How to study well

25 Scientifically Proven Tips for More Effective Studying

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Staying on top of schoolwork can be tough.

Whether you’re in high school, or an adult going back to college, balancing coursework with other responsibilities can be challenging. If you’re teetering on the edge of burnout, here are some study tips that are scientifically proven to help you succeed!

2022 Ultimate Study Tips Guide

In this guide, we explore scientifically-proven study techniques from scientific journals and some of the world’s best resources like Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Cornell.

In a hurry? Skip ahead to the section that interests you most.

This comprehensive guide covers everything from studying for exams to the best study apps. So, let’s get started!

Part 1 – How to Prepare for Success

1. Set a Schedule

“Oh, I’ll get to it soon” isn’t a valid study strategy. Rather, you have to be intentional about planning set study sessions.

On your calendar, mark out chunks of time that you can devote to your studies. You should aim to schedule some study time each day, but other commitments may necessitate that some sessions are longer than others.

Harder classes require more study time. So, too, do classes that are worth several credits. For each credit hour that you’re taking, consider devoting one to three hours to studying each week.

2. Study at Your Own Pace

Do you digest content quickly, or do you need time to let the material sink in? Only you know what pace is best for you.

There’s no right (or wrong) study pace. So, don’t try matching someone else’s speed.

Instead, through trial and error, find what works for you. Just remember that slower studying will require that you devote more time to your schoolwork.

3. Get Some Rest

Exhaustion helps no one perform their best. Your body needs rest; getting enough sleep is crucial for memory function.

This is one reason that scheduling study time is so important: It reduces the temptation to stay up all night cramming for a big test. Instead, you should aim for seven or more hours of sleep the night before an exam.

Limit pre-studying naps to 15 or 20 minutes at a time. Upon waking, do a few stretches or light exercises to prepare your body and brain for work.

4. Silence Your Cell Phone

Interruptions from your phone are notorious for breaking your concentration. If you pull away to check a notification, you’ll have to refocus your brain before diving back into your studies.

Consider turning off your phone’s sounds or putting your device into do not disturb mode before you start. You can also download apps to temporarily block your access to social media.

If you’re still tempted to check your device, simply power it off until you’re finished studying.

5. Relax

Research shows that stress makes it harder to learn and to retain information.

Stress-busting ideas include:

Try to clear your head before you begin studying.

Part 2 – Create Your Perfect Study Space

1. Pick a Good Place to Study

There’s a delicate balance when it comes to the best study spot: You need a place that’s comfortable without being so relaxing that you end up falling asleep. For some people, that means working at a desk. Others do better on the couch or at the kitchen table. Your bed, on the other hand, may be too comfy.

Surrounding yourself with peace and quiet helps you focus. If your kids are being loud or there’s construction going on outside your window, you might need to relocate to an upstairs bedroom, a quiet cafe or your local library.

2. Choose Your Music Wisely

Noise-canceling headphones can also help limit distractions.

It’s better to listen to quiet music than loud tunes. Some people do best with instrumental music playing in the background.

Songs with lyrics may pull your attention away from your textbooks. However, some folks can handle listening to songs with words, so you may want to experiment and see what works for you.

Just remember that there’s no pressure to listen to any music. If you do your best work in silence, then feel free to turn your music player off.

3. Turn Off Netflix

If song lyrics are distracting, just imagine what an attention sucker the television can be! Serious studying requires that you turn off the TV.

The same goes for listening to radio deejays. Hearing voices in the background takes your brainpower off of your studies.

4. Use Background Sounds

Turning off the television, talk radio and your favorite pop song doesn’t mean that you have to study in total silence. Soft background sounds are a great alternative.

Some people enjoy listening to nature sounds, such as ocean waves or cracks of thunder. Others prefer the whir of a fan.

5. Snack on Brain Food

A growling stomach can pull your mind from your studies, so feel free to snack as you work. Keep your snacks within arm’s reach, so you don’t have to leave your books to find food.

Fuel your next study session with some of the following items:

Go for snacks that will power your brain and keep you alert. Steer clear of items that are high in sugar, fat and processed carbs.

Part 3 – Pick a Study Method That Works for You

Mindlessly reading through your notes or textbooks isn’t an effective method of studying; it doesn’t help you process the information. Instead, you should use a proven study strategy that will help you think through the material and retain the information.

Strategy #1 – SQ3R Method

With the SQ3R approach to reading, you’ll learn to think critically about a text.

There are five steps:

Strategy #2 – PQ4R Method

PQ4R is another study strategy that can help you digest the information you read.

This approach has six steps:

Strategy #3 – THIEVES Method

The THIEVES approach can help you prepare to read for information.

There are seven pre-reading steps:

Ask yourself thought-provoking questions as you work through these steps. After completing them, read the text.

Studying Online

Although these three study strategies can be useful in any setting, studying online has its own set of challenges.

Dr. Tony Bates has written a thoughtful and thorough guide to studying online, A Student Guide to Studying Online. Not only does he highlight the importance of paying attention to course design, but he also offers helpful tips on how to choose the best online program and manage your course load.

Part 4 – Effective Study Skills

1. Highlight Key Concepts

Looking for the most important information as you read helps you stay engaged with the material. This can help keep your mind from wandering as you read.

As you find important details, mark them with a highlighter, or underline them. It can also be effective to jot notes along the edges of the text. Write on removable sticky notes if the book doesn’t belong to you.

When you’re preparing for a test, begin your studies by reviewing your highlighted sections and the notes you wrote down.

2. Summarize Important Details

One good way to get information to stick in your brain is to tell it again in your own words. Writing out a summary can be especially effective. You can organize your summaries in paragraph form or in outline form.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t include every bit of information in a summary. Stick to the key points.

Consider using different colors on your paper. Research shows that information presented in color is more memorable than things written in plain type. You could use colored pens or go over your words with highlighters.

After writing about what you read, reinforce the information yet again by reading aloud what you wrote on your paper.

3. Create Your Own Flashcards

For an easy way to quiz yourself, prepare notecards that feature a keyword on one side and important facts or definitions about that topic on the reverse.

Writing out the cards will help you learn the information. Quizzing yourself on the cards will continue that reinforcement.

The great thing about flashcards is that they’re easily portable. Slip them in your bag, so you can pull them out whenever you have a spare minute. This is a fantastic way to squeeze in extra practice time outside of your regularly scheduled study sessions.

As an alternative to paper flashcards, you can also use a computer program or a smartphone app to make digital flashcards that you can click through again and again.

4. Improve Recall with Association

Sometimes your brain could use an extra hand to help you hold onto the information that you’re studying. Creating imaginary pictures, crafting word puzzles or doing other mental exercises can help make your material easier to remember.

Try improving recall with the following ideas:

5. Absorb Information in Smaller Chunks

Think about how you memorize a phone number: You divide the 10-digit number into three smaller groups. It’s easier to get these three chunks to stick in your mind than it is to remember the whole thing as a single string of information.

You can use this strategy when studying by breaking a list down into smaller parts. Work on memorizing each part as its own group.

6. Make Your Own Study Sheet

Condensing your most important notes onto one page is an excellent way to keep priority information at your fingertips. The more you look over this sheet and read it aloud, the better that you’ll know the material.

Furthermore, the act of typing or writing out the information will help you memorize the details. Using different colors or lettering styles can help you picture the information later.

Just like flashcards, a study sheet is portable. You can pull it out of your bag whenever you have a spare minute.

7. Be the Teacher

To teach information to others, you first have to understand it yourself. Therefore, when you’re trying to learn something new, challenge yourself to consider how you’d teach it to someone else. Wrestling with this concept will help you gain a better understanding of the topic.

In fact, you can even recruit a friend, a family member or a study group member to listen to your mini-lesson. Reciting your presentation aloud to someone else will help the details stick in your mind, and your audience may be able to point out gaps in your knowledge.

8. Know When to Call It a Day

Yes, you really can get too much of a good thing. Although your studies are important, they shouldn’t be the only thing in your life. It’s also important to have a social life, get plenty of exercise, and take care of your non-school responsibilities.

Studies show that too much time with your nose in the books can elevate your stress level, which can have a negative effect on your school performance and your personal relationships.

Too much studying may also keep you from getting enough exercise. This could lower your bone density or increase your percentage of body fat.

Part 5 – How to Study More Efficiently

1. Take Regular Breaks

Study sessions will be more productive if you allow yourself to take planned breaks. Consider a schedule of 50 minutes spent working followed by a 10-minute break.

Your downtime provides a good chance to stand up and stretch your legs. You can also use this as an opportunity to check your phone or respond to emails. When your 10 minutes are up, however, it’s time to get back to work.

At the end of a long study session, try to allow yourself a longer break — half an hour, perhaps — before you move on to other responsibilities.

2. Take Notes in Class

The things that your teacher talks about in class are most likely topics that he or she feels are quite important to your studies. So, it’s a good idea to become a thorough note-taker.

The following tips can help you become an efficient, effective note-taker:

Recording important points is effective because it forces you to pay attention to what’s being said during a lecture.

3. Exercise First

Would you believe that exercise has the potential to grow your brain? Scientists have shown this to be true!

In fact, exercise is most effective at generating new brain cells when it’s immediately followed by learning new information.

There are short-term benefits to exercising before studying as well. Physical activity helps wake you up so you feel alert and ready when you sit down with your books.

4. Review and Revise Your Notes at Home

If your notes are incomplete — for example, you wrote down dates with no additional information — take time after class to fill in the missing details. You may also want to swap notes with a classmate so you can catch things that you missed during the lecture.

If you find that there are concepts in your notes that you don’t understand, ask your professor for help. You may be able to set up a meeting or communicate through email.

After rewriting your notes, put them to good use by reading through them again within the next 24 hours. You can use them as a reference when you create study sheets or flashcards.

5. Start with Your Toughest Assignments

Let’s face it: There are some subjects that you like more than others. If you want to do things the smart way, save your least challenging tasks for the end of your studies. Get the hardest things done first.

If you save the toughest tasks for last, you’ll have them hanging over your head for the whole study session. That can cost you unnecessary mental energy.

Furthermore, if you end with your favorite assignments, it will give you a more positive feeling about your academic pursuits. You’ll be more likely to approach your next study session with a good attitude.

6. Focus on Key Vocabulary

To really understand a subject, you have to know the words that relate to it. Vocabulary words are often written in textbooks in bold print. As you scan the text, write these words down in a list.

Look them up in a dictionary or in the glossary at the back of the book. To help you become familiar with the terms, you could make a study sheet with the definitions or make flashcards.

7. Join a Study Group

Studying doesn’t always have to be an individual activity.

Benefits of a study group include:

Gather a few classmates to form a study group.

Part 6 – How to Study for Tests

1. Study for Understanding, Not Just for the Test

Cramming the night before a big test usually involves trying to memorize information long enough to be able to regurgitate it the next morning. Although that might help you get a decent grade or your test, it won’t help you really learn the material.

Within a day or two, you’ll have forgotten most of what you studied. You’ll have missed the goal of your classes: mastery of the subject matter.

Instead, commit yourself to long-term learning by studying throughout the semester.

2. Begin Studying at Least One Week in Advance

Of course, you may need to put in extra time before a big test, but you shouldn’t put this off until the night before.

Instead, in the week leading up to the exam, block off a daily time segment for test preparation. Regular studying will help you really learn the material.

3. Spend at Least One Hour per Day Studying

One week out from a big test, study for an hour per night. If you have two big tests coming up, increase your daily study time, and divide it between the two subjects.

The day before the exam, spend as much time as possible studying — all day, even.

4. Re-write Class Notes

After each class, you should have fleshed out your notes and rewritten them in a neat, organized format. Now, it’s time to take your re-done notes and write them once again.

This time, however, your goal is to condense them down to only the most important material. Ideally, you want your rewritten notes to fit on just one or two sheets of paper.

These sheets should be your main study resource during test preparation.

5. Create a Study Outline

Early in the week, make a long outline that includes many of the details from your notes. Rewrite it a few days later, but cut the material in half.

Shortly before the test, write it one more time; include only the most important information. Quiz yourself on the missing details.

6. Make Your Own Flashcards

Another way to quiz yourself is to make flashcards that you can use for practice written tests.

First, read the term on the front side. Encourage yourself to write out the definition or details of that term. Compare your written answer with what’s on the back of the card.

This can be extra helpful when prepping for an entrance exam like the GRE, though there are a growing number of schools that don’t require GRE scores for admission.

7. Do Sample Problems and Essays from Your Textbook

There are additional things you can do to practice test-taking. For example, crack open your book, and solve problems like the ones you expect to see on the test.

Write out the answers to essay questions as well. There may be suggested essay topics in your textbook.

Part 7 – Memory Improvement Techniques

1. Study Right Before Bed

Although you shouldn’t pull all-nighters, studying right before bedtime can be a great idea.

Sleep helps cement information in your brain. Studies show that you’re more likely to recall information 24 hours later if you went to bed shortly after learning it.

Right before bed, read through your study sheet, quiz yourself on flashcards or recite lists of information.

2. Study Small Chunks at a Time

If you want to remember information over the long haul, don’t try to cram it all in during one sitting.

Instead, use an approach called spaced repetition:

The brain stores information that it thinks is important. So, when you regularly go over a topic at set intervals over time, it strengthens your memory of it.

3. Tell a Story

Sometimes, you just need to make information silly in order to help it stick in your brain.

To remember a list of items or the particular order of events, make up a humorous story that links those things or words together. It doesn’t necessarily need to make sense; it just needs to be memorable.

4. Change Study Locations Often

Studying the same information in multiple places helps the details stick in your mind better.

Consider some of the following locations:

It’s best to switch between several different study spots instead of always hitting the books in the same place.

5. Swap Topics Regularly

Keeping your brain trained on the same information for long periods of time isn’t beneficial. It’s smarter to jump from one subject to another a few times during a long study session.

Along those same lines, you should study the same material in multiple ways. Research shows that using varied study methods for the same topic helps you perform better on tests.

6. Quiz Yourself

Challenge yourself to see what you can remember. Quizzing yourself is like practicing for the test, and it’s one of the most effective methods of memory retention.

If it’s hard to remember the information at first, don’t worry; the struggle makes it more likely that you’ll remember it in the end.

7. Go Old-school: Use a Pen and Paper

The act of writing answers helps you remember the information. Here are some ways to use writing while studying:

Writing by hand is best because it requires your attention and focus.

8. See It & Hear It

Say information out loud, and you’ll be more likely to remember it. You’re engaging your eyes as you read the words, your mouth as you say them, and your ears as you hear yourself.

Scientists call the benefit of speaking information aloud production effect.

Part 8 – Top 10 Study Hacks Backed by Science

1. Grab a Coffee

Drinking coffee (or your preferred high-octane beverage) while you study may help keep you alert so you don’t doze off mid-session. There’s even evidence that caffeine can improve your memory skills.

However, avoid sugary beverages. These could cause your energy level to crash in a few hours.

2. Reward Yourself

Studies show that giving yourself a reward for doing your work helps you enjoy the effort more.

Do it right away; don’t wait until the test is over to celebrate. For example, after finishing a three-hour study session, treat yourself to an ice cream cone or a relaxing bath.

3. Study with Others

Working with a study group holds you accountable so it’s harder to procrastinate on your work.

When you study together, you can fill in gaps in one another’s understanding, and you can quiz each other on the material.

Besides, studying with a group can be fun!

4. Meditate

It may be hard to imagine adding anything else to your packed schedule, but dedicating time to mindfulness practices can really pay off.

Studies show that people who meditate may perform better on tests, and they are generally more attentive.

Mindfulness apps can help you get started with this practice.

5. Hit the Gym

To boost the blood flow to your brain, do half an hour of cardio exercise before sitting down to study.

Aerobic exercise gives your brain a major dose of oxygen and other important nutrients, which may help you think clearly, remember facts and do your best work.

6. Play Some Music

Listening to tunes can help you focus. Studies show that the best study music is anything that features a rhythmic beat.

It’s smart to choose a style that you like. If you like classical, that’s fine, but you could also go for electronica or modern piano solos.

7. Grab Some Walnuts

A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids helps your brain do its best work.

Good sources include:

To calm your pre-test jitters, eat a mix of omega-3 and omega-6 foods.

8. Take Regular Breaks

Your brain needs some downtime. Don’t try to push through for hours on end. Every hour, take a break for several minutes.

Breaks are good for your mental health. They also improve your attention span, your creativity and your productivity.

During a break, it’s best to move around and exercise a bit.

9. Get Some Sleep

Although studying is important, it can’t come at the expense of your rest. Sleep gives your brain a chance to process the information that you’ve learned that day.

If you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll have a hard time focusing and remembering information.

Even during busy test weeks, try to get seven to nine hours of sleep each night.

10. Eliminate Distractions

It’s hard to get much studying done when you’re busy scrolling Instagram. Put away your phone and computer while studying, or at least block your social media apps.

Turn off the television while you work, too.

If you’re studying in a noisy area, put on headphones that can help block the distracting sounds.

Part 9 – The Best Study Apps

1. iStudiez Pro Legend

Scheduling study time is a must, and iStudiez Pro Legend lets you put study sessions, classes and assignments on your calendar. Color coding the entries can help you stay organized.

For each class, you can enter meeting times and homework assignments, and you can keep track of your grades.

2. Dragon Anywhere

Instead of writing notes in the margins of your textbooks, you can use Dragon Anywhere’s voice dictation feature to record your thoughts and insights.

Just be sure to rewrite your dictated notes in your own handwriting later for maximum learning!

3. Evernote

When you’re in school, you have a lot of responsibilities to juggle, but Evernote can help you organize them.

You can add notes and documents to store them in one digital spot, and tagging them will help you quickly pull up all files for a class or a topic.

4. Quizlet Go

Make digital flashcards that you can practice on your mobile device with Quizlet Go.

This means that you can pull out your phone for a quick study session whenever you have a couple of minutes of downtime. You don’t even need internet access to practice these flashcards.

5. My Study Life

Enter your upcoming tests and assignments into My Study Life, and the app will send you reminder messages.

The app has a calendar so you can keep track of your class schedule. It can even notify you when it’s time to go to class.

6. Exam Countdown Lite

You should start studying for tests at least a week in advance. Input the dates for your exams and assignments into Exam Countdown Lite so you’ll have a visual reminder of when you should begin your test prep.

The app can send you notifications as well.

7. Flashcards+

With Chegg’s Flashcards+, you can make your own digital flashcards or use ones designed by others.

Because you can add images to your cards, you can quiz yourself on the names of famous artworks, important historical artifacts or parts of a scientific diagram.

8. XMind

Organize information into categories by creating a visual mind map on XMind. This can help you classify facts and figures so you see how they relate to one another.

This visual representation can also help you recall the information later.

9. ScannerPro

Do you have piles of handwritten notes everywhere? Once you’ve written them out, consider scanning them into digital form. ScannerPro lets you use your phone as a scanner.

You can store your scanned files in this app or transfer them to Evernote or another organization system.

Part 10 – Study Skills Worksheets

Could you use more help to develop your study skills? Rutgers University has dozens of study skills worksheets online.

These documents are packed with tips that can help you become a better student. The checklists and charts can help you evaluate your current strengths and organize your work.

Part 11 – Key Takeaways

You’re a busy person, so you need to make the most of every study session.

By now, you should understand the basics of effective studies:

Put these study tips to good use, and you’ll soon learn that you’ve learned how to study smarter.

26 Tips to Study Better that Actually Work [Updated]

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How to Improve Your Study Habits and Set Yourself Up for Success

Want to study better? What is your PLAN for attacking your studies deliberately?

How much time will you spend going over material you learn in class? Will you study every week or, like most students, wait and shove it all in your brain the day before that big test?

What is your study “strategy”?

Taking notes? Making outlines? Creating flash cards?

Most students take a pretty lazy attitude towards studying, simply revisiting material before an important test or exam and crossing their fingers, hoping the right tidbits will stick.

As a result they get lazy results…

Better Study Habits Can Guarantee a Successful College Career

Learn how to learn first.

Yes, make a conscious effort to learn how to study better now.

In fact, one of the best things any student can do at the beginning of their college career is take a class on study skills and college success. Because once you know the secrets top students use to get it done, academic success becomes very predictable.

This article will not substitute such a class.

But these 26 tips will make your study time much more useful, focused, and productive if you take them seriously.

Download this article as a PDF

1. First, Know Your Learning Style

We all have our own natural tendency for retaining new information, and there are four main learning styles:

2. Put Your Learning Style to Conscious Use

Obviously it’s not enough to just recognize your own learning style.

Yet this raises an interesting point. A lot of us know HOW to study better, but like with most things in life we don’t apply the information to make things happen.

So make a conscious effort to adapt your methods of studying to what suits you best and you’ll exponentially speed up your learning curve.

3. Study In a Variety of Environments

Experts used to preach studying in the same room every time so your brain could click into focus mode as soon as you sat down.

But in recent years, an alternative view has gained a lot of support. Research actually shows you can focus better by regularly changing your study location.

The theory is that studying material in a variety of places helps your brain build up different associations in relation to the material you study.

Leading to stronger memories and better recall.

4. Try Studying in Dynamic Environments as Well

You also might feel you need to find somewhere to study where you won’t be interrupted. This, too, depends on your learning style.

For instance, music may enhance focused study for auditory learners while it may distract from it for others. These same auditory learners may easily be distracted by a television in the background while others may simply tune it out.

Some students may find a busy coffee shop is an ideal study spot for their personality. If this sounds like you, check out our cool Rainy Cafe app, which replicates the ambient background noise of a mellow coffee shop.

Of course, others may prefer to lock themselves away in a totally quiet environment, free of any distractions.

Bottom line: go with what works for you!

5. Set Regular Study Times and Stick With Them

This is super helpful in the lead-up to an exam or major test, but it can make your general study plan a lot more manageable too.

Plan your study time in advance instead of hoping it will “happen” somewhere in between your social life and classes.

By creating a set studying timetable and putting it into your calendar, you create a commitment and routine. Honor it as faithfully as you do showing up to class.

It also helps ensure your study is organized and split intelligently between subjects as necessary.

6. Eliminate Potential Distractions Before Your Study Session Starts

Sure, working in a noisy coffee shop or productive library may help some people, but trying to watch a movie or carry on a conversation while studying is doubtful to help anyone.

Before you start, eliminate anything that might cause your mind to wander.

First, gather everything you need. Having to wander somewhere else to collect your notes or important textbooks is an easy way to get sidetracked.

And if other people are in the house watching television or music, you might want to move to a spot where you can’t hear.

Download this article as a PDF

7. Go Instantly Into Your Study Zone With Music or Ambient Noise

Never leave home without your headphones!

The previously mentioned Rainy Cafe tool can be great if you need some ambient noise from a cafe, a gentle rainfall, or both at once! It’s 100% free to use here.

Some people prefer music. I always carry an mp3 player in my backpack so I can pop it in and turn on my favorite work music whenever I need to knuckle down. (Pro-tip: Listen to the same songs or binural beats every time you sit down to work and your mind will easily slip into the zone on command.)

Not only does it drown out the noise but pointing at your headphones is a super convenient way to cut off a conversation.

8. Get a Handle On Destructive Digital Distractions Too

We all know how easy it is to become distracted online – just a quick peek at Facebook can easily become a 20-minute detour into your study time.

This is where a product like FocusMe is ideal.

You can use it to block any digital distractions likely to steal your attention when you should be focusing on your studies. You can even use it to shut off the entire internet or lock yourself out of tempting websites or games.

Also, don’t forget to silence all the little alerts on your phone!

9. Break the Destructive “Cram Session” Cycles

Marathon cram sessions have almost become synonymous with college.

You don’t need me to tell you how inefficient they are – nothing you stuff in your brain that way ever sticks for long and the crash and burn doesn’t do you any favors either.

Commit to spreading your study over a prolonged period and be one of the few college students who lives with healthy balance and a normal life. You are far more likely to retain the information you study if you allow some time for daily exercise and socialization too.

Also, when it comes to studying, quality is far more important than quantity.

Long stretches are counter-productive – after a while, your mind fatigues and wanders, and you start to feel sleepy. You get bored and easily distracted.

Instead, keep study sessions short. You’ll retain more information studying in short bursts, fitting those bursts around your other daily activities.

10. Maintain a Study Planner With Deadlines and Prioritized Assignments

Mark down deadlines for every assignment you know will come up throughout the semester, across all of your subjects, and set advance reminders so you don’t lose track.

Then sort out the best sequence for working on all projects.

It is easy to procrastinate on work you find difficult or boring, so you might want to tackle those ones first and save your more “pleasurable” assignments for last. Even on a daily basis it makes sense to tackle your harder subjects first, while your mind is still fresh.

Keep your planner with you at all times, and whenever you are given a new assignment, or any work with a deadline, put it down. Record your deadlines and prioritize your work rather than making a mental note you’re bound to keep putting off.

Of course, things change, so be prepared to adapt your entire schedule as needed.

11. Bait Yourself With Enticing Treats for Study Goals

Don’t just reward yourself for the bigger achievements – small rewards for small wins can also be a great way to build up better study habits.

When you complete a successful study session, for example, reward yourself by doing something fun or buying something you’ve been wanting. It’s about creating extra incentives and more motivation for doing what’s necessary.

The anticipation of your reward should give you extra energy to help you achieve your study goal.

As your habits develop, you can raise the bar on treats. You might reward yourself for putting in more hours than normal one week, or getting a project done ahead of time.

12. Take More Useful Notes in Class

Everybody has their own notation method, and what works best for you will usually be influenced by your learning style. Visual learners, for instance, find using color and different sized headlines more useful than auditory or kinesthetic learners do.

Some general suggestions for creating better notes include:

13. Review Notes While the Info is Still Fresh In Your Mind

Take time after class or before study sessions to review, edit and organize your notes.

When I was in college, I even scheduled large blocks of free time between classes and used that time to study in the library right after lectures. I’d jump right into the homework immediately or go through my notes.

Libraries are a perfect blend of dynamic activity and busy students, so the mood is just right. And this “college hack” allowed me to arrive home every night homework-free and still get straight A’s.

If you’re a kinesthetic learner look for practical opportunities to “practice” the material if possible.

How to study effectively: The ultimate guide

Use this ultimate study guide to nail your next exam! We share five principles on how to study less and still learn with double the speed.

I used to know this guy in college who hardly seemed to study at all, and got all As. Annoying, right? While we were all sweating bullets with pre-exam anxiety, cramming like crazy the day and night before finals, Haru was at home, chilling, playing video games. He didn’t need to study, he said, because he’d «done the work» during the semester.

We were all in awe of Haru, thinking he had a photographic memory or some other amazing cognitive talent that the genetic gods did not bestow onto the rest of us. It wasn’t until later that we learned that Haru wasn’t the reincarnation of Albert Einstein, he just knew how to study effectively.

He had figured out the secret to passing your exams with seemingly minimal effort; the Holy Grail study techniques *insert angels singing here*.

You see, you are cognitively wired in a certain way. Traditional approaches to studying don’t really take this into account when you attempt to learn new information. You just keep reading and cramming, hoping the necessary facts will stick around and show up when needed.

But if this traditional approach really worked, a lot more students would perform a lot better at school, college, and life.

If, however, you work with your brain’s cognitive hardwiring, just like Haru—rather than struggling on in spite of it or even against it—you can massively increase your rate of knowledge retention and decrease the amount of time you need to spend studying.

Sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true infomercials, doesn’t it? The ones with the smiling housewives that make motherhood look like a detergent-fueled dream devoid of backache, bacteria, and kid barf…

It smacks of banana bread and freshly baked lies.

It’s not too good to be true, though. We at Brainscape know that there is a super simple study method that leverages decades of cognitive science to help students onboard information more effectively so they won’t forget it 24 hours after memorizing it. And we know this because our adaptive flashcard study platform is the product of this research.

So, if you want the time you put into your studying to yield much quicker, more permanent results, it’s time to do things a little differently. We’re going to show you right now in Brainscape’s ultimate guide to studying effectively with LESS net effort:

There are two approaches to studying

What kind of student are you?

Are you the kind who waits until an exam looms right over your head before you cancel everything on your calendar and cram like crazy? Do you spend your exam countdown in a sleepless, caffeine-fueled, and information-drenched stupor, emerging with just enough energy to somehow sit for (and scrape through) the exam?

This is the first approach to studying and it’s cramming. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you are one of the vast majority of humans on the planet who study this way. Yet, for an approach that is so widespread, cramming simply doesn’t work well. It’s stressful, unsatisfying, and almost never yields the results you were aiming for. It also requires more net study time when all is said and done.

Start studying on day one of your course

What does that even look like?

Dedicate a little time each and every day to:

In other words: you’ve done the hard work of understanding, learning, and remembering the information.

It’s obvious which of these two study techniques is the most beneficial and effective. Now, all you need is a blueprint on how to get from where you are now (over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived cramming) to where students like Haru are (spending less time and effort to get better results).

We’re going to lay out that blueprint for you. Consider these the ultimate tips on the best way to study for a test!

Five principles of effective study rooted in science

We have the secret to cutting your studying time in half. Take a look at the following diagram:

Typically, students dedicate more and more time to studying as their exam approaches, cramming an entire course or semester’s worth of material in only a few days. Sound familiar?

The problem with this approach is that by waiting so long since their initial lectures, these students have forgetten pretty much everything. And now they have to spend extra time re-learning the same concepts! Overall, these students might spend 10 hours studying, which is what we see in the «Cramming» graph.

Now let’s look at the «Spacing» graph beneath it, which shows an even distribution of time over the days leading up to an exam. This student covered the same ground in only 5 hours, spending a little time every day studying, and using a specific pattern of learning that helps the knowledge to stick.

Because of this latter approach, this student was prepared in HALF the time.

This sums up the two key ingredients in an effective study plan:

This may sound like a no-brainer. After all, if you wanted to bench press 250 pounds, you wouldn’t wait until the day before your goal to start training, spending 10 hours in the gym in an effort to “catch up”.

But this is exactly what students are tempted to do. And it has a lot to do with a lack of motivation and a tendency to procrastinate rather than study.

This is not a good plan.

But don’t worry: We’re going to teach you the five principles behind an excellent study plan. Just be warned that if you have left your studying to the last minute, this will not teach you how to cram the night before a big test (

If you are in a traditional lecture class or lab, it is likely that your instructor assigns you a certain textbook chapter to read before each class. (Yeah, I know. Like ANYONE does that.) In fact, it’s implicitly understood that nobody actually reads before the class. But you could be the one nerd who realizes just what an advantage this undemanding preparation gives you.

Reading the chapter or section primes your brain for learning, alerting you to what information is to come, and contributing enormously towards your ability to understand the next lecture. And since you’re going to have to read the textbook at some point anyway, reading before class requires no net addition of work.

So, why wouldn’t you do it?

What we’re proposing is that you approach your reading assignments a little differently. We want you to learn to read in a way that:

In other words: learn to read so that you learn what you read.

Here’s exactly how you can do that.

Step 1: Review what you learned the day before

Reviewing the previous lesson’s outline or notes provides critical reinforcement of the material your class covered the previous day. Having this kind of refresher/reinforcement event so close to the initial exposure (within 24 to 48 hours) strengthens the new memory traces your brain makes before they evaporate in the normal nightly process of forgetting. It also sets you up to smoothly onboard new information that is very likely logically connected to the previous lecture.

Step 2: Perform a quick scan of the new material

Being primed to learn makes your brain receptive to new information. So, like a military operation, you should scout ahead and see what’s coming in the coursework. This is where a quick scan read comes into effect.

Before each lecture (or the night before) scan over the section or chapter you will be covering in the next class. This gives you:

Some textbooks even have a series of «What will you learn?» bullets before the chapter, or a summary section at the end of the chapter, which you can read through. Why is this important?

Step 3: Ask questions to fill in the gaps

Once you’ve finished scanning the chapter, put on your journalist’s hat, and think about some questions you should ask to bridge any gaps in your understanding.

For example: during World War II, there was a cascading series of conflicts and belligerent actions that eventually led to an all-out declaration of war against Germany. In approaching the subject you might ask:

Jot these questions down and make sure they get answered in the next lecture. This type of inquiry puts your brain into a different mode—a questioning, problem-solving mode—which is powerful for learning and remembering information.

Step 4: Take notes

Now, return to the beginning and read through the chapter more carefully, writing down the most salient points as you go along. If you don’t care about keeping your textbook in good condition you can make a total mess of its margins, scribbling notes, highlighting and underlining sentences, and summarizing important points.

If you do care about keeping your textbooks pretty (perhaps because you want to resell them or hand them down to your sibling) you can always photocopy the relevant pages and scribble on those. Failing that, just use an exam pad or scrap of paper.

The value of taking notes is obvious: it fleshes out your understanding of the information, perhaps by adding examples, illustrations, or alternative descriptions. But there is another sneaky benefit you may not have been aware of.

Taking notes engages your powers of metacognition. (No, metacognition is not a member of the X-Men team.)

Metacognition is your awareness and understanding of your own thought processes. In other words: «thinking about your thinking.»

The reason metacognition is so useful for absorbing new information is that it kicks your brain into a higher gear, forming deeper memory traces. Examples of metacognition are: Which parts of this reading are most important? How will I best remember them? Do I fully understand this concept?

The notes you make in your textbook margins will also make the material easier to review later, providing a more fleshed out and personalized study aid. Just don’t go highlighting everything on the page!

Step 5: Distill the information down into punchy one-liners

You’ve made it through the reading, you’ve taken notes and asked questions. Now, take a minute to really think about the take-home messages of the chapter or section you just read and write them down.

This potent summary not only strengthens the memory traces you’ve created in your brain, but it also isolates that section’s most poignant information. This saves you from having to tease that information out later, therefore helping you study more efficiently in the future.

Step 6: Put yourself to the test

Rather than whipping through several pages of information, which you’re never going to remember, take a little time after each section to recall aloud what you’ve just read from memory. You could even pretend to explain it to another student.

[This is called the Feynman Technique and it really, really works]

Also, most textbooks contain at least a few questions after a chapter to compel you to stop and consider what you’ve read. Answer them.

This final act of recall and assessment will make the reading material «stick» for at least a day or two, until you’re able to cement it with further retrieval practice (more on this later). Testing yourself is an extremely effective memorization technique.

Here’s a summary of the effective reading strategies

Do you see why this preparatory work is important? It may sound like a lot to do before you’ve even walked into your lecture but you are effectively setting yourself up for success. With this prep behind you, you’re going to understand what’s going on in the lecture, be able to ask perceptive questions and earn the respect of your teacher.

Most importantly, when the time comes to study for exams, you’re going to have a solid memory of the coursework and a gorgeous set of succinct study notes to review, while your peers are scrabbling to re-learn the entire course, practically from scratch.

Now you know how to read your textbook and materials. Just remember that it’s key to do this BEFORE your lecture, in preparation for each lesson.

If you treat this pre-reading as non-negotiable homework, “Future You” will be even more grateful than when you wake up with your wallet, cellphone, and dignity after a night of tequila and bad life choices. Success.

Principle # 2: Note-taking done properly

Students who follow Principle # 1 put themselves in a unique position when they walk into a lecture. Unlike everyone else in the room, they have already started learning the material.

They know where the narrative is heading, what the pertinent points are, and what questions need to be answered. And so, while everyone else is developing a case of carpal tunnel writing down every single word the lecturer says or writes on the board, they can sit back, listen, and absorb.

The only information they need to write down is what’s important or what they haven’t already encountered in the textbook, which often isn’t very much at all. This is a concept called «flow-based notetaking» and it totally frees students up to engage in the lecture, listen carefully to the teacher, and stop to ask questions where appropriate.

Here are those important steps to proper note-taking in class:

Following these steps will arm you with all the information you need in order to (1) master the material and (2) ace your exams. But you’re far from done yet.

Now the real learning begins.

Principle # 3: Consolidate notes soon after the lecture

Let’s assume you’ve (1) followed through on Principle # 1’s pre-reading homework, and (2) made notes in your textbook and during class. First of all: great job! That is literally 100% more than most of your peers have done.

Now, comes the third component to establishing deeply ingrained neural pathways to that information: consolidating your notes.

This is where you improve, rewrite, or clean up the notes you’ve taken, combining the information from the lecture, textbook, and any other sources onto one sexy «cheat sheet», which you can use for future review and, of course, to study for the exam.

On this subject, timing is everything. Ideally, you should consolidate your notes immediately after the lecture or at least within 24 hours of it, taking advantage of that vulnerable time when the new knowledge could be easily forgotten. This may sound like extra work but, just as we discussed, it is an investment of time that has double the dividends at exam time.

RIGHT so what are the best ways to consolidate your notes? You can do what we initially suggested: rewriting your notes, combining all sources of information (lecture, textbook, etc.) onto that sexy «cheat sheet».

You can also take your notes and transform them into a different format entirely. This compels you to really dig deep and understand the material in order to reframe it as, for example, a concept map or in question-and-answer flashcards.

Let’s take a brief look at both of these super helpful study tools.

Tool 1: Consolidate your notes by making a concept map

This is something you probably did in primary and high school (with only the geekiest of students persisting beyond this level) so you hardly need a refresher course in how to build concept maps.

What we will say is that concept maps can work really effectively for subjects like history or science, where there are lots of interrelated concepts, events, or definitions. When you put all these concepts into a map, you establish in your mind how they’re related to each other, thereby making each separate concept more memorable.

The act of making concept maps forces you to engage your skills of critical thinking, which forms more permanent, long-term memories of the information.

If you’d rather create a digital concept map for more flexible editing, sharing, and portability, here are some concept-mapping software options for you.

Tool 2: Consolidate your notes with flashcards

Naturally, flashcards are Brainscape’s favorite study tool!

Flashcards have been used for centuries by serious students as a way to efficiently learn information-dense subjects. In fact, of Brainscape’s millions of users, many are postgraduate students preparing for super high-stakes exams.

Why are flashcards so effective? What is it about those itty bitty squares of paper that can help a law graduate sail through the bar, or a premed student pass the MCAT?

The answer is that flashcards (done correctly):

Remember right at the beginning of this article we explained that you are cognitively wired in a certain way? And that if you work with your brain—rather than struggling in spite of it or even against it—you can massively increase your rate of knowledge retention?

Flashcards do exactly this: they work with your cognitive wiring to help you learn.

This is why Brainscape’s study platform pivots on flashcards—and decades of cognitive science research—as such a useful mode of studying and information delivery.

Our engaging digital flashcards break concepts down into their fundamental, bite-sized learning objectives and engage your powers of active recall, while our spaced repetition algorithm calculates the exact timing to repeat the concepts you struggle with in order to optimize your learning.

Of course, you can always make your own paper flashcards too. But whether you use Brainscape, some other online flashcard app, or good old-fashioned pen and paper, doing this forces you to reframe your study notes into question-and-answer flashcard pairs.

And as you reframe your content into this different format, you engage the higher brain functions of analysis and synthesis to further strengthen your memories.

To nerd out on how Brainscape has helped millions of users smash their exams into the stratosphere, check out the cognitive science behind our flashcard software, or our comprehensive guide to using and making flashcards.

Principle # 4: Make study a daily practice

It can be hard to make a daily investment of time in your studies when you have so many other commitments on your plate: assignments to finish, papers to write, clingy boyfriends to avoid … We get it. Life is chaotic. But at few other times is it as stressful and as chaotic as it is in the run-up to exams.

In any case, exams typically count for HALF or more your overall course assessment, so why not give it the lion’s share of your attention?

This is why spaced repetition systems like Brainscape are such effective study tools. What places Brainscape at an advantage to other modes of flashcard study is our spaced repetition algorithm, which, based on how well you know the answer to a flashcard, calculates the optimal interval in which to show you that card again.

This is illustrated in the following animation:

For example: if you rate your confidence a 1 out of 5 (I didn’t know this answer at all), the algorithm will likely show you that card again pretty soon. If, however, you rated your confidence 5 out of 5 (I know this answer), it will only show you that card again much later on.

This spaced repetition ensures that you onboard new knowledge quicker and more efficiently. It also compels you to address your weaknesses (1) without neglecting to occasionally reinforce the areas you’re more confident in and (2) without wasting too much time on this reinforcement.

The longer you do this daily practice, the greater the power of spaced repetition compounds. And if you practice it from the outset, you’ll approach exam time already a master of your subject!

Pro Tip: Brainscape’s mobile app makes it easy to knock out a five-minute study round wherever you are—in bed, on the bus, in the library, or even in the bath. Simply keep the website open on your browser or the app open on your phone so all you have to do is flick it open and pick up where you left off.

Principle #5: Teach to learn

The best way to learn is to teach

If this well-known Latin principle is familiar to you it’s because it’s so popular and so true. And this is because teaching a subject unleashes the power of free recall.

Free recall is when you look into the black void that is your consciousness and summon from it information, without any kind of specific prompting. For example: reciting everything you know about a particular concept from beginning to end.

This is much more effective for learning than «prompted» or «cued» recall, which, as their names suggest, provide you with a memory jog (in the form of a question) in order for you to retrieve the information you have stored in your memory.

How can you use free recall to prepare for an exam?

As D-day approaches, take time to teach someone everything you know about your subject, progressively working through its various concepts, chapters, and topics. This could be a real person (if you can find a willing victim) or it could be an imaginary one. It could even be your pet goldfish or indoor plant. Pretend you’re the lecturer and they’re the student.

Even better, try to distill the content down to its simplest form (a strategy known as the Feynman Technique) so it’s immediately understandable to your “students”. This will also help you identify where your understanding of a topic might be lacking.

The “teaching to learn” technique works because it shifts your brain into a different mode: one of dispensing knowledge rather than trying to onboard it. This establishes yet another neural pathway to the information you’re teaching.

Reciting a massive brain dump of everything you know is the best way to solidify new knowledge, not only for an upcoming exam but permanently, for life. And the more knowledge you bank permanently, the easier it is to build on it during future classes and for real-world use.

How to study: learn or cram? It’s your choice

Congratulations, you made it through Brainscape’s epic guide on how to study effectively for your exams! Here’s a plate of cookies:

So there you have it. The five principles of effective study:

More than simply tips to study for a test, these principles will help you build study habits that will help you learn better. And, to supercharge your study efficiency, use Brainscape for optimal flashcard-based learning.

A final note. As we said at the beginning, there are two ways to go about studying.

There are no shortcuts.

Stay the course, and you will become one of those elite (but annoying) students like Haru, who studies only half as much as everyone else, gets plenty of sleep during study break, and ends up scoring straight A’s.

How to Study Well for Exams – Top Studying Methods Which You Need to Know:

How To Study Well For Exams: How To Study Well For Exams is a very common question which arises in the student’s mind especially when the exams are around the corner. Students must first understand that along with the knowledge of study tips, they must also have the interest, and will to implement these tips on how to study well for exams and improve your performance.

For this, students must put continuous efforts and it’s not a one day job. The mind is a very powerful tool and how you control your mind will determine your success. In other words, just knowing what to do is not enough it should be executed and the benefits should come to your experience. With the gradual improvement comes the confidence and when worked in the same direction will lead you to score very high marks.

In this article, we will help you with, how to study well for exams in a very effective way. Go through the article and discover the valuable tips!

How To Study Well For Exams – Most Effective Tips

In order to score high, it is must to strategize your preparation and work in the right direction. For this, you need to take up this responsibility to score well all by yourself. Taking some random topic and studying without a plan will only lead to a random score.

Here we bring you the most effective steps for how to study well for exams. Go through them carefully to know where you need to improve to score high.

Apart from these exam preparation strategies also go through some tricks & hacks which will help you to implement your study plan in a better manner. The different study methods are listed as follows:

We have now provided you with effective study tips on how to study well for exams. Besides that, it is up to the students that what works for them in a much effective way. Do not just blindly follow the tips. These tips are for you to practice sincerely and see how it works out. You need to experience the difference and keep working on your weaknesses. Altogether, it is about learning to control your mind.

With the advent of technology in education, a lot of students are studying online. Studying online has a lot of advantages and Embibe provides you with this opportunity. Embibe is an AI-Powered learning platform which personalizes learning and focuses on learning outcomes.

Want to be a Doctor or Engineer? Then you are in the right place for your preparation. Embibe provides the complete study material, practice tests and mock tests along with detailed test feedback which is student friendly and helps the students to know where exactly are they going wrong. With Embibe’s learning platform, learning is more fun now. Check out the online study materials with unlimited practice test and mock tests all for free.

Embibe’s learning platform adapts according to the learner and provides you with personalized feedback. Besides that, Embibe also helps you to prepare for foundation classes of 8th, 9th, and 10th. So, Make the best use of it and discover the new horizon of education.

We hope this article on How to study well for exams helps you. If you have any query feel free to post your comments below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Top 10 study tips

Study isn’t just for the night before an assignment’s due or the night before an exam.

It’s never too early – or too late – to develop good study habits. The sooner you get into a good study groove, the easier everything will be and the more your chances of getting good marks will improve.

Here are our top tips for getting the most out of study.

1. Pick a place and time

Everyone has their own idea about the best place and time to study. Whether it’s your bedroom at night or the library after school, find a study space and a regular study time that works for you and stick with it.

2. Study every day

If you study a little bit every day you’ll be continually reviewing things in your mind. This helps you understand things. It also helps you avoid the stress of last-minute cramming.

Early in the year an hour or two a night might be enough to stay on top of things. Later in the year you might need to study more each day.

If you’re finding it hard to find time to study, cut back on some (but not all!) of your other activities. Prioritising study might mean spending less time online, or it might mean cutting back on shifts at work, or giving weekend sport a miss for a while.

3. Plan your time

It helps to have some plans in motion so you can make the most of your study time.

4. Discover your learning style

Most of us have a preferred way of learning. Get to know the learning style you’re most comfortable with and study in the ways you learn best.

Note that these styles are just a way to think about diffent studying techniques – they’re not hard and fast rules that say you should only study in one way. Try each of these out and see which ways you prefer.

5. Review and revise

At least once a week you should go back over the things you’ve studied in class. Thinking things over can help you to understand the concepts and help you remember when you need them the most.

6. Take breaks

It’s important to take breaks while you’re studying, especially if you’re feeling tired or frustrated. Working too long on a task can actually decrease your performance.

When you take a break, make sure you get away from your desk or study space. A bit of physical – even just a walk around the block – can sometimes help you to look at a problem in a different way and could even help you to solve it.

7. Ask for help

If you’re stuck on something, or something just doesn’t seem to make sense, you can always ask for help. Talk to your teachers or lecturers about the things you don’t understand. Talk to your friends and fellow students too.

8. Stay motivated

When you’re studying it helps to keep in mind your reasons for doing all this hard work, like a course or career you’re working towards. It can help to have something in your study space to remind you of your goals.

You could also decorate your study space with inspirational quotes or photos of people you admire and family members you want to make proud of you.

9. App it up

There are heaps of apps out there for helping students with all aspects of study. Have a chat with your friends and teachers or lecturers to see which apps they recommend.

You should also check out the iTunes Collections page on iPads for Learning, which provides links to Australian Curriculum courses on iTunes U as well as educational apps aimed at high school, middle school and primary school students.

10. Look after yourself

You’ll study better if you take care of yourself. Make sure you eat well and get enough sleep and physical exercise. Don’t reward yourself with too many sugary or fatty snacks or push yourself to study late into the night. It’s also a good idea to make sure you drink lots of water when you’re studying.

Now come up with your own strategies

These tips are only some of the things you can do to get the most out of your studying. You might already have other things that work better for you. Find out what your friends do when they’re studying. Maybe your teachers have some good recommendations too.

Whatever it is, whatever strategy you come up with, when you find something that works for you, put it into practise and go for it!

Links

If you’ve got an exam coming up you might also like to have a look at our Top Ten Exam Tips page. You should also check out the links below.