The Big-Ass Master List of study tips I found on the Internet (that actually work)

A few months ago I started collecting study tips and tricks from Pinterest and other online sources, and over the semester I've put a few of them to the test.

As an older student, studying was a long time ago for me. In fact, studying was kind of never ago, because before I went back to school last year, I'd never studied before. I was the prototypical underachiever: a "gifted" kid (hate that word) who found everything easy until things got hard. I never learned how to try, so I learned how to fail. If something was hard, instead of trying, I didn't do it.

In high school, I flunked out of Chemistry and Algebra II (didn't even try to pass) and was put in the classes where they put people who are barely going to graduate and probably can't read. Meanwhile, I was taking IB classes in English, History, and Theatre.

If it wasn't easy I didn't do it. So I never studied. Ever.

My first failed attempt at college, I only took humanities classes - once again because they were easy. Never studied, made As. Writing research papers is a cake walk for me, but I dropped remedial algebra three times. Then I dropped out of school.

It took a decade of eating humble pie in a dead-end job to teach me that in order to make something out of my life, I had to learn how to be bad at things. I had to accept they don't come naturally, and learn how to do them.

Unfortunately, it also means that I've taken all my "filler" courses. For the next two years, 100% of my classes will be math and science, subjects that (obviously) are challenging for me. The irony is strong. In an attempt to take the easy way out, I've made things way harder for myself. The only way I will be successful in my undergrad and get into med school is with good, old-fashioned hard work.

I am a woman in her 30s learning to study for the first time. These are the methods and tricks that have made it possible for me to take a semester of nothing but math and science, and make As and Bs.

Use the Study Block Method 

I learned this from an MCAT tutor's free strategy webinar. I learned a lot of good stuff from her website actually, and I'll mention a few more shortly. But so far this is my favorite - so much so that I wrote a whole blog post about it. I recommend you go read that if you have trouble focusing or staying on-task while you're studying.

The basic gist is that instead of resolving to study a few hours that day, you actually schedule the block of time and treat is as sacrosanct. Set an alarm for 30 minutes before and use that 30 minutes to make sure you have eaten, peed, checked your email, let the dog out, looked at your text messages, put your phone on airplane mode, folded the laundry, set your Pandora or Netflix to the right background noise, or whatever else needs to be done, because when you start to study, everything else is blocked.

Sounds simple, but often the simplest ideas are the most profound. It really works.

 
Disable distracting sites

I highly recommend using a browser add-on like Leechblock or StayFocusd to disable distracting sites during your study block. It helps me to know, in weak moments, that I can't look at Pinterest or check my email even if I want to. You can set up days and times in advance if your study blocks recur on a schedule - for example, Saturday from 11 to 1, you can't get on Facebook even if you want to. This can help motivate you to keep to a schedule.

Speaking of motivation...

"Are you not entertained?!"

Listen to the Hans Zimmer station on Pandora

I normally have Netflix playing in the background at all times. (This is why and how I've watched the entire series of The Mindy Project like five times and haven't gotten tired of it - I'm never really paying attention to the show.) But TV can be distracting, especially when you're doing an audio summary. (More on that below.)

Hans Zimmer is a composer who scores mostly action movies, so it's basically classical music for kicking ass. If it's appropriate background music for when Russell Crowe fights tigers, it's probably not going to put your to sleep.

You can tell this music is designed to motivate, and it's nice to have wordless music that gets your blood pumping without pulling your focus away from the task at hand. This is the problem for me with techno, house, and other electronic music. I like some of it, but the beats are too distracting. I can't make flash cards and dance at the same time.

Speaking of...

 Make flash cards by hand

When you write things down by hand, you retain more of the information. This is what psychologists call "deliberate difficulty." You make it hard so your brain has to slow down and pay attention to it. This is why I write my notes by hand and why I switched to hand-written flash cards.

For a while I was using a program called Anki to do flash cards. It's not a very user-friendly system and it has a learning curve, but it's a method favored by a lot of med students because it uses spaced repetition to only quiz you on what you need to learn.

I liked Anki alright, but I found I wasn't retaining things as quickly as I would have liked.

I started trying handwritten flash cards because by then I knew writing by hand was very helpful. (One of my professors only allows us to turn in hand-written work, and found that when he switched to this method, grades improved.)

I found I retained more information just by making the flash cards than I did typing them and studying them on a screen over and over. Something about using your hand to write makes a connection that isn't there when you're typing.

The other major benefit of written flash cards is you can take them anywhere and whip them out. You don't need your laptop. (Anki does have an app for your phone but it's quite expensive.)

I use colored flash cards to distinguish between classes and write the unit or chapter number in one corner. I also flip the card upside down when I write the answer side, because I like to use this next method...

Turn your shower into a watery study cube

Image from blog.flashnotes.com via Pinterest

This is a bit of an extreme method, but when you're cramming big-time, or studying for something major like the MCAT where you have to retain insane amounts of info over long periods of time, this can help you a lot.

The reason I write the answers upside down on my flash cards (relative to the question side of the card) is so I can put them in tightly sealed Ziploc sandwich bags and tape them to the walls in the shower. While I shampoo, condition, shave, etc., I can quiz myself with the flash cards - just flip the bag up to see the answer. (Hang the bag with the opening side down to make sure water can't get in.)

When I feel confident I know the material, I take it down and stick different cards in the bags. Easy.

You can also keep a stack of flash cards next to the turlet to make other private moments more productive. But make sure you keep them in a box or a plastic bag because eww.

Make an audio summary

This is one of my favorite tricks that I learned from Leah4Sci.com. (A note: I don't know Leah, I'm not paying her to be my tutor, and she's not paying me to say nice things about her. I've just found her website genuinely helpful.) Leah is an MCAT tutor and gets paid to help her students remember lots and lots of stuff over long periods of time.

At the end of your study session, record yourself reviewing your notes. Pretend like you're teaching the material to someone else. We really do teach best what we most need to learn. Speaking your notes aloud will help you retain the information, especially when you are synthesizing as though explaining to someone.

But it doesn't end there. Pop your earbuds in while you drive, do laundry, mop, etc., and listen to your recordings. Plan to listen to them every day for at least a few minutes. You can even play back at double speed to squeeze more in. This way you are practicing a triple whammy retention strategy - you wrote down the material by hand, you spoke it aloud, and now you're listening to it.

Evernote is a gift from Heaven

I use Evernote to record my audio summaries, and to do basically everything else.

There are many, many guides to Evernote and how to get the most out of it. I'll just mention a couple things that make me want to marry it.

I use the premium version. It's only $6.50 a month with tax, and even my broke ass can afford that. The premium version makes your handwriting searchable, and that alone is worth $6.50 to me. This way if I can't remember the title of a note and I forgot to tag it, I can search something I know is in there - even if it's handwritten - and Evernote will find it for me.

In Evernote you can divide everything into notebooks, share notes with classmates even if they don't use Evernote, clip articles and images from the web, email important stuff directly to your Evernote inbox, and much much more. I use it for everything, and am considering going paperless next semester. Because with Evernote Premium's searchable handwriting feature, you can go paperless even if you write everything by hand. All you have to do is take a photo of your notes and they're converted to PDF.

I have Evernote on my laptop, iPhone, and kindle, and every ten minutes the app auto-syncs across all devices. This is the future, y'all.


Take notes using the Cornell method

You've probably heard of this and decided it was too much trouble. It's really not.

The idea of Cornell notes is that you divide your paper into three sections, which requires a ruler or straight-edge and takes about 10 seconds. The top right 2/3 of the paper is for note taking, making sure you write only what's important and abbreviate as much as you can without obscuring meaning.

The column on the left is the most important. This is where you write questions or prompts based on the content on the right. You look at your notes and imagine how a test or quiz question on that material might be phrased.

The bottom sliver of paper is reserved for summary. To be honest, I don't always use this section and have considered getting rid of it. Some people find it very useful. I should probably take more time to try it before I write it off entirely.

Besides the textbook, this left hand column is where I get most of my flash card content.

This method makes you start thinking about how you'll be tested on the material, and trains you to pick out what's most important from what you've written down.

Pro tip: draw your lines on several pages in a row before class so you're not fumbling around with a ruler during.

Revise your notes using colors and drawings

This idea came 100% from Pinterest. At first I rolled my eyes at the photos of gorgeous fancy hand-written notes with colorful amazing hand-drawn pictures, thinking, "Puh-leez. These are 19-year-old sorority girls with nothing better to do than sit around and color shit." And maybe some of them are, but this method works. It forces you to synthesize material and organize it in your mind to fit on the page. It's causing your brain to make associations and begin to process what you probably wrote in a hurry the first time.

I didn't start trying this method until late in the semester but I will use it much more in the fall. I understand thermochemistry equations more than any other quantitative unit in my chem class because I revised my notes in this way. It's also a handy sheet to refer back to when you're working practice problems.

Last but not least, share these with your study group and they will love you.

Before summer semester, I'll be investing in a set of colored pens, probably Staedtler since I hear great things about them. Highlighting will be reserved for handouts and the textbook.

Ditch the spiral and use graph paper 

I used to love spirals. Then I took my first semester of hard-core lab sciences and legit math, and I had so much content that I was drowning in spiral notebooks. As my pre-cal class filled up an entire five-subject Mead and then some, and I wanted to pull my hair out from all the flipping and searching, and as I realized it was going to take four - yes, four - spirals to organize my chemistry content, I began to search for alternate methods.

First I tried loose-leaf filler paper, and that method was pretty good. But graph paper is better.

I use this pad. I only write on one side because the convenience is worth a little extra dough to me. It's perforated cleanly at the very top, and the cardboard back is super thick so it won't flop around.

The gridlines help me keep everything neat, especially when I'm quickly drawing my lines for Cornell notes. With this $5 pad and a $1.50 ruler from Walmart, I am an unstoppable note-taking force.

The graph is helpful not only for drawing lines, numbering, outlining, and sketching pictures, but something about the little squares just helps you write neater and smaller. I can't explain it. Try it and see, especially if you have trouble keeping your notes legible.

When you're done, easily tear out the page and put in a folder, or punch holes and place in a binder under the tab for that unit or chapter. So much cleaner, neater, and easier than juggling a million spirals.

If you're paperless, scan and upload to Evernote. If you choose the photo setting, EN will retain the graph lines. Choose the document option, and EN will convert the notes to PDF, making them searchable and erasing the graph lines.

Last but not least...

Use school supplies you like

I can't stress this enough: use stuff that works for you, not against you. Whether it's a crappy pen that gets ink everywhere, a raggedy-ass spiral, muddy highlighters, a backpack that gives you spinal stenosis, or a planner with too-small squares, bad supplies can ruin a student's life.

I can't tell you how much easier and better my life as a student became when I realized that not all school supplies are created equal. When I was younger and didn't care about school or spend any time on it, a dispoable Bic pen and a $1 spiral was fine. But now that I'm spending the bulk of my waking hours on school, having supplies that get the job done without making me pull my hair out is essential.

You are more likely to sit down and study if you're using supplies that make you happier and more productive. So if you've been eyeballing those colored pens, a slightly pricey planner, or some Rhodia paper (swoon), buy them. You may spend an extra $50 or more per semester on quality supplies, but that $50 can be the difference between a B and an A.

Until you know what you like, don't buy large quantities of anything. I made the mistake of buying 2 dozen Bic Velocity pens. I like the way they write, but once I switched to graph paper, the tip was too thick. Also it leaks ink everywhere. (My mouse pad and laptop are living proof.) 

Give yourself time to experiment and come up with products and systems that work for you. Don't settle for supplies or methods that annoy you or make your life difficult. Keep trying new stuff and new strategies until you find what works - your mood will improve and so will your grades.

I hope some of these tips work for you. What am I missing? Comment with the study trick that makes your life better, because I want to try it!

Study blocks make your body rock.

I'm not gonna apologize for the title. I stand by it.

Study blocks are saving my ass. I wish I had discovered them earlier this semester. I probably would be making 3 As instead of an A and two Bs.

At first glance study blocks seem like a big fat "duh." But if you're like me, you are distracted easily and have trouble focusing for long periods. Actually, my biggest issue is beginning to focus. I don't know if that's ADD or just being a person, but it makes me less productive than I'd like to be.

Here is a typical "study day" for me.

I wake up later than I meant to. I look at my planner and realize I need to study two subjects today. I say to myself, Self, you need to put in a couple hours today in Chem, and at least a couple hours in Pre-Cal.

Two hours later I have drunk coffee, looked at Pinterest, let my dog out twice, done a load of laundry, eaten breakfast, and the only vaguely study-related thing I've done is found my flash cards and highlighters. (They are next to me on the couch... somewhere... maybe under a blanket.)

Eventually I get down to studying, but every 15 minutes or so I check a text message, get up and get a drink, check my email, change the Netflix or music, etc.

In the end I'm lucky to get an hour or so of actual work done.

The library hasn't helped much. I still get distracted by my phone, the Internet, music, and guilt over the fact that I left my dog in the kennel to go to the library when I have my own office and desk at home.

I wasn't quite sure how to handle this problem without drugs or therapy or something, until I attended a free online MCAT strategy webinar held by Leah Fisch, an MCAT tutor. (For the record, she is not paying me to plug her. She's not even aware I'm plugging her. I just have really found her site super helpful.)

Leah introduced me to the idea of study blocks. This is how she has her students organize their study time.

Basically, instead of saying, "I need to get in two hours of studying today," and writing "Chem - 2 hours" in your planner, you schedule a block. For example, 1:00 to 3:00. You write "Chem 1 pm - 3 pm" in your planner and draw a rectangle around it. Use a colored pen or highlighter to make it stand out.

The next part is the most important: honor the living hell out of that block. Treat it like it's the scheduled C-section of your first child. It has to be that much of a priority. (Ok, maybe not that much...)

This means that during your study block you:

- turn off or silence your phone and DO NOT LOOK AT IT. The world can wait two hours for you.
- block yourself from the sites you waste your time using, especially social media sites.
- don't check your email or do any other "important" online tasks.
- make sure you have water, snacks, or any other needful things at your side because you're not getting up unless you have an explosive diarrhea situation or a significant portion of your house catches on fire.
- set your Netflix or iTunes playlist to repeat so you don't have to mess with anything, because even little things like this can pull your focus big time.
- go to the bathroom, fold your laundry, let your dog out, do any little pesky things you need to do because, in case I didn't mention it, during this study block you are not allowed to do ANYTHING but study.

My life. Err'day.

Think of it this way: the "block" in study block doesn't so much mean a "block of time." It means everything else in life is blocked by studying for that period of time.

Basically you are treating your study block like something important that you cannot get out of, not like an optional activity that you work around everything else. You treat it like an important work meeting or a final exam, so that everything else takes a backseat and your entire focus is on the subject at hand for that two hours.

Speaking of two hours, that is the max amount of time I schedule myself without a break. Usually after two hours I will be done, or take 15 to 30 minutes and switch subjects. Sometimes - for instance, this weekend, since I have 3 finals next week - I will go longer than 2 hours per subject, but not without a break.

If you can't study for two hours, and you're planning to take the MCAT or GRE or another major exam, it's important you start gradually building your endurance. The MCAT, for example, is 7.5 hours long. If you can't focus in big chunks you're gonna be in trouble.

The study block method is one of those genius ideas that seems obvious once you know of it, but few of us truly shut out everything when we study. Doing so has been the key to solving my focus problems and has made me significantly more productive.

If you have other tips and tricks that work for you, I'd love to hear them!