The key to becoming an effective student is learning to study smarter, not harder. As your student advances in their education, this becomes even more important.

An hour or two of studying a day is usually sufficient to make it through high school with satisfactory grades. But when college arrives, without smart study habits, your student can feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day to cover their required coursework.

While some students breeze through school with minimal effort, the vast majority of students succeed because they deliberately develop and apply effective study habits.

Successful students work to develop and maintain the following study habits to see their grades rise and their knowledge increase, and improve their ability to learn and assimilate information.

Don’t try to cram all of your studying into one session.
Successful students typically space their work out over shorter periods of time and rarely try to cram all of their studying into just one or two sessions. If you want to become a successful student then you need to learn to be consistent in your studies and to have regular, yet shorter, study periods.

Plan when you’re going to study.
Successful students schedule specific times throughout the week when they are going to complete their studying – and then they stick with their schedule. Students who study sporadically and whimsically typically do not perform as well as students who have a set study schedule.

Study at the same time.

The power of consistency is well understood in academics. It helps you rely a lot less on intensity – which means fewer late nights or all-nighters and fewer moments of overwhelm and panic, which is a positive for your mental health. When you study at the same time every day, you develop a habit. You rely less on willpower. Motivation increases, and you’ll be mentally and emotionally prepared for each session. This will improve productivity.

Each study time should have a specific goal.
Simply studying without direction is not effective. You need to know exactly what you need to accomplish during each study session. Before you start studying set a study session goal that supports your overall academic goal (i.e. memorize 30 vocabulary words in order to ace the vocabulary section on an upcoming Spanish test.)

Never procrastinate your planned study session.
It’s very easy, and common, to put off your study session because of lack of interest in the subject, because you have other things you need to get done first or just because the assignment is hard. Successful students DO NOT procrastinate studying. If you procrastinate in your study session, your studying will become much less effective and you may not get everything accomplished that you need to. Procrastination also leads to rushing, and rushing is the number one cause of errors.

Start with the most difficult subject first.
As your most difficult assignment or subject will require the most effort and mental energy you should start with it first. Once you have completed the most difficult work it will be much easier to complete the rest of your work. Believe it or not, starting with the most difficult work will greatly improve the effectiveness of your study sessions and your academic performance.

Always review your notes before starting an assignment.
Obviously, before you can review your notes you must first have notes. Always make sure to take good notes in class. Before you start each study session and before you start a particular assignment review your notes thoroughly to make sure you know how to complete the assignment correctly.

Make sure you’re not disturbed while you are studying.
When you are disturbed while you are studying you (1) lose your train of thought and (2) you get distracted – both of which will lead to very ineffective studying. Before you start studying find a place where you won’t be disturbed.

Use study groups effectively.
Ever heard the phrase “two heads are better than one”? Well, this can be especially true when it comes to studying. Working in groups enables you to (1) get help from other students when you are struggling to understand a concept, (2) complete assignments more quickly, and (3) teach others whereby helping both the other student and yourself to internalize the subject matter. However, study groups can become very ineffective if they are not structured and if group members come unprepared. Effective students use study groups effectively.

Review your notes, schoolwork and other class materials over the weekend.
Successful students review what they have learned during the week over the weekend. This way they are well prepared to continue learning new concepts at the beginning of each week that build upon previous coursework and knowledge acquired the previous week.

We are confident that if you will develop the habits outlined above that you will see a major improvement in your academic success.

Source

Author of Article:  Becton Loveless. Article adapted from https://www.educationcorner.com/habits-of-successful-students/. Please Note: Missouri S&T does not endorse or have a relationship with SOURCE and articles are provided for information purposes only. Missouri S&T and SOURCE do not assume responsibility for error or omission in materials.  

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