A couple days ago, one of my friends asked if study guides actually helped me study. Apparently, one of his friends had allegedly claimed that she had no time to study because she spent most of her time putting together a study guide instead of actually studying.

This week's study tip focuses mainly on effectively using your time. Instead of pouring all your energy in putting together a long study guide, simply using your class notes, handouts and textbook to prepare for the test will be far more effective. For starters, you will be able to actually learn the content. If you were to make an effective study guide, you would most likely spend more time perfecting your study guide than actually using it as a study tool.

Some people may argue that the entire process of creating the study guide helps them study. This may be true if you were to create a study guide days ahead of the actual assessment, but for the vast majority of us that inevitably end up procrastinating, nobody really has the time to create a study guide the night before. Even if you did create a study guide the night before, chances are that it would most likely be rushed and lacking information, proving to be an inadequate study tool. What's the point of creating a "study guide" if it doesn't include all the necessary information and you end up wasting time anyway?

A far more efficient method would be to just review the textbook, class notes and other handouts. For classes like chemistry and math, it is far more important to get down the basic concepts on the different types of problems and do practice problems. A study guide for these classes might be "helpful" in some ways, but since these types of courses typically focus on mathematical problems, it is more important to be able to complete practice problems.

In summary, a more efficient way to prepare for assessments would be to simply review class materials and the textbook instead of expending all your energy on creating a study guide that will essentially only waste your time and hinder you from performing the best you can on the assessment. By doing this, you will be able to maximize your time and use your time wisely.

Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you guys find this tip helpful!

DISCLAIMER: I understand that everyone has different study methods and each person has their own different ways of studying. This is merely a study tip for those who are struggling to study the night before. Of course, study guides can be helpful for those who finish them days before the actual assessment, but in many cases, most students start studying typically the night before, and in that case, a study guide would not be the best option to maximize the amount of time you have to study. However, this is solely based on my opinion and the experiences I have had.