I want to study better. Where do I start?

Students often promise themselves to do better in the new semester, starting next month or Monday. We think it's time to act. The new year is here, and it's too late to renege on our promises. Where do we start on the road to good grades and knowledge?

What's the point? First, let's understand what the motivation for doing well in school is. First, it is important if you want to study abroad or get a grant or scholarship. When they look at your application, they look at your GPA. So your future depends directly on your grades. Secondly, even if you get high grades, your knowledge is tested on the entrance exams. The most important thing — what you learn will help you become a sought-after professional, bring ideas and solutions to work, and avoid potential mistakes. Also remember that learning — is an opportunity to be appreciated. Unfortunately, not everyone can get an education, but you are among the lucky ones who learn new things every day.

Find the gaps

Without the basics it's hard to move forward in your studies, so start by finding out what gaps are left. Open the course syllabus and notes, if you have them. Go through the topics, think about what you remember about them, whether you skipped lectures. Try to do exercises and solve problems, and see which ones you struggle with.

Stretch your subject knowledge

How can you do that?

• Best option — use the required and recommended materials according to the syllabus, listen to the lectures if they are recorded, and view the presentations;

• Take an online course on the topic you want;

• Ask classmates to explain the material. Don't be afraid to ask for help. We don't know everything, and students come to university with different backgrounds, so if you don't understand something, it's best to let us know and figure it out.

For some majors, most articles from the Internet will be useless and sometimes wrong. So use scholarly papers in English if you want to clarify the information.

To memorize content better, use different techniques. We wrote more about them here.

Plan

When you know your session schedule and your term paper due date, be sure to decide how and when you will prepare. Studying a small amount of information every day for a few weeks is much easier than studying in one day. Plus, according to the Ebbinghaus curve, you'll remember the information for a long time if you have a chance to repeat the material before the exam.

Try not to skip class

It's easier to go to a lecture once and then repeat the material than to learn it yourself from scratch. At seminars you can put knowledge into practice: test yourself, work in a group on a case, solve tasks. In general, attending university saves time in studying and preparing for exams in the future.

Build useful habits

For example, in this article, we talked about how sleep affects our memory: studying for exams at night yields few results. And to pass the test well after studying the material, it is better to sleep. So, restore your sleep patterns and don't put off studying until the last night.

Also, remember to rest on time. Each of us has a certain period of time in which we're able to learn the most information, and after it expires, our performance decreases. So you shouldn't put it off until the last minute — you should plan for it, too.

You should also plan for it.

When you prepare in advance, plan time, get enough sleep, and rest, you will see progress in your studies and get out of the vicious circle of pre-New Year's promises. This is difficult because it requires self-control. But if you really want to learn better, it will work out.