Hello my lovely readers! Happy August, I love new months as a time to reflect and restart. This month marks back to school time . I wanted to make this video and blog to share my top tips to prepare for 4.0 season! I hope you enjoy the video and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe!
Tip 1: Find out your best study habits early on
Studying is another example of practice makes perfect, I like to compare it to working out. As you do it more, you build up the muscle and endurance and it gets easier. For this reason I encourage you all to find out what study habits work best for you early on.
As you find out your best techniques, it makes it easier in the long run
Confident in your abilities
Know that it is hard and you will struggles, especially the transition from highschool to college
How?
See what other people are doing! I share a lot in my platform about what I do, this is just me. Ask other people and people who have done well in the courses you are taking.
Read up about research regarding how we learn
Your university may offer study resources- they have some good handouts that you can look at
In one of my first courses was Psyc 100 where we talked about how to study and I learned some of these tips. Here are some good resources to read more:
Tip 2: Go to Lecture and Discussion
Trust me, I’ve had classes/professors where going to class felt like a waste of time that I could be studying better on my own. But I still believe in the power of going to lecture:
You are hearing the material for the first time
Pay attention - chance to ask questions
Helps you with the spacing of learning
Take some notes but don’t try to capture everything
Discussion is super important for problem based courses like science and math! Your TA provides you with practice problems and if they have worked with your professor before they usually have a good idea of the type of questions you will see on your exam.
Tip 3: Constant studying - Don’t cram
I like to "humble brag" that I have never pulled an all nighter. Not only is a good nights sleep so so important for thinking critically and performing well on the exam but it's also proven that you learn material better over time rather than crammed all at once. So I believe that probably a big reason why I ace my exams is that I study constantly.
After class, I review notes, I start watching Youtube videos, and start my note taking routine which I will show later on. I study every weekend and begin studying for exams 2 weeks before! This helps me stay ahead as well, if not with the pace of college you can get super overwhelmed.
This helps you space out your learning and master topics as you learn them. I like to keep a running list of topics (like shown in the picture above) that we cover and be sure to review them all.
Personally for me, my semester looks like getting up at 7am, being the first one in the building and reviewing before my classes, attending all my courses, attending extra study sessions, going to office hours, and studying at the end of the day until about 11pm.
It's a lot of work, but as mentioned the more you practice the easier it gets!
Tip 4: Studying with others - teaching and explaining
Please don’t feel that you have to do this alone, collaboration is key! I’ve always worked with my classmates, forming study groups and studying together. I am always open to working together to study.
Also, two minds is better than one. You can understand a topic better and be able to try to teach/explain it to another person and have someone do the same for you.
If you got to UMD, check out Guided Study Sessions! These are study sessions led by a previous student who took the course and is a great way to practice and review the concepts each week and met peers in the class to study with.
Tip 5: Study Smart! Active Studying
I have been saying this tip for years now and it is so so so important. How you study is just as important as how long you study!
Re-reading chapters or lecture notes is not the best way. You can read the material and think you understand it but not really.
A couple ways I do active studying:
-Write your notes as questions and answers
-Make flashcards/quizlets
-Incorporate practice problems
-Write my own practice tests!!
Tip 6: Making Your Own Practice Tests
I’ve been making my own practice tests since my first semester and it has absolutely helped me ace classes. Instead of reading over notes, I will answer the practice questions, especially at the start of my study session!
1. Make your practice test at least a week before the exam. To make the test, I go through all my notes, homework, worksheets, and any posted practice problems and combine them into one big test.
2. Put questions on your test that you think you already know the answer to, often times we forget the simple details or vocabulary that we did know because we stopped studying them.
3. Go through your practice test with no distractions, no notes or help, try to answer as many questions as you can.
4. Go over your answers, compare them to your notes and textbook. Look up the questions that you missed. Let some time pass then go back to the unanswered questions and try to answer them. Repeat until you feel confident answering every question.
5. When it's final time, you can reprint all your practice test and review all the information!
Why this works:
This method is the best way to see what I know and what I need to continue studying. I make my own practice tests because I ask myself questions on everything that was covered, rather than only rely on the provided practice or past exams that usually ask the amount of questions that would be on the test. Re-reading = you think you know it due to familiarity BUT you never practiced doing the recall of the material.
The provided exams are a great way to see the style in which questions might be asked, the test you make is a great way to make sure you know all the material.
Tip 7: Give all Your Topics Love and Attention
It can be very easy to focus your time on your harder courses like lets say you are taking orgo 1, but it is important that you keep up with all your courses. This is a major key for getting a 4.0 because you want to do well in every course.
We can fall into fallacies of feeling like oh this class is easy I got this, and not study it as much, when in fact you need to apply these study tips to all the subjects you are taking! Don't be overconfident, every course is an opportunity to improve study techniques.
My tip is for your easier classes, set a day a week where you review them. Setting out that time will help you to keep up with the material and not allow yourself to put it as last on your priority list.
Tip 8: Study Schedules
I think another major tip is taking the time to actually put together study schedules.
What is a study plan?
A study plan is a written documentation of how you are going to study for an upcoming exam. I have been making study plans since the start of college, however I mostly used them around finals. A study plan can take many different forms from printouts, using your planner, or as I will show you I used GoogleDocs.
The first thing you want to do to prepare is to write a list of all the topics you covered. I just go through my notebook and make this list either on a white board as shown above or on my laptop. Warning, writing a list like this can be overwhelming! But don't worry it will help if you keep following through with this plan. Writing out every little topic that you covered in class will help you to not miss out on any material. This is especially helpful for organic chemistry because you learn so many reactions, and the one reaction you might have accidentally skipped would be the one to turn up on your exam.
So take a deep breathe, go through your notes carefully, and make your study list.
I also use google calendar to map out my day, I like to color code it and help to see which subjects I am studying more or less.
Having a plan to my day helps me to keep productive and accomplish everything I need to!
Tip 9: Staying Focused
when you are one of the few still studying in the library on a Friday night
Just because you are in the library doesn’t mean you are studying. I have seen countless times people there ALL DAY LONG but not much work getting done, for me I am all about how I am spending my time. Especially taking 19 and 20 credit semesters if I am studying, I am actually studying- this way I can separate my study time and my rest time.
Probably the question I probably get asked the most is "how do you stay focused and study for so long." I am still not sure if I have a set answer for this because frankly studying comes very naturally to me now because I have built up the endurance, I really do feel that it is like working out.
There are some key things I do when I’m preparing for a 12+ hour study day to be focused without being burnt out.
Finding a good study space - I like to switch it up, sometimes I study in one place and then after lunch go to another spot
Packing your favorite study snacks, pick a nice study music playlist, just try to make yourself as comfortable as possible
Plan something fun to do after your exams are done, this is something you can look forward to
Keep your goals in mind, I do this via sticky notes in my room, I follow doctors on social medias, and I just focus on the reasons why I am doing what I am doing
Study with others! Just like working out with someone else can keep you motivated, studying with others can do the same. You can push each other to keep going.
Finally take breaks when needed. I really like using the Pomodoro technique which is studying in intervals with 5 minute breaks. I have also done 50 minute study sessions with 10 minute breaks.
Switch up your study mediums, I will switch from reading, to videos, to notes, to flashcards and switch between courses so I keep myself stimulated
Tip 10: Don’t be too hard on yourself but also have the confidence in yourself
One reason that I am pretty open about my grades is that I really want to show people that we can achieve more than we think we can. If someone would have told me that I would be a straight A student in college….I wouldn’t have believed them. I struggle with a lot of imposter syndrome and still feel like I have to prove myself constantly. It is especially important for me as a black woman in STEM to be vocal about these things and show other young woman that yes we can do this, even if none of your professors look like you, you are the few that look like you in the room, or feel that other people don’t believe in you, I believe in you and you can do it!
That being said, you know yourself best and you can’t compare yourself to others. This is your college journey and as long as you are trying your best then you should be super proud of yourself. No one is perfect so don’t thrive to be perfect. Thrive to be the best you.
This is a really important tip and message I wanted to end with, because how we feel about ourselves and our abilities and our overall mental health is so important to determining how we can perform.
Surround yourself with people who also support you and uplift it and who also inspire you and help you, this college journey is very difficult so it is so important to give yourself self love and appreciation.
I really hope these tips have been helpful! I'm rooting for you and all your success!
xoxo,
Kye
Here is a great graphic about how to enjoy studying, I agree with all these tips!
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