10 Tips to Improve Your Study Habits

There are certain key practices that make life easier for pupils when it comes time to study and, these habits are important for your entire education experience.

The first thing that pupils should do is to evaluate how it is they have studied in the past, what has worked and what has failed. They can then add new habits that will help them improve their retention of information and ability to retrieve it and put it to paper.

Here are 10 tips and habits that all pupils should develop in order to be able to study most effectively.

• • 1. Do not study too much in one sitting: Reading for more than an hour at a time, without a break, may not be as effective as studying for shorter time periods, taking breaks in between a long session. If you take short breaks you can restore your mental energy and increase the amount of material you retain in your memory
    2. Try to study at the same time every day and make it a regular part of your daily routine: When your body and brain recognise that it’s time to study you are more likely to retain more information and achieve your goals. Establishing the same routine every day helps you to become mentally prepared, much the same way as your body recognises your normal lunchtime or becomes accustomed to taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon.
    3. Do not delay study time because you don’t like the assignment: Procrastination means that you will find any reason to stop doing your work. Read more about procrastination here. You will have to do the assignment sooner or later so why not early? You don’t want to waste a significant amount of time or rush to make up wasted time
    4. Be sure your friends and relatives understand when your study time has been scheduled: Don’t accept calls from friends and try to keep your interruptions to a minimum. It is not that easy to get back into the flow of work when your mind has been distracted. You may even consider turning off your phone
    5. Don’t think you can do it all on your own: If you are having trouble with your school work call a friend in your class, speak to your teacher, or even hire a private tutor to get the help you need. You are only wasting time and energy when you attempt to do something on your own that you may not be able to achieve
    6. Set up a positive mood around the time that you are studying: When you walk into your study time distracted, and in a negative mindset you are less likely to stick with your finishing your school work to achieve the goals you have set out for yourself
    7. Create a variety of work to do when you sit down to study: Spend 30-45 minutes reading, take a quick five-minute break and sit back down to do something different, perhaps a different subject. It’s important for your mind to have a variety of tasks in order to stay sharp and continue to retain the information you are feeding it
    8. Switch off the TV: There has been some research to indicate that young people are able to focus just as well when music is on as when it’s not. However, the television should be off because most people are unable to function and concentrate with the television on
    9. Most pupils find that recopying material helps to ingrain the material in their memory: This recopying must be done using paper and pen to work effectively
    10. During study sessions stop when you feel yourself getting frustrated: Little to no learning can take place when you are angry or upset over an assignment. Get help with the assignment or task from another pupil, or just put it aside for a period of time until your frustration level has decreased.

So, what do you think about these study tips? Which ones do you think will help you the most? Let us know in the comments below!