Most people want good grades, right? But it can be pretty difficult to achieve that. If you want to succeed academically, then here are the basics that you have to get right in order to get those top grades!
- Set goals
- Create a timetable
- Prioritize your studying
- Break between tasks
- Don’t get distracted
- Get enough sleep
- Choose a place to study
- Meditate
Set goals
If you want to succeed, you need to make it clear what exactly it is that you want. Create SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Try doing this for each of the subjects that you study. Not only will this help you create a study plan, but it’ll also help make you more motivated and focused!
Create a timetable
By creating a timetable, you become much more organized. You’ll know what to study, and when. Study timetables can be really useful in decreasing procrastination since you don’t have to think about what you have to do. When making a timetable, make sure you specify exactly what you want to study: the subject, unit, study method, and goal of the session. By making it specific, you’re less likely to skip out on studying.
Prioritize your studying
When it comes to studying, a lot of people make this fatal mistake: they study what they find easy because it takes the least effort. However, you want to be studying what you find the most difficult since that’s what you’ll struggle with during the exam. Make sure that you prioritize all your studying based on the difficulty, urgency (exam date), and importance (how important the exam/grade is).
Break between tasks
Successful students know the value of balance. You cannot expect to be productive during a 5-hour study session. For every hour that you study, spend AT LEAST 15 minutes away from your work. Read a book, stretch, or have a snack! Also, make sure that you set a timer for your break so that it doesn’t overrun.
Don’t get distracted
Avoid distractions! Now, I’m going to tell you something very controversial. The most focused, consistent, and diligent students don’t have superhuman willpower. But how do they stay so focused while studying? They identify any distractions around them, and then they remove them. Phone? In another room. Distracting websites? Blocked using a web extension. Focus on removing the source of the distraction instead of blaming yourself for getting distracted.
Get enough sleep
Successful students know that 8 hours of sleep is much more valuable than 8 hours of studying. Not only will you be messing up your body and health by going to sleep at midnight because you wanted to study, but you’ll also mess up your productivity. Sleep is so important for memory and for your attention span – the two most important factors for whether you can study effectively.
Choose a place to study
By choosing a specific place to study, you’ll start to associate being in that place with being focused and attentive. Every time you sit down at your desk, you’ll find that it becomes easier and easier to enter the “study mindset”. Make sure that you have “study hygiene” (like sleep hygiene!) – don’t use the same place you study to watch youtube videos or scroll through Instagram. This might be unavoidable in some cases though, so don’t worry too much about it!
Meditate
My final piece of advice is to meditate. Meditation is a really great way to improve your attention span and ability to avoid distractions. Also, I feel like meditation can also help you get into that focused study mindset, which is really important as well. Before a study session, try meditating for 3-5 minutes and see how it feels.
