College means either studying constantly or procrastinating when you should probably be studying. Finding time to study between class, clubs, practices if you’re an athlete, and just life in general can be really difficult. Here are some essential studying tips for college students.
Speechify
Speechify is great if you’re studying for a midterm but have more than 20 pages of notes. It reads your notes back to you and you can follow along. It’s also great for any assigned reading for your classes. You could have it playing while you’re cleaning, organizing or just staring at the ceiling.
Speechify is also great if you’re an English major like me and have a thousand and one papers to write every semester. You could have it read them back to you and make sure the paper flows.
The app is available on iPhone, Macs, Androids, and they have a website. It’s free so you should definitely take advantage of it.
Productivity
Find a time during the day that works for you and WORK. I work best in the morning so I get up early and put in around 3 hours of hard work before I go to class. If you’re a night owl then maybe the midnight hours work best for you. Finding your time frame for productivity is crucial in college.
Also realize that it might change over time. In high school you could have been great at doing your homework right before or after dinner. Now you might have class during those times so figure out your open slots for each semester and see which ones benefit you the most.
Studying Method
Similar to finding the perfect time to work, you also need to learn which studying method is best for you. Are you the kind of person to just take notes on your computer and read them back? Do you color code with highlighters? Finding your studying method helps retain information more productively.
Your studying method might change depending on which course you’re taking. I struggled with finding my studying method for my math and natural science classes. Yet, my studying method for my english courses were great (maybe it’s because I didn’t have exams ;).
Pomodoro Method
If you’re like me, then you have a short attention span. I can’t work consistently for hours at a time like other people. I use the Pomodoro Method where I work for 30 minutes and then take a 5 minute break. 30 minutes may not seem like much time but it is if you don’t have any distraction around you.
It’ll just be on the top bar menu on your Mac (if you have one) and you can open it when you begin working. There’s no need for the timer on your phone so you can hide it from yourself while you work.
Find someone who is productive to study with
If you’re the kind of person who can’t study alone because you’ll get distracted for hours at a time (me) then find someone to study with and hold you accountable. My roommate and I study in our dorm room together. When one of us sees the other on their phone for too long, we say something along the lines of “great studying” or something else to remind the other person what they SHOULD be doing.
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