Academically speaking, life in college is much more demanding than in high school and many students are scared of the idea that it requires a huge amount of studying. College definitely demands more effort, but, it does mainly depend on how you tend to study.

One of the most common perceptions of college students is that the amount of course work is so massive, they have to lock themselves up in their rooms and cram all night before the exams. This kind of studying is by no means the ideal method.

Most students want a balance between their studies and their social and extracurricular activities. Often, they believe that they should enjoy themselves as much as they can during the semester and study hard right at the end. What most do not know is that they can study smart and still enjoy the whole semester, and in fact get much better grades. Certain students perform quite well by applying the study hard method, but it’s certainly not a foolproof approach. If you’re the kind of student that can absorb and assimilate everything the night before the exam, power to you, but it’s certainly not for everyone.

Students who study smart almost always end up performing better than the rest. Studying smart essentially entails that you spread your workload over the entire semester. Setting aside an hour or two everyday is not an arduous task. In fact, you can even manage to continue your daily activities without any interruption, by fragmenting say two hours, over the whole day. Not only will this help you stay in tune with what is happening in the classroom (read: take good notes!), it will help you become a much more organized person. Let’s explore some scenarios!

Ways to Study Smart:

1.) Revise, revise, revise

One of the most effective methods of studying entails (a.) going over the material that you will study in the upcoming class, followed by (b.) a quick revision after class. This exercise should not take more than ten minutes in total and is undoubtedly a great recipe for success. Not only will you be retaining the lectures, you will have to study even less.

2.) Control your environment

Apart from the regular studying aspect, many other things also contribute towards effective and smart studying. For instance, always make sure that you are studying in a relaxed and comfortable environment. This will help you focus better and you will have to spend less time and will be able to retain more. Moreover, make sure that in the little time you do study, there are no distractions around. The best way to ensure that you make the most of your allotted time is by studying in the library.

3.) Techniques?

Also, figure out which methods and techniques help you retain better. For instance, some people do better by visualizing stuff, others tend to recall things better if they read the material out loud. It varies from individual to individual and you have to ‘learn’ how you learn the most effectively.

4.) Health, wealthy, wise

Remember to take care of your health and eating habits because they go a long way to keeping you and your mental capabilities up and running.

Studying smart does require a little bit of effort initially and it takes time to adjust to such a routine. However, it is arguably the best way to make the most of your school or college life.