the age of working smarter, not harder. As I was procrastinating studying for a test, I came across this video on YouTube about how to study efficiently and why studying less might actually be more (something I can definitely support).
Video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0
This video quickly became one of my favorite methods to studying. The video is about an hour long but basically the main points are that as college students, we think the best way to study is by sitting at a desk for 6 hours straight and planning on learning every chapter in one night. However, the problem is that within the first half hour of studying, we are already feeling burnt out and hating the material we are studying. We reread the same sentence over and over again but we are not retaining anything. Our minds are bored and blank, and our attention span is nowhere to be found. The lecturer suggests that, when you feel yourself starting to slip, take a 5 minute break and do something you enjoy. Go for a short walk, eat a snack, talk to your friend. We don’t need a whole half hour to recharge and get back into the zone. If you continue to do this for 6 hours straight while talking timely breaks, you will actively be studying for over 5 hours instead of only studying for the first 25 minutes and hating your life for the next 5 hours.
Another point mentioned was the fact that we need to create an environment for our mind to be able to study. Studying in your dorm isn’t always the best option because we are tempted to sleep, talk to our roommates and do everything except study. So, we must “pavlov” our brains into studying. For example, find a spot in the library. Everytime you sit in that spot, only study. If you want to go on your phone, get up and move to a different seat. That way, whenever you sit down in your study spot, your mind will automatically get into the zone. It might take a little while to get used to studying, but the payoff will be worth it. Instead of wasting hours trying to study, you can finish your studying early and still have time to go out on the weekends.
I think finding the perfect way to study is a lot of trial and error. After seeing this video, I sought out to try this method and see if it would help me study difficult, tiresome topics such as Biochemistry and Physics. I actually was surprised by the results, and I find this is one of my main methods I use for studying. Feel free to give this method a try if you are a student struggling to find a doable, realistic study habit!