With midterm exams right around the corner, it is essential that students properly prepare themselves for success. Many students neglect studying for various reasons, and I hope with this article to maybe encourage someone to try it in a way that could actually help them.
Why Study At All?
According to Stanford researchers who had their studies published in Psychological Science, they found that students who study for exams will improve their test scores by a third of a letter grade on average. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when talking about your midterm or final exams, that C- vs C difference might be the difference between passing and failing a course. Plus, with better studying that suits you, you can do even better than that.
Studying is something that requires a moderate amount of self-discipline. After high school, college classes will require a lot more self-orchestrated studying to take place, and high school is the time to prepare for that. Even if you don’t plan on studying for anything later in your life, the ability to manage your time, tell yourself no, and to prioritize tasks are incredibly important for literally anything you do post-secondary. These are important skills you need to start developing NOW!
I personally waited too long to care about studying. I’ve been an honors student my entire life, and most of the time I barely even took notes and slid by. As I’ve gotten older and the course material has gotten longer and harder to memorize, I’ve spent a copious amount of time struggling to develop healthy academic habits. I fell too far behind in math classes, and after taking Pre-Calculus, I didn’t move forward into Calculus. Having to stop my push forward because of my lack of studying habits didn’t feel good. At all.
I conducted a survey for my fellow Belleville High School students in early January where I asked them about their studying habits. In total I gathered 196 participants. Roughly a third of students don’t study at all. The segment where the answers to the survey interested me the most was asking the students who did not study, why they didn’t. The answers mostly boiled down to people either not feeling like they need to, not having the time or making the time, or people who have tried and got frustrated. Even among people who do study, many said they feel unsatisfied with their studying because they feel it isn’t giving them the results they want. When asked, 54% of students who don’t study said that if they knew a better way to study, they would do it. Another 32% of students said that they could be swayed to try it. My goal with this article is to give others new ideas on how to study, so that maybe they can develop better habits. With the New Year coming through and the midterms coming up, it felt like now was the perfect time to start.
Where to Start
One of my personal worst habits is starting to study too late for it to actually help me grasp all of the information that I need to. I’m very guilty of waiting until the night before a test to open my notes. While many people have differing opinions on how early you should start studying, I personally think two weeks is a reasonable time to start, especially for those who aren’t used to studying and might not work at it as consistently as someone who has spent more time to build those habits.
Most experts agree that you should be studying about an hour a day leading up to an exam. No matter how long you’re spending, the most important piece of this is consistency. Attending class regularly and having good attendance is of the utmost importance. If a student is missing class several times a week during a unit, they are missing instruction that could potentially leave them with learning gaps. Therefore, be present, be consistent with your learning. Additionally, make a habit of studying; find a block in your daily schedule that you will dedicate to your academics. These habits are important, especially as you get older and start worrying about SAT testing or college courses.
For many students, they feel that studying just doesn’t work for them. This is especially true for neurodivergent students or for people with low attention spans. The reality is that many of the studying strategies we were taught when we were younger were not correlated without learning styles. You’ve undoubtedly heard of learning styles before. Some teachers have even asked you about yours at the start of a school year. But I’m not confident that many have looked into them beyond that.
There are different models for what the learning styles are, some including specific ones more than others. For the sake of this article I will be talking about the following seven styles:
- Visual learners tend to learn best when presented with images and pictures. Things like graphs, infographics, and flashcards are great for this kind of learning. Using colors will help this kind of learner as well. This is what is considered to be the most common type of learning, making it the most commonly used in classroom settings. 60% of the surveyed BHS students claim to be visual learners, making it the second most common style in our school. Most students will assume that they’re visual learners simply because that is what they’re most exposed to. Many haven’t tried different styles to truly understand which one matches them best.
- Auditory learners absorb the most information when hearing something. For them, listening to someone tell them about the information or listening to music based on the subject works best for them.
- Physical learners thrive when the learning is wrapped in an activity. When they’re up and moving or experiencing what they’re studying it helps them retain the information better. Things like pacing or using fidget tools while studying is recommended for them. Physical learners make up most of the BHS student population.
- Verbal learners require communicating through the information, whether that be through talking through it out loud with someone, presenting the information, or by just writing it down. I personally find myself in the verbal learners camp.
- Logical learners learn best with numbers and statistics. They’re particularly good with pattern based learning. Logical learners need to understand how something works in detail.
- Social learners remember more information when bouncing off of others. Study groups and tutoring are great tools for social learners. Collaborative learning and interaction is the key for these learners.
- Solitary learners learn best alone; they are objectively the opposite of social learners. They require a focused, self-disciplined environment to learn effectively, away from the distractions of group settings. Most of the study strategies presented are able to be completed solo.
As I discuss different types of studying you could try, I’ll preface with what learners would benefit from each studying strategy.
Studying Strategies
A common misconception is that rereading your notes or your textbooks is studying. When you are only reading the material, you will very likely forget it. To really study, you have to engage with the topic. Below are a number of strategies for studying that go beyond rereading old worksheets.
VISUAL / PHYSICAL: One of the most well known strategies is to make flashcards. For those unfamiliar, the idea of a flashcard is that on one side of the flashcard you give a definition, a question, or some other form of clue. On the other side, you put the answer to the front side. To make this more engaging to your brain and help you better retain the information, I recommend using colors and images. Visual representations of what you’re talking about will help your brain remember it better. You can also color code your note cards into topics you’re confident in, topics you get right but aren’t always 100% about, and the ones you usually have to flip around to get the answer. This will help you prioritize studying the things you don’t know.
VISUAL / VERBAL: Rewriting and reviewing your notes is another strategy that I personally use the most. I personally recommend not rewriting them word for word; rephrasing is a good exercise in making sure you thoroughly understand a concept. As you go and rewrite them, you can drop information that feels more obvious and put more emphasis on topics you are the least strong in. Highlighting key points helps organize your notes and your thoughts and make revision way easier. It also helps to redraw models you drew in a rush during class to make them clearer. Overall, rewriting notes is great for people who work well with writing out the information and reading back over it.
VISUAL: Completing study guides provided to you is a great first step, but if these work for you especially well, I recommend looking for practice tests online. It gets you into the test-taking mindset and presents you with questions that are similar to what your test will look like. If you ask your teacher, they may be able to help you find more practice tests or assignments that they know will well reflect their exam.
VISUAL: Write out everything you know about the topic without reviewing anything. This technique is centered around recalling the information, which is what you’ll be doing on your exam. This will help you identify gaps in your knowledge so you know where to go back to.
AUDITORY: With consent of your teacher, ask if you could audio record their lesson. You can listen back to this recording to review the lesson whenever you’d like. Repeated listening can help you retain the information.
AUDITORY: Finding audiobooks or podcasts about the topic is another way to listen to the information. If you ask your teacher, they may have recommendations for you.
SOCIAL / AUDITORY: Study groups and tutoring are amazing ways to get help on subjects you’re less familiar with. This curates a social space with people who want you to pass. These opportunities allow you to ask questions to people who may know more than you and might explain it differently than your teacher would. BHS specifically has volunteer tutors in the media center after school for Homework Lab. You could also meet with a study group at the district library.
VERBAL / AUDITORY: The use of mnemonic devices like rhymes and acronyms are powerful tools for memorization for any type of learner. For auditory learners especially, I recommend writing out short songs or song parodies using these devices. The more catchy and annoying it is, the better. If you can’t get the words out of your head, then you are clearly doing it right.
LOGICAL: Create different visual tools like mindmaps, diagrams, timelines, and graphs to help weave information together and find patterns. There are tons of resources available online to make this easier.
LOGICAL / VERBAL: Make lists of information and sort them out until you get down into the more specific details of the subject.
VERBAL / SOLITARY: Writing a log or journal of what you’re studying and what you’ve learned helps with keeping track of what you need to study, as well as reviewing what you already have.
VERBAL: Creating your own study guides about the topic can help you with identifying what you need to know on both a big picture level and on a specific level as well.
PHYSICAL / VERBAL: Making a presentation or TED talk about the subject and rehearsing it out loud is another fun studying technique. You don’t even have to present it to anyone; you could set up an audience of stuffed animals, talk at yourself in the mirror, or tell your cat. If you feel comfortable to present it to someone else, they can help by asking clarifying questions and bouncing the information back to you. You could also record yourself presenting this and review it later.
PHYSICAL: Making a game out of studying is perfect for physical learners. Almost any game, you can add a studying part to it. If you’re playing a video game, you can answer a question every time you die or lose. You can have someone call out questions to you while you play basketball, and you can’t shoot for the basket until you answer correctly. There is a myriad of learning games online that you can find or set up yourself. Making learning a game not only makes it stimulating and engaging, but it also is just plain fun.
General Tips
People who struggle with procrastination should combat it to ensure they stay focused. They should eliminate immediate distractions from their work environment. If working in your bedroom is distracting to you, move to the living room or even go sit outside. Leave the phone inside. Use the school Chromebook. The more you limit your distractions, the more you can keep yourself focused on your studies.
Work environment is a huge piece of studying. Your studying space should be just for studying. The human mind is conditioned to do certain things in certain places as we are creatures of habit. The most common example is that you would usually train your brain to sleep in your bed. If your habits contrast your environment, then it won’t be great for you.
That said, you should curate a space that is comfortable for studying. As said before, you should limit distractions, such as silencing your phone and turning off notifications. I recommend grabbing a snack and some water before you start studying. Get into comfortable clothes to feel as relaxed about it as possible.
Rewarding yourself for your studying can work as a good motivator. Maybe tell yourself that you can use your phone after you finish the chapter you’re working on. You can get yourself some ice cream after you go through the stack of flash cards. Every 20 minutes of studying is 10 minutes on the game. If you pass the exam, you can buy yourself that thing that you’ve been looking at. There are so many ways to do it, and it’s up to the individual to define what they think will work for them.
In this digital era, you can use digital resources to make studying a breeze. There are tons of studying games that approach studying in a way that many types of learners can benefit from. Some examples that I’m sure you’ve heard of are Kahoot, Quizlet, Gimkit, and Blookit. You don’t have to wait for your teacher just to make a study game; you can set one up on your own and play it by yourself or invite your study group to play it with you.
Not only can you use games off the internet, but there are tons of YouTube and TikTok channels dedicated to helping students. If you speak with your teachers or other students, they may have some recommendations for you. In general, if you Google online study resources, you can find so many free options. The internet also has a lot of resources for people with disabilities, like dyslexia and ADHD, where it makes it easier to stay on task and process the information.
Closing Remarks
While studying for exams, it’s important to remind yourself that the grades you receive for the semester do not define your identity nor your intelligence. While you should be pushing yourself to reach your greatest potential, you should not put all of your worth into the score that you receive. There will always be another opportunity, and if you continue to work hard, something will stick.
On test day, ensure that you sleep well and eat something for breakfast. Harvard recommends that you arrive to class early to mentally prepare yourself and reduce stress. With some tests, it might be helpful to spend the first minute or two of testing time to write down any formulas or cheats so that you don’t panic and forget them later. Remember to take your time with reading the questions and temporarily skip the ones you are struggling with. For those with test anxiety, bringing water and remembering breathing exercises are key to making it through the test.
Make sure that you’re taking care of yourself when you study. Make sure that you’re taking breaks and drinking water. Getting up to stretch and scroll on your phone for a few minutes is not a crime. Studying is important, and you should be putting emphasis and care into it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be locked into it 100% of the time. Allow yourself some grace; a grade is never worth the decline of your physical or mental health. Don’t be too hard on yourself, and work to pass to the best of your ability.
At the end of my survey I asked students who study for advice they could extend to those who don’t, and the following stuck out to me personally.
“Study the classes you struggle with the most first. Don’t study too long, because you’ll burn yourself out.” – Mikaylyn Griffin
“I would say that studying is a discipline. It takes a lot to find the time or set aside time to study. If studying is something you want to do, my best advice is to just start small. Maybe study for 5 minutes at first and then work up to an hour. Do whatever is comfortable for you and make sure to take breaks. Mental health is extremely important.” – Mariah Ashby
“STUDYING IS WORTH IT. Find a fun alternative for yourself if it feels too boring, but please motivate yourself to study!!! It will help so much!” – Damon McDaniel.
“Studying is more than just passing an exam. It’s a process of remembrance also. It allows you to become familiar with a certain topic and have it engraved into your mind once you study it. You actually never know, the one thing that you study could be something that you practice. It opens a new door to opportunities and decisions.” – Jasiah Rawls
“Always put forth the effort you want to see in your grades. It pays off. I used to think that studying was pointless when we had work in class, but I realized that studying is preparation to show what you know, and poor preparation gives poor performance. So always study!” – Malik Martin
