Use 30-Day Trials- Popularized by Steve Pavlina, trial periods work under the principle that by committing to a change for a month, it will become a habit. Since it is study techniques you want to reinforce, pick one or two habits and work on them for an entire month.
2. The Learn-It-Once Approach- Spend your time learning things as they come up in your courses. Attend classes with the perspective that you could be tested at any moment. It should only be material that you were just presented that you might not have had time to fully learn. Waiting before tests, assignments or finals is taking things too far.
3. Morning Review- Wake up a half hour earlier and spend that time reading from your textbook. If you’ve already read the chapters, spend the time rewriting the key concepts into a notebook. A half-hour out of your day in the morning probably won’t create a huge impact on your schedule, yet over the entire term it can be invaluable in boosting your understanding.
4. Link Courses to Daily Life- Spend some time each week looking for practical ways you can use the information you are learning. If you can find situations from your daily life that are similar to your subjects, they can go from abstract theories to concrete tools.
5. Background Reading- Invest some of your time each week in reading the background of the ideas surrounding your subjects. Pick out interesting topics in the news or books that make use of ideas from your field of study. Background reading can reinforce the ideas by connecting them with reality.
6. Set Daily Study Times- Set periods of time that you will spend studying each day. Once you spend a month reinforcing these learning periods, it will become automatic. Regular studying times prevent the need for cramming and can give you consistency in your schedule.
7. Cut Wasted Time- I’ve had classes where I received an A+, yet I attended less than a third of the lectures. I have had courses where I didn’t buy or read the textbook. Talk to other classmates about how the course is graded (mostly textbook, mostly lectures, etc.) and use that as a basis for deciding where to cut time if you have to. Skipping a class can be a good strategy if it means you could better learn the subject on your own.
8. Focus on Learning, Not Grades- Grades are just an artificial marker used to assess how much you’ve learned. While they are useful as a measurement tool, focusing on grades over understanding and learning useful ideas wastes your time. Look for ways you can use the material you are learning and focus on understanding it first, put grades afterwards.
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