College Survival Guide to Studying

We all know the old saying (or was it just a bumper sticker?):

Welcome to college, pick two:



Sleep
Social Life
Good Grades

Well, as it turns out you can have all three! You just have to know what you're doing. So, upon request, I'm making this article to let you guys kno what to expect, how to handle it and what my personal experiences in college have been.

Now, so you guys know where I'm coming from I'm going into my Junior year of college and I transferred after my freshmen year so I can relate stories from two different colleges. I have also taken classes at a community college so there's a bit of that, too.

Study Habits

If you want to pass you have to study. At least, that's what every teacher will tell you.

The real truth is that while you really should study for every test, sometimes it takes more work than others. You may think you know everything but sometimes teachers will pull a fast one on you and decide to test you on that one paragraph you talked about for five minutes that one class four weeks ago. You really need to be prepared and as a general rule it's better to look over your notes than read you book (unless otherwise told). Because they'll take more from what you talk about than what's on the last page of some silly chapter in an overpriced book.

Take notes in class

Hardly any teacher will stand there and just lecture at you (unless it's a 60+ person class) and even then there are ways around not being able to get everything down. Ask your professor if you can record the class on your ipod, so that you can play it back later and jot down and points you may have forgotten. If they say no, make friends with some people in the class and exchange notes to see what each of you missed.

I suggest taking the best notes you can until you have your first test. That first test will be the hardest one- no exceptions. Not because they make it that way, and not because it's the toughest material but because you've never had that professor before. In high school teachers have their own style but for the most part all the tests follow the same format.

In college it's a guessing game what each exam will be like. Until you take the first test from each teacher do the extra work, go the 110% percent. Once you finish that first test you'll know what your teacher wants you to learn, you'll know what they expect you to know and you'll know whether they lean more on the book or the notes. After that things get a bit easier and you can only write down what you'll need.

Studying the notes/book

As much as you think you can just read through a chapter and absorb everything- you can't. This is what I tried to do every time for my American Politics class and at the time I thought I had it down pat. Then I'd get to class and forget what party it was that did what thing. Things all blend together and get jumbled up unless you take the time to make flash cards or do something other than just read the information over and over. Making a study guide or flash cards or playing a quiz game with your friends (my personal favorite) is always the best way to do it. You come up with jokes and tricks to remember everything- that's a lot better than just packing things into your brain. Remember it's a brain, not a mule.

Another thing that helps is not to set aside a block of time for studying but study until you start to get tired or you realize you're only answering questions you remember the answers to. Or you're just glazing over and not actually reading things. Or (and this is my personal favorite) you realize you've been reading the same line for seven minutes. Study carefully and slowly, and try to make some fun out of it. When you start to get bored or tired set a timer- take a 10-15 minute break. Don't let yourself stay away for longer or else you'll never go back (you'll regret that decision when you finish half a test and realize you don't know anything else). Once you start getting tired for real- like bed time tired -just stop and go to bed (this means no last minute cramming!!) because you won't remember anything but how damn tired you were!

What makes the final study session easier is if you take time after class to review your notes, or do the quizzes in the back of the book (if there are any). That way you learn the information/study the information as you go, not all at once when you need it. You'll remember things better and yes it will take a bit more time but it'll be worth it when you can relax and not freak out about the test. Nerves and stress can make or break that final grade!

Some subjects you may believe you don't have to study for (Algebra 1, English 101...) But there will always be something you forget the meaning to, or some how the exact order of that problem slipped your mind and you'll be stuck. It's better to just study it (regardless of if you think it's worth it) than get there the day of and realize you completely forgot how to handle commas, or solve equations with Sine, Cosine and Tangents.

The Test Itself

This is all the stuff you've been told since you got to high school. Wake up a bit early on this day and make sure you have something to eat- an apple or a granola bar work well! There might be carts to stop by in your academic building or maybe just drop by the cafeteria for breakfast but eating really does help! I can't count just how many times I went to a test hungry and spent most of the time wondering what I was going to eat rather than what was on the test.

Go to bed a bit early so you can get some extra sleep- I've fallen asleep in the middle of a final before and, trust me, the teachers won't hesitate to take the test away right then and there. Or just let you keep sleeping and fail you. Also if you're fully awake your mind will be sharper and you'll be able to focus on the test and questions better, you won't get fed up as easily.

If you don't know the answer to a question circle it and skip it and don't look back at it until you've finished. Studies have shown that by skipping the answers you don't know and just doing the ones you do know first you'll gain more confidence and do better on the test as a whole. Also don't be afraid to look around at other questions to try and put clues together for the answer you can't figure out.

Go into the test confident and happy- get dressed that morning (no PJs and sloppy clothes) the better you feel the better you'll do and, to me, looking good and woken up and ready makes me feel great!

Maybe even take a shower to help you wake up and get ready (a warm shower of course, don't dunk yourself in ice water on a big day, that's just stupid).

Make sure to go back and check all of the answers (one at a time, read the question, answer it again and then check what you marked on the paper) before you turn it in. This has saved my butt several times. When you've got 100 questions before you, all multiple choice it's easy to miss one and have all the rest of the answers be off (you skipped 13 on accident and now all of them are one answer off). It also will correct any mistakes you made. Maybe you remembered something by the end that you didn't at the beginning- that's one more right answer and yes, it's worth it.

When you're done, go relax, take a break, read a book, just chill out, worrying about it won't help, there's nothing you can do now.


I hope this helped you all! If you have any questions please comment and I'll do my best to answer, I know this may be quick and not fully explaining everything but I do hope it helps. I plan on making a whole series of college survival guides (since there are so many questions about them on the site) so if you've got any topics you'd like to hear about just let me know and I'll do what I can to answer you.