What are your tips and tricks for studying effectively?

This is a throwaway account I made to collect study tips in the form of a post, I'll add any tips in the comment section here. I'll update this post whenever I get the chance to so anyone can see the tips that have been posted. Hopefully it will turn out to be a good resource for anyone to reference.<br><br>-Study Tips-<br><br>• Make a to-do list for studying: Don’t just start studying without a plan. Organize what needs to be done, break tasks up into smaller pieces, and what needs to be done first.<br><br>• 5 minute rule: Stop frequently for 5 minutes to relax and take your mind off of constant studying.<br><br>• Make a study schedule: Instead of pulling an all nighter and cramming for a test the night before, keep track of the days you study for a test and how long you study for. Set aside a specific time every day to study.<br><br>• Break up your studying into chunks: Instead of reading a large chapter from a book in one sitting, break it up into smaller more manageable chunks.<br><br>• Drink water: Make sure to stay hydrated during studying.<br><br>• Make sure to sleep a lot: If you didn’t sleep well the night before don’t try to force yourself to study, you won’t retain any information. Make sure you get plenty of sleep if you want to study something effectively.<br><br>• Make sure you surround yourself with things that help you study: This includes people, objects, environment, etc. Make sure anything around you is helping you study effectively.<br><br>• What you eat/drink can affect your studying: Avoid eating heavy foods or drinking a lot of caffeine and energy drinks if you plan on studying for a long time.<br><br>• Turn off electronic devices: If you can, turn off electronic devices while studying. If you have to keep some on, make sure you’re not distracted by them.<br><br>• Don’t try to cram all of your studying in one night: If you are given homework/studying material do it as soon as possible, you’ll retain the information better and you won’t be overwhelmed with work later on.<br><br>• Make sure you have good lighting: Try to keep the environment you’re studying in well lit. Dim light can cause you to get sleepy and be distracted easier.<br><br>• Find out what study techniques work the best for you: Everyone is different, so it’s your job to figure out what study techniques and methods work the best for you and what kind of environment helps you study the best.<br><br>• If you start to feel really stressed take a break: Sometimes you just need to take a break and let your mind rest. If you’re feeling really stressed take a break and clear your mind. <br><br>• Don’t study with people who distract you: If someone distracts you while you study, don’t study with them. Make sure the people you study with help you to stay focused.<br><br>• Make sure the environment you are studying in is comfortable: The environment you study in should be free from distractions and comfortable. Make sure you are studying in a place that helps you focus and retain the information you are studying.<br><br>• Make sure you understand what you’re studying: It’s better to take a little more time to make sure you understand what you’re studying rather than spending time to relearn what you’ve already studied.<br><br>• Teach what you’ve studied: If you can teach someone what you’ve studied then you know you fully understand the topic.<br><br>• Use the Pomodoro method: The Pomodoro method involves studying in 25 minutes increments with 5 minute breaks in between.<br><br>• Write notes by hand: Writing notes by hand seems to help you retain the information you are writing down better than typing it on a computer.<br><br>• Don’t overwork yourself: You can only study effectively for so long without rest. Make sure you don’t burn yourself out by overworking yourself.<br><br>• Use the second brain method: The second brain method is to create a journal you write down everything you think you might forget down, that way you can access information you learned in the past easier.<br><br>• 80-20 rule: Only 20% of study material holds 80% of the value. Try to focus on the important information you need to learn.<br><br>• Use flashcards: Flashcards are great tools to study with. You can write key terms on one side and the definition on the other, and use them to help improve your memory of the vocabulary or other study material.<br><br>• Make sure you don’t have ulterior motives for studying: Yes, studying for grades is reasonable to an extent, but you shouldn’t be studying only for a good grades.<br><br>• Make sure you eat consistent meals: Eating meals that are big in calories will cause you to feel sleepy, try to eat smaller meals throughout the day if you plan on studying a lot.<br><br>• Make sure you’re studying the right information: Don’t waste time studying information that you will never need to know.<br><br>• If you’re studying to learn a language, make sure you know the basics of the language: Don’t try to skip key steps in learning a language, you must start out with the basics before you can move on to more difficult material.<br><br>• Don’t try to study to learn multiple things at a time: Try to focus on one topic at a time. If you try to study too many things at once you’ll be overwhelmed and you will struggle to retain the information.<br><br>• Study by yourself: If you study by yourself you can focus on what you specifically need to work on. <br><br>• Make goals for studying: If you make goals for studying you’ll focus yourself more on studying and you’ll feel accomplished when you meet the goals, which will cause you to want to study more.<br><br>• Study during the day: Studying during the day helps you retain information better because you are well rested.<br><br>• Don’t try to force yourself to study: If you can’t focus, you shouldn’t force yourself to study. Take a break and come back whenever you can focus. <br><br>• Make sure you use what you’ve learned: Try to find ways to use what you’ve learned, this will help solidify the information you learned in your memory.<br><br>• What you eat can affect how intelligent you are while you study: Some food can make you feel unintelligent, while other foods can make you feel like you can retain information better.<br><br>• You don’t always need to wait for motivation to study: Sometimes you just have to force yourself to sit down and study.<br><br>• Don’t try to learn advanced information if you haven’t learned the basics: Make sure you have learned the basics of something before you move on to more advanced topics.<br><br>• The best way to study is different for everyone: What study techniques work for one person may not work for another. It’s up to you to decide what’s the best way for you to study.<br><br>• Set up times to review study material: If you know you have a test or important event coming up where you’ll need to remember specific information, make sure you set up times to review the material.<br><br>• Make sure you’re studying in the same place every time: If you’re studying in the same place every time you should be able to develop consistent habits.<br><br>• Don’t try to multitask while you study: If you try to focus on too many things at once you won’t be able to focus on the information you need to study.<br><br>• Schedule time to relax: If you stress yourself out by forcing yourself to study all the time, you’ll burn yourself out.<br><br>• Don’t try to study too much at once: If you try to study too much at once you won’t be able to retain all of the information you studied. It’s better to take your time and make sure you understand what you’re studying.<br><br>• If you can, wake yourself up using the sunlight: Waking yourself up to sunlight helps your brain function properly throughout the day.<br><br>• Make sure you’re getting enough nutrients and minerals: If you don’t eat healthy you’ll feel run down and your brain won’t function properly.<br><br>• Make sure you have good posture while studying: Try to sit up straight while you’re studying, if your posture is bad you’ll feel uncomfortable and you will get distracted more easily.<br><br>• Don’t overprotect yourself from stress: From time to time it’s okay to push yourself and be stressed, sometimes it’s necessary for learning and growth.