Top 10 Study Tips to Achieve Your Goals

Whether you’re currently a student or someone who’s looking to gain new skills, these 10 study tips will help you save time and optimize your study. Good study habits come from daily progress, planning, and ensuring that you organize your materials. It’s also essential to make sure that studying is an enjoyable activity so that we’re more likely to do it.

We also recommend being clear about your goals when it comes to studying. Instead of studying for numerical grades, make sure that you’re studying for meaningful reasons. If you’re looking to become a nurse, remember to focus on how you’ll be able to help others once you pass the courses and graduate. The ultimate reward for studying is knowledge and not the grades from the tests!

Here are the top 10 study tips for achieving your goals!

1. Make a plan for your study session

Instead of just “studying,” one of the best study tips is to think about a plan on how you’ll study. Suppose you have two hours to study; plan out your study session instead of being unsure what you should be doing. Ask yourself exactly how you’ll spend the time. When you have an idea of the minutes you’ll spend on each activity, you’re more likely to stay focused.

2. Keep your physical files, notebooks, and binders clearly marked and easy to access

Keep folders, notebooks, and binders organized so that you won’t lose anything important. Although we tend to keep things digitally now, we’ll still get physical documents that we don’t want to lose. If you can create tabs on your notebooks, you can quickly flip through to the page you need. With files, make sure to store things in chronological order, so you don’t get confused.

3. Find a Study Group

Instead of studying as an individual activity, you can stay accountable by joining a study group! This is a great way to ask for help from other people and make your studying more enjoyable. Studying together can prevent you from procrastinating.

4. Study in 30-50 minute segments

A practical study tip is to study in 30-50 minute segments. This doesn’t mean that you should only study for 30-50 minutes; it just means that you should take a short 5-10 minute break every 30-50 minutes. These breaks can help you refresh and avoid burnout. When you take periodic intervals instead of trying to study non-stop, your focus and memory will improve, and you’ll have an efficient study session.

5. Don’t cram before an exam

Cramming is one of the least efficient ways we can study because it’s impossible to remember all the information you need in one night. In the best case, you might remember the information until the test or exam, but you won’t keep it in your long-term memory. In order actually retain your study material, it’s important to study consistently so that it gets ingrained in your long-term memory.

6. Use a digital study planner

Digital study planners can be a lifesaver! When storing your study materials digitally, you’ll be able to access them in an organized way. It’s also impossible to lose your information. One of the best aspects of a digital study planner is that you can also add things to a calendar that shows when your deadlines and important assignments are. In the organized notebook, we’ve developed a study dashboard that can help keep track of your courses, notes, and assignments (link here).

7. Find study methods that work for you

Don’t be afraid to try different study methods. We all have different ways of learning and part of becoming better at studying is to know yourself. Are you someone who has a visual memory? or do you prefer to learn things aurally? If you’re a visual learner, you might want to try writing things by hand or using flashcards with pictures on them. If you’re an aural learner, you could try to record your lectures and listen to them while walking.

8. Focus on one subject at a time

Try not to go back and forth studying multiple subjects simultaneously in a short study session. Instead, make sure that your entire focus is on one subject at a time. You can still study various subjects per day, but keep your other notes and textbooks closed when looking at a particular subject.

9. Balance your studies with good sleep

Studying is not effective if you don’t get good sleep to cement the information in your memory. Without sleep, your studying will be put to waste! Instead of pulling an all-nighter to study, try to plan ahead so that you get sufficient sleep every night.

10. Good note-taking habits will save you time

Note-taking can help you save study time and act as a study cheat sheet. Instead of re-reading an entire textbook, you can read a condensed version from your notes. Whenever you have important reading material or you’re in a class, try and take efficient and organized notes. Write down the most essential information and make sure that the notes are easy to read.