Study tips that guarantee you success

Studying is hard, especially if it's a field that you don't quite understand but it may get easier with a couple of study tips. There never seems to be the perfect time to start because always seems to get in the way.-

Bu the good news is that you can develop a healthy habit – it's never too late to start one.

Here are some study tips to help you study better and easier in order to succeed.

1. Pick a place and time

Everybody's brain works differently, so it's up to you to find the perfect place for you. Some people need to see other people studying in order to get in the vibe. Other people need to have their privacy. Some people feel like they need to be in the nature in order to study better. Others feel more comfortable in a library chair.

Whether it's at home, or at a library it's completely up to you. No to persons are the same when it comes to studying.

Get comfortable: The study space must be a comfortable and a quiet place. You'll have to be careful not to be distracted because this is one of the key study tips. It takes a person approximately 5 minutes and 23 seconds to focus, and only 11 seconds to get distracted and lose focus. If you feel the need to listen to music or light up candles, it's up to you to find a private place to do so.
Find the time: Some people are morning people, and they wake up an hour or two earlier to start studying. Other's brain works better at night when the responsibilities are over. You'll have to pick your time based on your own. Our tip is to find yourself what fits you best and not rely or copy other people's lifestyle.

2. Study daily

If you make a plan to study a little bit every day, you'll be amazed with the result.

You'll see that a thick book with 600+ pages more will get so easily done if you study systematically. Also, you'll be reviewing things you study the day before and refresh what you already know. This helps you understand things better and to a deeper level. Not to forget to mention the last-minute stress you'll avoid with this.

At the beginning of the academic year an hour or two daily will do the trick. But later in the year you might have to study more per day.

If you're feeling like you don't have the time to study daily, maybe you need to take a look at your activities. Prioritizing is the key when it comes to study tips. You need to make your education a priority if you want to succeed. Why not cut back an hour of spending online daily and spend it on studying?

3. Plan your time

It's crucial to plan your time. There are a lot of ways to do so, such as:

Set a couple of alarms: Set an alarm half an hour before you have to start studying. This will give you 30 minutes to get mentally and physically in the vibe of studying. Also, a regular reminder keeps your plan right on tracks.
Wall planners: Start using a calendar or a wall planner on your room so you can see when you'll have to start studying. It's important to mark it up only with important dates, such as exams or study sessions with your group.
To-do lists: The best thing for a hard task is to divide it into smaller tasks. You can start by making a to-do list at the beginning of every week. The list can contain of the things you need to do, the study sessions, and you'll have a better view of what you'll have to do.
Use time limits: Before you start studying take a look at your to-do list. Divide each small task into the time you believe is enough to complete the task. Give it 5-10 minutes more just in case. This will help you whether to continue with said task, or to leave it when you have more time.

4. Discover your study style

As the years pass by, you'll realize that you too, have a personal study style. No to persons really have the same study style, and that is completely fine. Two brains given a certain problem will give you two very different solutions.

Image the “study style” as a way of thinking about studying in a very particular way. They're not strict rules that point out that “this is the only way to study and succeed”. The three main study styles are:

Auditory learners: These type of learners tend to understand and remember more by listening.This involves listening to a professor, podcast, tutorial or any other audio way of studying. interestingly enough, they tend to remember more when they hear themselves read out their own notes.
Visual learners: If there is a way to visualize it than it's perfection for these kinds of learners. If you're one of them, you should probably start using colors and drawings in your notes to help prove a point. You'll be amazed how much better you'll remember things.
Kinesthetic learners: Even though the name is not that famous, it just means that they learn by doing. Trying out techniques like role playing or building a model based on the study will help you a lot.

5. Take breaks

Probably the most fun out of all the study tips is this.

It's crucial to the brain that you take breaks. Especially if you're feeling tired, angry or frustrated. You have to imagine the brain as an engine that get's overheated if you don't give it a break.

If you feel like you're losing time while taking a break, than you couldn't be more wrong. It's better to sacrifice 10-15 minutes and after that to understand everything better rather than keep on trying to understand simple tasks and fail.

When you do take the break, make sure you stand up from where you are. Make sure to start walking, even making circles in the room. It's important to keep the blood flowing and a walk is the perfect way to do so.

Also, if you're stuck in a problem, walking may solve it because you'll think differently when you're refreshed.

6. Look for help

No one's perfect, and no one knows it all.

If you're stuck somewhere for an hour or two, why not ask for a lending hand? Seeking help involves asking one of your friends, your professor or seeking help on the internet.

There are a lot of forums that can help you out on every kind of question you might have.

It's way better and easier to ask for help from someone because there's a possibility that either they had that problem and solved them, or they're stuck on it too. It's better to fight a problem as two people rather than one.

If you can't find any help, feel free to contact us. We'll try our very best to help you out!

7. Write it down (the brain remembers it better)

My favorite study tip of all time!

If only someone told me when I was 12 that writing help the brain remember things better by a whopping 77% I'd save countless hours.

Unfortunately for me, I was at my last year of studies in my maters when my friend told me this. You have no idea how easily I learn something now. Basically, I tend to write a sentence two or three times in my notebook in order to remember it better. And it works wonders.

You should start that kind of strategy immediately and you'll see the difference.

The reason behind this is because you're forcing the brain to “produce” the thought by itself and making you write it. It's like your own thought and the brain tends to store it as one, which explains why you remember it better.

This is definitely the most important one out of all the study tips above in my opinion.

8. Explain it to others

Bottom line is, if you can't explain what you learned to a 5 year old boy then you haven't learned it enough.

Use people you have around such as your parents, siblings or your friends to your advantage. Explain everything you've learned to them and ask if they understood you. Verbal communication about a specific topic will help you learn ever more.

This method will help you to get things clearer in your head. Also, if you repeat often what you've studied the brain tends to store it better because it will consider it as a top priority.

One of the reasons why professors are so good at what they do is because they constantly explain it to other people. If you're ready to repeat to explain it to other people than you know it well enough.

9. Chew gum

Believe it or not, chewing the same taste of gum while studying AND taking the test will help you studying.

Based on this study, chewing gum will help you concentrate in visual memory tasks. The said study took 38 participants who were tested to do certain tasks, some chewing and other not.

The study revealed that the participants who were actually chewing gum had certainly quicker reaction and more accurate rather than those who didn't.

This was the case that concluded the theory.

10. Set study goals

There are a lot of studies that prove that settings goals helps successful people achieve positive outcomes because of the planning they do.

Basically, setting study goals is a way of dividing and breaking down your studies into smaller tasks. The more tasks you have, the easier they will be and the better you'll learn.

There are though some things you need to care of when you set goals. You'll have to:

Set realistic goals
Stick to the goals
Don't skip them
Are you happy with your goals?

Does your goals check out every item on the list above? Great! You're good to go.

11. Test yourself

As strange as it may seem, testing yourself is one of the most effective out of all the study tips.

The first good thing about testing yourself is setting up the environment. Each one of us has been to the examination room and feel like we've forgotten everything we've learned just because of the stress. This solves that because you'll feel mentally prepared for the test and you'll not be as stressed as if it was your first time.

Second, you'll remember more when you take a test because you'll learn how to mentally prepare to remember dates, numbers, names, formulas and more.

And if you perform poorly, there is really no reason to get depressed. The more you practice the better you become. Simple as that.

If you want to read more on why taking tests improves the result on an actual test, read this article. It has a lot of information in this field.

Jessica Bingham

Jessica Bingham writes articles for businesses that want to see their product to be well-known. Her articles have appeared in a number of e-zine sites, including EzineArticles.com, ArticlesBase.com, HubPages.com and TRCB.com.