How To Organize Yourself To Study: 9 Practical Tips
When you want to prepare for an exam, it is very important that there is correct organization, since otherwise it would be difficult for us to maintain a quality study in the long term. To do this, there are a series of guidelines to keep in mind that can be very effective if they are followed.
When it comes to knowing how to organize yourself to study, you can refer to a series of tips such as the following: choose a suitable place to study, schedule a study calendar, make outlines, flashcards and summaries of the subject or review the syllabus as many times as possible. as possible, among others.
In this article you will find a series of tips on how to organize yourself to study on a daily basis and have more facilities to learn and memorize at a good pace.
How to organize yourself to study: steps to follow and recommended strategies
Studying is a process that allows us to internalize information so that, if we do it well, we will forget it or forget it in a matter of a few days. Unfortunately, it is very common for people to not study well and try to save time using strategies that, in essence, only serve to memorize part of the information and forget it in a matter of hours. Therefore, the tips that you will find below will help you save time and effort in the medium and long term, making you learn more and better, understanding your notes and textbooks.
1. Choose an ideal space to study
The first thing to keep in mind when organizing yourself to study is to choose an ideal space for it ; either at home or in the library, or even being able to alternate between both places.
Whatever the place, the important thing is to take into account a series of factors such as whether it is a place where one can feel comfortable studying and at the same time motivated to do so. It should also be a space with good lighting and that is isolated from noises that make studying difficult, and you can use earplugs if they do not bother you and you tend to be distracted by even the slightest noise.
Besides, You must stay ahead of events and avoid distractions in the study area, so we should have electronic devices, such as the mobile phone, turned off or on silent; It is highly recommended that they are not in sight at the time of study, since being in sight it is easier for us to use it more frequently. We should only use the computer or tablet when we need it to do academic work, search for certain information related to the subject we are studying or any type of related task.
2. Equip yourself with everything necessary to carry out each day of study
When it comes to organizing yourself to study, it is essential to have everything necessary to carry out the study each day (e.g., pens, pages, manuals or notes with the syllabus that we must study that day, highlighters, etc.), trying to clear the table of everything that we do not need in order to avoid distractions, and also to save time when looking for what we need that day to study
On the other hand, remember to have a bottle of water within reach to stay hydrated at all times.
3. Schedule a study calendar
Another very important tip when it comes to organizing yourself to study would be to make a study calendar in which we schedule what we must study each day, each week and each month, starting by establishing small objectives, subdividing the tasks and the syllabus that we must study each day. It is better to focus on small goals day by day because If we focus on long-term goals we could feel overwhelmed by so much agenda
It is also very important to establish fixed study schedules, as if it were a work schedule, in order to make it easier to get used to it and thus turn it into a routine.
Each day of study we could decide the tasks starting with the most complex ones in the morning when we have the most energy and leaving others that are somewhat simpler for the afternoon, since we will be more likely to be more tired. Another option could also be to start the first hour or hour of studying with a simple task and when we are more focused go for the more complex ones; Then, we could end the study day with a simpler task such as reviewing the syllabus studied that day.
In any case, it would be best to leave the most complex tasks (such as understanding the new syllabus and preparing summaries, diagrams, etc.) for the hours when we have the most energy, which are usually in the morning
Comply with the study schedule, although you can leave a certain amount of time to recover some time that you could have lost due to any setback that may have arisen throughout the week (e.g., always schedule Friday afternoon for review the syllabus seen throughout the week and to catch up in case one day you were not able to complete what you had planned to study, etc.). First of all, there must be coherence with the planning of the study calendar, establishing realistic objectives that we can meet.
It is difficult to be productive for too long, since if you do not rest while studying, your performance will possibly decrease and in some cases you will not even realize it. So that, When it comes to organizing yourself to study, it is important to take short breaks of 5 to 10 minutes for every 25 to 30 minutes of study (maybe every 45 minutes in some cases).
It all depends on the moment and each person, but short breaks should always be taken, since, otherwise, long-term study would not be sustainable (it would cause that person to arrive fatigued to the exam and their performance would progressively drop as they complete the test). the test is coming).
During rest times you should also take advantage of going to the bathroom and taking a walk, getting some air and stretching a little, since sitting for so long can cause back problems.
It is also important to take meal breaks, with breaks that are slightly longer than normal (e.g., 1 and a half or 2 hours break to eat and rest; half an hour break for a snack and perhaps a coffee).
5. Make outlines, flashcards and summaries of the subject
Another very important tip to keep in mind when organizing yourself to study is to work on comprehensive reading. To do this, we should try a little harder when reading the content in order to understand it better on the first readings ; To achieve this, it is usually useful to highlight what is most relevant, linking the content that we are studying with other knowledge already acquired previously.
Other ways to learn the subject in greater depth would be by making syllabus outlines, flashcards (didactic cards) and summaries or concept maps of the subject.
6. Do mock exams
When it comes to organizing yourself to study, it is also quite useful to try to frequently do simulations or individual exam questions, especially when the exam we are going to take will be multiple choice, since in some cases some questions could be repeated. And most importantly, doing these simulations will help us be more trained and prepared when taking the real exam, questioning ourselves if we really know what we think we know
Likewise, it is as essential to do mock exams as to correct them, since by doing so we will learn from our mistakes and we will be more aware of which are the topics or subjects that we master less and thus we will know that we must reinforce the study of them.
7. At the end of the study day, review everything studied that day
When it comes to organizing ourselves to study, a useful strategy is to do a review at the end of each study day; in them we will use summaries, flashcards or concept maps of everything studied that day in order to consolidate the new knowledge acquired.
Another review could also be carried out at the end of each study week of everything seen in the previous days; That day being the last day we study each week (e.g., Friday afternoon) and not the day of rest.
8. Review the syllabus as many times as possible
It is essential to review what has been studied as many times as possible, since the more reviews we can give to the syllabus, The more we will be able to pay attention to the details and we will acquire a greater mastery of the subject for the exam Of course, following the planning, because we cannot go on to review the next topic if we have not yet carefully reviewed the previous one.
Therefore, just as when studying a new syllabus, when we want to review we must dedicate the necessary time and establish a realistic time to do a quality review that helps us consolidate our knowledge on the subject.
9. Rest as much as possible the day before the exam
To organize yourself to study correctly, it is important to arrive with sufficient planning for the exam, having studied the subject well so that the day before we do not have to go on a binge which, in addition to being of little use, could cause us to arrive exhausted for the test and we cannot concentrate enough to answer the questions correctly
Therefore, it would be advisable that the day before the exam we rest as much as possible and even avoid studying, instead doing relaxing activities such as taking a walk or watching a movie or, if studying, doing light tasks such as watching some mock questions, summaries, flashcards or concept maps, trying to leave the study at least mid-afternoon to lower the activation of the central nervous system and thus be able to relax to sleep more easily the day before the exam.
It is important to have time to disconnect
Now that we have seen how to organize yourself to study, it is worth remembering that it is almost as important to have time to rest and disconnect, since Otherwise we could end up fatigued, unmotivated or even with anxiety problems
Therefore, we should establish at least one full day a week of rest or two if possible to do activities that allow us to disconnect (for example, travel, play sports, watch series, etc.) and to be with our family, friends. and/or our partner.
It is also important to establish moments of rest on study days (for example, at the end of the study day go to the gym and after dinner watch a series or something that is pleasurable and helps us disconnect a little to fall asleep better. ).
