The Introvert's Survival Guide to College

Entry 5: Stu-dying

So, one would think that the studying section would come before the midterm, but ni! We must use your enthusiasm/disappointment of the midterms to actually make a change/reinforcement in any of your study habits.

Look deep inside yourself and ask if you are satisfied with your results? If your grades were abs, would they be hot abs or beer pack abs? If your grades were magical ponies, would they be a fat unicorn or a kick butt pegasus? If your grades were grades, would they be bad grades or good grades? I think we get the point....

Now how much studying did you do? (hours worth) How close to the test did you start studying? (like a week before? great!) Did you pull an all-nighter? (good, all-nighters are stupid and a waste of your energy).

Some of my favorite things to do when I'm studying is, I'll make an jeopardy game and ask some friends to make some too and get a small group together to play everyones games as a part of learning the material. If you can make studying into a game, everyone will be much more energetic and you'll be actively learning. Not to mention that everyone remembers different parts of lectures better than others so when you collaborate with your classmates you get a better quality study session than just reading over your notes (which is also a waste of energy). SO turn on your social juices for studying.

"but Boldpastel! I can't find anyone to study with in my class!"

Alright, you've got a few options. First off, you could study with some friends or your roommate even if they don't have the same class. You could take turns quizzing each other on flash cards and keep points on how many each person gets right, at the end of it, the winner gets a free lunch from the others (or they get bragging rights, whatever ya'll want).

Or you could study by yourself (and that's totally fine, some people do better this way). DO NOT JUST READ OVER YOUR NOTES. That is the worst way to learn! Look over the key concepts in your textbook, make map graphs of your notes (Drawing main point and then arrows pointing to all the sub points of it) Quiz yourself on note cards. Write notes form your textbook. Teach each lecture to a crowd of stuffed animals.

And don't study for hours on end without a break. I usually set a timer and study for 30-45 minutes and then I reward myself with a break of 10-20 minutes. Watch an episode of 'How I met your mother', eat some cereal, go for a walk (whatever you do, I do recommend you stretch and move your body a little, it keeps your blood flowing: an active body is an active mind!)

Do pushups every time you get an answer wrong and eat a chocolate every-time you get an answer right. The list goes on and on. Take a creative approach to studying and you might have fun and get an A on your test.

This honestly works for whatever grade level your in, be it 7th grade or a senior in college.

Conclusion? Studying the right way saves time, energy, and your grades.

And gosh darn it, don't stay up all night trying to learn the material. It won't do you any good and will make you tired when you take the test. Knowledge is processed in your sleep, so you gotta sleep to remember things!

Picture explanation: I'm in geology, schist is a kind of rock. Geology is full of puns.