Now that it’s midterm season, everyone is hunkering down and hitting the books. But in order to succeed at studying, there are a few crucial mistakes that everyone must avoid.
Mistake #1: Taking a break before you start
Aka procrastinating. You tell yourself you’ll just check Facebook for a few minutes before you start working, but that can quickly turn into an hour. Just start studying right away and only take breaks when you’ve truly earned them. You’ll have earned a break when you complete an important task, or when you’ve worked for at least 30 minutes.
Mistake #2: Simply reading notes
Simply reading over information is not enough to get it to actually stick in your head. You’ll likely start mindlessly reading the words without understanding what they mean. Even copying down notes is better than reading. But best of all is asking yourself questions about the information so that you can prepare for the actual test scenario.
Mistake #3: Studying with people who distract you
Although it seems like a no-brainer, it’s hard to do in practice. It’s so tempting to study with a fun group of people, but in reality, you probably won’t get much done. If you really want to do well on the test, you need to prioritize working over socializing.
Mistake #4: Starting late
Waiting until the night before is always a bad plan. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress and get a better grade if you split the studying up over the course of several nights. Why pull an all-nighter when you don’t need to?
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