Q&A for How to Develop Good Study Habits for College

When you're in college, you're responsible for motivating yourself to study. In college, you get less oversight from your superiors, so you have to find ways of studying on your own. Your entire grade for a course might just be the midterm and the final, and if you haven't done the work leading up to that moment, you're going to be scrambling at the end. Break up your studying into chunks, and schedule time each day to go over the material. Building those habits is a gift to yourself, because they're practical skills that will pay off in your adult life.

Remember your goals and try to apply your lessons to your life.

Try a relaxation technique. Let be physical exercise or meditation, help your mind to relax first, and then it should be easier to concentrate. Give yourself smaller goals -- like working for 20 minutes straight, then taking 2-3 minutes off. Build up to longer levels of concentration over time.

This is only possible through continuous study. Read through the lesson and take notes (if the lesson is too big, then you can divide into small parts). Read it again an hour later and look over your notes. Keep doing this until you can remember it all just by looking at your notes. Continue to do this every day or every other day for as long as you need to remember it or until you have it memorized.

Of course! It may be useful to look at other classmates' notes as well, however; they might have written down different key concepts. Consider hosting a study session where everyone can share notes and what they have learned.

6-7 hours of sleep per night is probably enough for someone in college, but everyone is different, you may find you need more or less than that.

Study the stuff that is highest priority first, or the stuff you don't know as well. Leave the material you know better for last in case you don't get to it. Study in a quiet place where you will not be distracted. Take a short break every hour or so, 5-10 minutes, clear your mind and breathe deeply.

Just divide the reading into sections, set a schedule for yourself, and stick to it. Make sure you schedule in short breaks every hour or so, but don't get distracted.

How to Focus on Studying has some excellent tips.

First, try to get your mind on something else, something that you love, for a good few minutes to get your mind off stress. Next think about the thing you need to concentrate on, and your mind will be off the stress.

It can be difficult, but you can make a schedule for your activities during the day or long-term goals using a calendar app.

Either you don't know it as well as you think you do, or you're not studying as hard as you should be because you think you know everything already. Consider organizing a study group with your peers so you can work together and hold each other accountable, or talk to the professor about what you need to do to improve your marks.

Examine your current "study techniques" and try something different. My problem with college at first was that I didn't have to study much in high school, so when I got to college I didn't know how. As my classes changed I realized certain study techniques did not work, so I changed them. If your school offers any workshops or classes on effective studying, sign up for these, or do some research on the internet. The wikiHow article on How to Study is a good place to start.

If you think you can manage studying alone, then go for it. Study groups can be beneficial, though. For example, if you don't understand a certain topic. Someone in your study group might and they can explain it to you.

It depends entirely on your learning style. Many people find that personalized notes are more helpful than just reading the textbook, so I would recommend trying it at least. However, if you don't like taking notes, then studying the textbook can be effective as well.

Remember that you're studying for yourself. You're at college to learn so that you can be an intelligent person and pursue a career. You're also probably paying to be there. You don't want to waste your money do you?

Try dividing the lesson into periods. For example, you can divide an exam that you need to study for 45 minutes into 15 minutes of study and 5 minutes of break periods. Also, using interesting methods while studying will increase the attention span.

Using memory games can be very effective. The example given above of picturing your Aunt Jeanette walking around the Senate for example, is an example of what you can do. The more outrageous and ridiculous the image, the better it works- the brain loves novelty.