r/GetStudying

I have an exam on the 27th of August, and I literally can't make myself study. I've been trying for 2 days to do something, but I can't??? The motivation is all gone, and I'm genuinely so tired MENTALLY from all the studying this summer (did really bad in my first sem, so now I have lots of exams 😭😭💔)

I'll be around for a few hours.

For a long time I thought performance meant working harder.

Endurance rowing taught me something different: performance is about managing energy, attention, recovery, and consistency - not just effort.

I eventually started applying the same principles to preparing for licensing exams and even everyday work.

I'm curious...

Have you found that the habits that improve athletic performance also improve your work or learning? If not, are you willing to try?

Before secondary school I was told I was naturally smart and just "got things", and for the most part that was true, but it was mostly because the curriculum was not stimulating enough for me. I just remembered the stuff in class long enough to do well on tests, and then never think about it again. When I reached secondary school I felt a bit more resistance in some subjects and knew I needed to learn how to study for real. However, I just ended up writing pretty notes that I never looked at again, and just reread chapters the night before a test. Uni was my "new start" and I have slowly been getting to know my myself better, and understanding how I can actually learn.

And just so we are clear, this is what works for ME. It might help you too, but not all study tips work for every major, personality, or lifestyle. I found this out by trial and error, and encourage you to do the same with my tips and others you find.

So, here is what I have learned about my study habits, and what works (and does not) for me:

1. Time yourself. I used to just sit in front of my computer/ textbook and do very passive learning activities (rereading, looking at slides, taking notes straight from the slides). After an hour of this (with many tik tok brakes) I would count it as an hour of productive studying. Then a few days later when I didn't remember anything, I would just be frustrated and think "why can't I remember this I spent X hours studying that chapter just a few days ago". Now I actually time myself for the real hours of studying I do, when I actually use real studying techniques (which I will discuss later), and I separate them into different categories. For this I have both used a journal and Kairu to keep track. Now I only count the time I am focusing for real and pause the timer when I need a break or get distracted. And on days where I don't feel like studying, I just think that my streak will be broken, and then I get a little wave of motivation to study, even if it is just 30 minutes.
2. Don't exclusively use the pomodoro method for everything. Sure if you struggle with your attention span this is a viable option to build it up and force yourself to be in deep focus for more than 2 minutes (trust me I know how it is). But I do not think it should be used in every situation. For example, if you are writing an essay or some other task that takes awhile, you do not want to be interrupted every 25 minutes to take a break and loose your rhythm. For these types of tasks I usually just start the timer and stop when I feel like my head is getting heavy. Also mini tip, your brain is still working on the task in the background when you take a break, so be nice to yourself and take a little break then come back to your task with a fresh mind.
3. Taking good breaks. Do not just start scrolling on your phone right after a session, this disrupts your brain from working on the task in the background, and for me it greatly reduces the chance that I will sit back down and continue my studying. Stretch, go to the bathroom, take a walk, make tea or a snack, cuddle with your cat, tidy your room, walk outside, or do light exercise. Take brakes that are not too overstimulating or exhausting. To do this you actually need to take the brakes, I used to not feel like I deserved a brake, but If you don't take a break then your short term memory has no chance to sort all the stuff you just read into your long term memory, and you are more likely to forget some / all of it.
4. Test yourself / do active studying methods. One of my professors did this experiment on us in class. He split us into two groups. Group 1 was told to reread a chapter 3 times. Group 2 was told to read a chapter once, but to also try to test themselves on the material right after. Then both groups had to do a test to see which group remembered the most. The result was group 1, but when we were given the same test a week later group 2 did the best. This shows that rereading the same material can help short term, but if you really want to LEARN then you have to test yourself. This can be done in a few ways; doing past exams, pretending to teach it to someone else, making flashcards and testing yourself at intervals, or maybe your teacher gives out quizzes or worksheets you can to.
5. You do not HAVE to study for 8 hours a day. For some time I was under the impression that you had to study for 8 hours a day to be a good student, but personalty I can not handle 8 hours. Most days I can do around 4 hours, on good days almost 6, and on bad days 1 hour is a victory (This can look different for you). As I mentioned your short term memory will get overwhelmed by 8 hours of material in one day, you need brakes and sleep to let your brain rest and to give it a chance to sort and absorb the information. If you use your time effectively and only count the time you actually spent actively studying, it will most likely not be 8 hours and does not have to be either.
6. You have to sleep, and fuel your body. If you are tired you are less likely to start studying or remembering anything you tried to study. Same with being hungry, I HATE being hungry, I can not concentrate if I am hungry. But, don't just eat junk food. I encourage snacks, it can make a study session more barable, but you can not just survive off of snacks. The difference between some snacks and/or noodles, than a fiber and protein rich meal before you study, is really big. (I usually eat overnight oats with chia seeds and raspberries). If you are rested and well fed, your body can focus on learning.
7. Having a strict schedule with no wiggle room does not work in the long term. I have tried time blocking, and it did not work for me. If one thing does not go as scheduled the whole day is ruined, or at least it feels that way. Now I just have a few goals for the day for example: Between breakfast and lunch I will finish task X and start on Y, after lunch I will finish task Y and read chapter Z for class tomorrow. Then after dinner I will see if I would rather continue with some tasks or go for a walk/workout. This type of schedule is easier to follow than something planed down to the hour, and I have room to take breaks when needed and if something else comes up.
8. Your environment has a lot of influence on you. This has multiple aspects to it, the people you surround yourself with and your study space. In my first semester I kind of only had one person I would hang out with at school. She was so negative, not motivated, and distracted me from schoolwork. This will influence you and your attitude towards studying. Find people that have similar goals and motivation to you. Also, your study space is a reflection of your mind. I know it sounds cliche, but it is true for me. That urge that you get around your exams to clean is there for a reason. Your mind is trying to make your space clean and tidy so that your mind feels clean and tidy, ready to learn everything before your exams. If you don't have the time to deep clean your entire space (who does really?) then at least keep your desk clean and free of distractions. It really makes a world of a difference, coming from a chronically messy girl.
9. Spread out your learning. If you just revise chapter 1 in week 1, than you will most likely not remember it well when exams come. If a neural circuit has not been used in a while, your brain will think it is no longer needed, and brake them up/ get rid of them. This is why you forget unimportant things after awhile. But, if you activate this neural circuit every 1-2 weeks it will become stronger, and is less likely to be broken. So, test yourself on past chapters/units or look at your flashcards every once in a while.
10. You do not have to go to every lecture. Unless your lectures are mandatory, you do not have to go to every single one. I used to have this one lecturer who would just babble about nonsense for 3 hours straight and then put on a kahoot where all the choices were just the answer spelled differently (like polycrisis, polecrisis, pollycrize, and polly pocket), and he would complain that nobody seemed to pay attention or participate. After a while I just stopped showing up, and rather spent the time reading the book and doing past exams. In the end I got a B without showing up to 75% of the lectures. So if you feel like your time is better spent doing something else, then just do it.
11. Be nice to yourself. Give yourself some slack, it is not the end of the world if you don't study one day, or even a week for that matter. I struggle with migraines and really bad periods, so on some days I am in too much pain to do anything. And that is ok. If you stretch yourself too thin you will burn out, and then you won't get anything done any time soon. So it is just better to let yourself take a day or two to rest up and get better, you will come back stronger. Also, be nice to yourself if you get a bad grade. When I got an E on an exam, I cried for days. I had never gotten anything worse than a C in my whole life. But I think there is a lesson in just sitting with and accepting a personal "failure". I learned so much about myself and how I handle things not going how I planed, and that is more valuable to me than a better grade.

I know this was a lot lol, and some/most of it had been said before, but this is what I have learned about my studying in the last few years. I hope it was helpful for some of you. And please remember to adapt any tips to fit you, because we all function differently. Good luck with this semester everyone!

Thank you for reading my post, I really appreciate it :)

I am an Australian student currently doing medical science. Upon completing my first semester at university, I realised that my study method might be... crappy, because it resulted in me cramming all my content in the last 2 weeks.

My method: study and focus too much on lectures, get burnt out a few weeks into the semester, and end up with a hundreds of pages of notes per lecture by the time exams approach... then cram and go through the notes to relearn them (as if I was studying them for the first time because I end up forgetting all the content). I am also a HUUUGEEE procrastinator, so if you have tips for that, I will also appreciate it 👀

A lot of people recommend using flashcards to practice active recall throughout the semester so that I do not have to cram and relearn content before the exam, but I really do not know how to do that. That is, when do I make them, how often do I review them, and how many do I make?? If you do not recommend flashcards, then what should I do?

On top of this, i still want to be able to relax, spend time with my family, go out, etc!

If anyone has a study method that they use, and even their specific routine throughout the week, I will be extremely grateful if you shared them. I do get plenty of content in my course and it is pretty difficult stuff.

THANK YOUUU <3

I used to waste most of my time at home watching YouTube or scrolling Reddit, so I started going to a study centre. It worked really well. I can study 6+ hours there and have a genuinely productive day.

The problem is, now I’ve become dependent on that environment. When I’m home, I struggle to study and immediately get lazy.

I can’t keep going to the centre every day because it’s far and the monthly fee isn’t something I can keep paying.

How do you guys avoid getting lazy at home? Did anyone else become dependent on a particular study environment and manage to break out of it?

am i doomed? the subjects are math chemistry and physics, and its everything since semptember so its a lottttt. and lets say i know like 5% to 20% (maybe 20% is still too enthousiastic) of the whole thing.. i dont want to repeat this year i hate my math teacher with my whole life he ruined it

i am addicted to games, social media apps but ig i ma slowly losing interest in all of that and it's the best time to get really addicted to study so give me the BEST METHODS/TRICKS/RULES or whatever to get obsessed/addicted to study pleaseee

I want to get the same features to write notes, organized, because a notebook is very clumsy for me. Have been searching for a while, but unable to get something cheaper.

So, am at final year of university and left with 6 courses but I’m struggling to focus and study. Our exams are typically oral exams, it’s an Italian university so I have to understand and spend more time studying but I can’t focus for more than 10 minutes. I find myself getting distracted like using my phone or watching YouTube. I think I actually have an addiction and I usually stay at home so that also plays a part in me being lazy but l live on my own, there are no distraction except the ones I create. I have wasted a month just watching series and YouTube and now am left with 2 weeks for my final exam and I at least have to pass 3 of the 6 courses. I’m computer science field so, the courses am taking are operating system, data mining and courses like that so please give me any suggestion how I can lockin and get back to studying and any advices on how to approach this problem

How do you Guys manage to keep learning new skills while preparing for exams ? I usually stop working on skills when ever exams come up , and I’m struggling to balance both. Any suggestions on how to schedule time and stay consistent with skill building during exam season ?

I am gonna study from 10 -12 hours daily for next 21 days… if I am able to do that in this tough situation, also not studied more than 4 hours for past few years, I am hoping I might help others too.

Its my first time at a university. I really dont understand what i should focus on. We have lectures with our teacher 3 times a week. Should i focus on reading the articles that my teacher goes trough? Like what they are lecturing on, is what is most important?

Every week we geet a sheet with different questions about topics. Should i focus on what those papers are asking about? When reading articles, i know what to focus on by the lecturings, the sheets? Please people i want to start to study effectively, but i cant even stay calm or focused or organized when i dont know what to do. Im really not able to learn 200pages of articles. I have a learning disability so i learn slower.

I’ve always been one of the worst students in my class. I never really cared about studying, and whenever I tried, I could never get anything to stick.

Now I actually want to change that. I want to start taking school seriously, get good at learning, and eventually become one of the top students in my class.

For those of you who were ever in a similar situation, what actually worked for you? Are there any study methods, habits, or techniques that made a huge difference?

I’m basically starting from zero, so I’d really appreciate any advice that could help me turn things around.

I need the BESTTT and the most useful methods to actually lock in..and by locking in..I mean.. GENERATIONAL LOCK IN. I've tried literally almost everything I've learned from the internet. Deleting distracting apps and putting diff passwords each time so there is a timer set on your phone? Tried. Staring at the wall for 10 mins then locking in? Tried. Those apps where you can put a specific timer on distracting apps? TRIED THAT TOO. I have a test in 10 days and I haven't studied a single thing. I've been trying to but I just get distracted very easily. Even when attending online lectures...I like to drift away in my own thoughts and it's irritating because it is totally unintentional. I'm also gonna join a library and I hope I can concentrate at least for a few hours there.

I want a method that is quick, won't waste much time and is effective. I am really busy with homework and assignments that I don't get much time to study. That's why I am trying to find a study formula that I can do for every subject/chaptee every day. Idk if my an would work or not but I am thinking of creating notes with each topic and a few points about every topic per chapter. I am breaking it down like chapter is divided into different topics under the main chapter.

i have a lot of free time but all i do is sleep. now, idk where to start. ik i cant study all the coverage but i cant find a reason or motivation to study. all my friends are already locked in. i dont feel any pressure, just disappointment and felt like i already gave up years ago but still somehow surviving and now in my last semester.