One week in and it already feels like school. Now that syllabus week is over, real school is beginning. And while I'm dreading it from the depths of my soul, at the same time, I'm kinda excited. I guess I just love the feeling of being productive.

Let's be honest, studying is hard. It's hard to stop that episode of Brooklyn 99 or stop scrolling on Tumblr or stop reading link after link on Reddit. Your phone keeps vibrating because one of your friends thought up the bright idea to make a group chat with like 10 people and you think it's rude to mute it.

I get it. Studying is almost impossible with all the distractions around. As a sophomore, technically junior, let me share with you my best study tips in no particular order.

1. Either get off social media sites or physically block them off your browsers.

This is hands down my best advice to anyone trying to get something or somethings done. You might think that you can do both that Organic Pre-Lab while watching Stranger Things and honestly, I'm sure you can. But can you do it as efficiently or quickly as you can if you had exited out of Facebook or Netflix?

I guarantee you, probably not.

In my experience, with distractions like Facebook, Tumblr, Netflix, etc on, a half hour assignment turns into an hour or hour and a half. An hour assignment turns into a nightlong adventure with coffee and snacks in abundance. Believe me when I say: value your time. Don't stress out longer for an assignment than necessary.

If you can just exit out and not get back on until you're done, congrats, you're a god. But if you're like me and need something to physically block those sites, google chrome extensions are you best friends. I use BlockSite. I just put in all the websites that I regular procrastinate on and turn the extension on when I need to start cracking on some work.

2. Don't try to take notes like the stuff of Pinterest or Tumblr. It's a waste of time.

I see this all the time. Those colorful notes that look super beautiful and organized and drool worthy. Stuff like this:

or this:

or this monstrosity:

Like honestly, who actually has the time for that. Having to draw things, changing colors, constantly capping and recapping those pens. Few people naturally write notes like that. If you do, more power to you. I'm envious of your beautiful notes. But I for one have spent too long trying to imitate this and being frustrated when my notes weren't super pretty like this.

They don't have to be.

Just make them legible and accurate and they're the best notes already. You don't need a billion different colors and drawing and doodles to be productive or have good notes. And to be fair, you shouldn't even be envious of those people's notes. They probably spent a long time on that page and took a picture of it.

Just write legible, accurate notes and you're good. Don't force yourself to be Picasso every lecture. If lists work best for you, write yourself some damn good lists.

3. And on that note, pun fully intended, actually read your notes.

I don't know about you, but I am terrible about this. I would write a bunch of notes during lecture only to never review them again until the exams. And when I needed some help during at home quizzes or homework, I would literally just google anything I need and never pull out notes again.

Same with my other classes such as Organic or Stats for Science. I take notes only to never see them again. Don't do that.

When you take notes in class, it helps the hour and a half go by pretty quickly. Furthermore, if you get home and see that your notes are a little lacking, then this should be encouragement to take better notes for yourself next time!

If you're like me and are pre-med, then those written notes will do wonder when you're studying for the MCAT. The best notes for you are the notes written by you. They identify weaknesses and strengths that you had, include things that google might not have in depth or have too much in depth. Your notes will be able to identify key points that you should focus on in the future.

4. If you're tired, drink some coffee or tea.

Contrary to popular beliefs, there is very little consequence of drinking loads of coffee. Trying to study while you're tired is a waste of time, and you wont remember anything. And on top of that, the whole time you're wishing you're in bed.

You know what could solve that? Caffeine.

Caffeine is great, and I could tell you that myself or you can watch this super great informational video about why coffee is truly #basedgod by one of my favorite Youtube CGPgrey. It's called Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever.

If you're too lazy and missed the soothing voice of Mr. Grey then the basic summary is coffee gives you increase focus, decrease fatigue, increase memory and releases dopamine to combat caffeine withdrawal so there's no reason for you to stop drinking it.

So brew a cup and get started on that Organic Prelab you're gonna hate yourself tomorrow morning for not doing.

5. List out goals for every time you sit down and are planning to hit multiple goals and give yourself approximate time goals.

I know it sounds silly, there's no reason to list out 3 or 4 things that you can easily remember or times that you can just as easily remember as well. But this really helps focus your attention and energy.

When it's a tangible list in front of you, it gives you less room to give yourself unnecessary breaks. Give yourself a good time goal to finish different assignments and follow it the best you can. If it takes you longer or shorter, then mark it down and remember it next time to give yourself a more precise schedule to follow.

Once you get started, hitting 3 or 4 goals in a sitting wont take 6 or 7 hours but maybe only 3 or 4 or even less than 3. When it comes to my list, I follow a specific order. I have three sections, Mandatory, Important, and Mid-Level. Mandatory are things I have to finish within that sitting, Important a things I have to finish in the next couple of sittings, and Mid-Level are things due so far ahead that they haven't been scheduled for anything specific sittings.

6. If it a task take 5 minutes to complete, do it now.

When you procrastinate on things that only takes a few minutes to complete. At the end of the day, those small tasks add up to half a hour or even over an hour. Small things that I procrastinate on is printing notes or assignments, replying to emails, not scheduling future appointments, shower/brushing my teeth, put things back where they belong, taking my medication, etc.

When you procrastinate on those things, all those small things you HAVE to do before getting any studying done end up taking an hour before you sit down to accomplish something.

So do them now!

And on top of that, when I have bad days where I don't feel like doing anything, doing those small tasks don't make me feel so lazy or unproductive. Especially on those bad days, I put on some Netflix and get some cleaning done.

7. Know when to give yourself breaks. I do 45 minutes blocks studying with 15 minute breaks and 30 minute breaks every 3 blocks of study I get done.

Those crams you hear college students do are never THAT productive. I mean, when you trap yourself in a small room with just study materials, you're bound to get some stuff done. But nothing you can't do with 6 or 7 hours and adequate breaks.

Trying to cram is bad enough but trying to cram with out breaks is asking to forget things on an exam. Give yourself adequate breaks between different blocks of studying. Put your head down, get some snacks, ect.

Don't try to memorize everything without breaks for your brain!