A rough guide to get you through
By Lauren Paulsen, Senior Columnist
Exams are just around the corner, so students everywhere are holing themselves up and poring over textbooks. Here are a few quick tips to get you through your study period.
The biggest thing about studying is that you need to start early. You’ve probably heard this over and over, but it’s true. You won’t retain the knowledge you need if you only start studying the week before exams. Of course, that will be difficult at this point if you’ve left everything until now, but it’s not impossible. Just keep this in mind for your next semester. Something else to keep in mind is that you cannot do hours on end of studying without any breaks. You need to give your brain rest periods to really absorb what you’ve been studying. Getting a good amount of sleep is also essential. The brain cannot function properly without adequate rest, so don’t be pulling all-nighters! Don’t spend a lot of time on material that you know well. This may sound obvious, but students often like to pore over the material they know better, instead of working harder to learn the stuff that they don’t. When it comes to exams, it’s better to have a general knowledge of everything rather than a mastery of a few.
Lastly, it is a good idea to figure out what kind of learner you are. Do you retain information better when you work through a problem yourself? Or maybe you need visual cues to help retain information? Knowing what type of learner you are helps you get the most out of studying because you can then adapt your study methods to reflect how you learn.
You’ve probably heard a lot, if not all, of this information before, but the reason why you hear these tips over and over is because they really do work. Good luck and happy studies!