Raise your hand if high school felt like a cakewalk, I know mine did. I hardly remember studying or doing homework in high school, every test felt easy, every paper was simple and boring, and I felt utterly unchallenged.
Flash forward to my senior year of college and I’m sitting in my college library with a stack of homework that feels like a dead weight on my ankle. As I stare at the pile of books, due dates, and homework I'm trying to remember if it’s always felt so daunting. I know it has since I got to college and I remember shedding a few tears over second semester AP chemistry but before that, nada. I can’t remember a single homework related stress. So if I’ve never had to study…. Do I even know how to?
The answer is a pretty sad no.
My idea, and perhaps your, idea of studying is to gather all my things, set it in a pile before me and stare at it until the dread of looming due dates become too much and I begrudgingly start plowing through book chapters as fast as I can. Needless to say, this method is awful and unproductive. My shotgun approach means that I’m leaving out huge sections of knowledge I should be learning. My procrastination makes me hate studying because a task that should take thirty minutes gets stretched to disgusting all nighters and I still haven’t finished half of what I was supposed to. Studying becomes a chore and learning becomes tedious and stressful.
Even classes that I was excited to take become nightmare fuel purely because I have no flippin’ clue how to study. I can’t be the only kid who got into college only to realize I don’t know how to actually study. It feels sad to finally be admitting this my senior year but I guess any times better than never.
Here’s my question for you, do you hate studying? Does studying feel like a chore? Would you rather be jumping off a bridge than sitting in your library? Is there a chance you don’t know how to study? If you answered yes to these then here are some tricks I’m starting to implement and you should too.
Try to study in the same place, at the same, every time you study. We are creatures of habit and if you have a place to study then and a time then it won’t feel like the only thing you ever do is study making it easier to actually dedicate quality time to learning.
Be reasonable. No really, be kind to your brain and it’ll be kind back. Don’t tell yourself, “I have to read all of Moby Dick in two weeks” instead make a detailed plan that’s forgiving like “I have to read chapters 1-5 of Moby Dick on Tuesday between 1pm and 4pm”. The second feels manageable, the first feels like a death sentence.
Reward yourself after work is done, not before. So you want to marathon all of Stranger Things, awesome but do it as a reward and work it into your schedule so you don’t feel like you have to sneak treats. Be like, “after I read chapters 1-5 of Moby Dick I will watch an episode” not “I’ll never get to watch Stranger Things because I have to read all of Moby Dick”. Self-control is learned and it takes time, but you and I can get there.
And lastly, allow yourself to be an individual. Find your studying pattern and don’t be scared if this takes some time. Others have had years of learning how to be good students, they’ve learned how they like to study, you and I are just figuring this out. Perhaps you like studying in silent areas; maybe you like the commotion of coffee shops. Experiment stick to what worked best. I personally like “working” in silent areas with ear plugs in where no one can see me… however I never do work here. I work best in high commotion areas where I feel like people are judging me if I’m goofing off.
You and I got this. We will succeed and perhaps we will never learn to love studying, but I feel like with this plan we’ll at least stop dreading it... as much.
