If all of us college students, from the incoming freshmen to the fifth year seniors, were being completely honest, we would safely be able to say that the one thing that none of us were prepared to do when we made it to our schools was to actually study; that, at least from my experience, was one of the few things that high school left out when ‘preparing us for college.’ And if you’re anything like I was/am, you learned the hard way that studying in college is crucial to whether you pass or fail, and ‘just winging it’, even though we still try it from time to time, just doesn’t cut it anymore. But never fear, for I, although I still have yet to learn, have thrown together 3 of my biggest pieces of advice for actually studying in college.

1. Be QUIET!

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since going to Lindsey Wilson College, it’s that it’s impossible to be able to study when there’s too much noise, and anyone who has been around me when I’m trying to study knows that I tend to get pretty testy when things aren’t quiet enough for me to concentrate. Don’t believe me? Try taking all of your homework, and go to the noisiest place that you can think of, like a McDonalds. You sit down to study, but the constant noise and chatter eventually gets to you, and you can’t focus on what you’re doing. And there’s also the possibility that you run into someone you know, and you sit and talk and eventually you forget about the work that you’re supposed to be doing altogether. So, my advice to you is to find a nice, quiet place to study. For me, it’s the library at LWC, or my room of the evenings when I get my house to myself for a little while. Being silent while studying helps you concentrate, and ultimately helps you do better on your assignments and in your classes.

2. Pace Yourself

Don’t try to do homework for all of your classes in one sitting- you’ll wear yourself out, and you won’t be doing your best. Pace yourself; if your schedule is like mine, and you have different classes on, say, Monday, Wednesday & Friday than you do on Tuesday and Thursday, you can divide your homework throughout accordingly, depending on how much you have, and the weekends can be used as a catch-up period for all classes. This sounds like you don’t have much of a social life when you start school, and, to be honest…. you really don’t. But I can say that it’ll all be worth it when you see your grades in a class.

3. Once You Get Started…Don’t Stop!

Once you get started studying, or doing homework, try not to stop. Of course, you’ll get hungry, or you’ll have to go to the bathroom every now and then. But if you can help it at all, try to keep your breaks as short as possible; you’re liable to lose your place in a textbook, forget what you’re writing, or simply lose your train of focus altogether.

These are my three biggest pieces of advice when it comes to actually learning how to study in college. Like I said earlier, I still have quite a bit of learning to do myself, but these tricks are what I’ve found to work so far, and I hope that they can be of good use to someone.