Study Tips

Hello everyone! I am a first year college student and this time of year means final exams are here. I realize that a lot of people will be taking their finals now as well, so I just thought I would share some of my study tips with you. So here are some things that really help me when I'm studying for a final or test/quiz in general.

• Make flashcards! I know this seems like an annoying thing to do, but if you make flashcards for things like vocabulary words it can really help you memorize them quicker. You can also easily carry the cards around with you and if you have a free moment, take them out and quiz yourself. You can also have friends help you study by asking them to quiz you.
• Use different colors for different subjects/ideas. An example of this might be using pink index cards for vocabulary words and using blue ones for possible essay questions. Or you could use different colors for different classes such as purple for english vocab and green for history vocab. You could also highlight important details in you notes that you will need to know. This makes it easy to distinguish what things belong to which subject or idea.
• Use acronyms to help remember things. An example I'm sure many of you have heard before is PEMDAS or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally to remember the order of things for math. Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.
• Use word association! This one might seem silly, but it really does help. An example of this that I love is actually from an episode of an old TV show called "The Facts of Life" the specific episode this is in is called "Take my Finals Please". In this episode one of the girls needs to memorize the symbols for the elements on the periodic table. She is having trouble remembering that the symbol for Gold is AU. So her friend suggests that she uses word association and says to think, somebody stole your gold watch and as he is running away you yell "Ay you! Give me back my watch!". I actually found this very helpful a few years ago when I had to memorize the elements for my chemistry class. 
• Make a study group! If some of your friends are in the same class as you, you can suggests that you all get together to study. You can quiz each other and make some snacks and have a good time while you study.
• Review Homework questions and Past Tests/Quizes. Many of the subjects from past things are sure to show up on your final. So go back and see what you have done wrong in the past and try to remember to fix that on your next exam.
• Make sure you get sleep the night before! Staying up all night cramming is not going to help you. You will be very tired during your exam and will be more likely to forget things than if you got a full night's sleep. If you do stay up all night studying, make sure to take a few naps in between studying, even 20 minutes will help you feel more refreshed and ready to learn.
• Take breaks! Make sure you give yourself a little bit of time to relax in between studying. Go grab a snack, take a brief walk, or just do something you enjoy for a little while. 

I hope this was helpful! And if there is anything that you like to do to study that I didn't mention above, please share them in the comments because I would love to hear your ideas!