study habits of students essay

27 Good Study Habits of Straight-A Students

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Study habits refer to the consistent practice and approach to study, on a regular basis, to enhance academic performance.

The good thing about a habit is that once you do it on a regular basis, it becomes easy. So, your job is to get into this habit early. Once you’re into the habit, university becomes easy (well, easier ).

Good study habits that I recommend include getting into the routine of heading to the library (or a similar study space) to study without distractions, chunking your studies by subject, and using spaced repetition for things that require rote memorization .

I also recommend studying with friends – such as by testing one another – whenever possible.

The integration of efficient study habits enhances academic performance and motivation to study . By developing effective study strategies adjusted to your personal learning style, you improve concentration and retention of information – and concentration, more than time spent studying, is found to be a key factor for success (Nonis & Hudson, 2010).

Good Study Habits

1. Time Management Time management refers to being able to efficiently allocate your time so you don’t run out of time, and so you have enough time to allocate to all important tasks. As a basis, you could initiate a dedicated study schedule, specifying the time slots for each subject. For instance, you might want to allot your mornings for theory-heavy subjects like Anatomy, and save the afternoons for practice-oriented subjects like Clinical Skills. Don’t forget to also block time for regular study breaks and social events. This is crucial to prevent burnout and maintain longevity – university is a marathon, not a sprint.

Read Also: 7 Things to do in your First Week of University

2. Using Active Reading Strategies This is the process of engaging with the material by asking questions and drawing connections. Instead of passively reading your texts, you can participate more actively by summarizing the information in your own words, teaching it to someone else, quizzing yourself, or creating visual aids like diagrams and mind maps. As Issa et al. (2012) found, reading relevant information daily is an effective study habit for improving grades.

3. Setting Realistic Goals This strategy involves laying out achievable objectives for each study session or topic. Setting goals not only keeps you focused, but also helps gauge your progress. For example, instead of aiming to read an entire biology textbook in two days, you might target mastering one chapter per day. I recommend setting both short-term study goals and long-term study goals using the SMART Goals method .

4. Prioritization Successful students often prioritize tasks based on their deadlines and degree of importance. You might follow the Eisenhower Box method: divide your tasks into four categories, namely, important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. For instance, an upcoming exam translates into an important and urgent task, hence it would be first on your list.

5. Spaced Repetition This strategy involves studying information over incremental intervals instead of cramming it in one sitting. You might review your notes on the day you learn something, then again in a couple of days, then after a week, and so forth. There are even apps like the Anki flashcards app that have a built-in spaced repetition algorithm that can space how often ideas are presented to you.

6. Creating a Suitable Environment Each individual’s ideal study environment may differ based on personal preferences . Some people need complete silence, while others work better with some background noise. If you like silence, the quite section of a library is a good place to start – I recommend making it a habit to go to the library at your university as often as possible. Conversely, if you feel background noise helps you to concentrate, consider studying at a cafe. But the key is to ensure your environment is right for you. As Ogbodo (2010, p. 229) argues: “Where to study is as important as what to study and how to go about studying.”

7. Taking Breaks Integrating regular short breaks into your study pattern can boost your productivity and mental agility because it decreases distractions during focused study time. And this is important. As Walck-Shannon, Rowell and Frey (2021) found, “students reported being distracted about 20% of their study time, and distraction while studying negatively predicted exam performance.” So, let’s avoid that – by splitting our time between strong focus, then rest. Typically, the Pomodoro technique is a popular method for this, where you study for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. After four such cycles, you take a longer break of 15-20 minutes. During your breaks, you can engage in some light activity such as stretching or walking to invigorate yourself.

8. Maintaining Physical Health Eating well, getting regular exercise, and ensuring enough sleep are often overlooked aspects of efficient studying. Research shows that a balanced diet, physical activity, and proper sleep improve cognitive functions , including memory and concentration. You may want to establish a regular sleep schedule, incorporate a balanced diet, and schedule regular exercise sessions each week into your routine.

9. Using Technology Wisely Technology offers a range of tools that can streamline your study process. For instance, you can use apps for time management (e.g., Rescue Time), note-taking (e.g., Evernote), or spaced repetition (e.g., Anki). While these apps can be beneficial, remember to keep checks on screens’ disruptive nature and the habit of digital distraction. As practice, try turning off your phone’s notifications when you study, or set ‘Do Not Disturb’ intervals.

10. Review and Revise Sessions Regular review of study materials aids in long-term retention of information. You can allocate specific time slots each week to revisit old notes, attempt self-test papers or engage in group discussions. For instance, you might dedicate your Sunday mornings to revising everything you’ve covered during the preceding week.

11. Active Writing Transcribing information demands active engagement, thereby reinforcing your understanding and memory of the subject. You might opt to rewrite complex concepts in your own words or diagrammatically represent intricate processes. For example, instead of merely reading about the human circulatory system, consider drawing it out with brief annotations.

12. Seeking Help When Needed Understanding when to seek help is an underrated study habit. If you find yourself struggling with a subject, don’t hesitate to approach your professors, peers, or study groups for clarification. You might also seek online resources such as academic forums or educational websites. Remember, it’s better to clarify doubts initially than to have misconceptions hamper your overall learning.

13. Mindfulness and Focus Mindfulness, or present-moment awareness, can help enhance your comprehension and retention during studying. You could practice mindfulness by removing distractions, concentrating on the task at hand, and making a conscious effort to absorb the material.

14. Integrating Study with Real-Life Scenarios Applying the theoretical knowledge learned during study sessions to real-life instances can facilitate a deeper understanding. You might relate basic principles of economics to household budgeting or chemistry to cooking. This practice can help convert abstract concepts into tangible examples.

15. Regular Self-Assessment Implementing regular exams or quizzes to assess your understanding and memory can be a direct way to monitor progress. You can either use ready-made quizzes available online or design a short assessment yourself. As you answer, mark out the areas you struggled with for further review. This method will help you know where you stand in your preparation and what areas need extra effort.

16. Employing Mnemonics This involves using techniques to retain and retrieve information. The method could be as simple as creating an acronym or conjuring up a relevant mental image. For example, in recalling the taxonomical rank in biology – Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species – you might use the well-known mnemonic phrase: “King Phillip Came Over For Good Soup.” Examples of additional mnemonic techniques include the method of loci and memory linking .

17. Incorporating Understandable Examples Since abstract concepts can be confusing, associating them with relateable analogies can help you grasp the idea. This technique depends heavily on your creativity and could be as simple as linking a literary theme to a popular movie plot. Ensuring your examples make sense to you is vital.

18. Varying Study Methods It is beneficial to avoid monotony and experiment with multiple learning techniques. This can include oscillating between solitary studying and group study sessions, or alternating between text-based learning and audio-visual aids. For instance, following a hefty reading session, you might want to watch a related documentary or podcast on the topic. Switching up strategies not only prevents burnout but also caters to different facets of your learning style.

19. Note-Taking Strategy Effective note-taking is a skill that helps in better understanding and remembrance of knowledge. You should decide a note-taking strategy which could be outlining, mind mapping, or the Cornell method, and stick to it. For example, you might use the Cornell Method, which divides the paper into notes, cues, and a summary section for enhancing retention and review.

20. Regularity and Consistency Consistency is the cornerstone of strong study habits. Establishing a regular routine that allocates specific periods for study each day leads to better academic performance. For instance, studying for two hours per day consistently is more effective than cramming for fourteen hours once a week.

21. Engage All Senses Engaging multiple senses aids in strengthening your memory of the subject matter. This could involve reading aloud, rewriting notes, creating visual aids, or even using software to convert text to speech. The goal is to consume the information through as many sensory channels as possible to maximize retention. For example, if you’re studying foreign vocabulary, you could listen to the pronunciation, read the definition, write the word several times, and visualize an image related to it.

22. Reflective Learning Reflective learning involves regularly taking a few moments to contemplate what you’ve learned. This process ensures you understand the main concepts and helps you evaluate how effectively the learning material has been understood. For instance, after reading a section on World History, take a moment to think about what questions have been answered and what new questions have arisen in your mind about the topic.

23. Preparing for the Next Class Reviewing the material that will be covered in the next class helps make the class more productive and understandable. By having prior knowledge of the topic, you can better participate in class discussions and raise insightful queries. For example, if tomorrow’s Physics class covers Electromagnetic Waves, you might want to read the corresponding chapter tonight.

24. Constructive Procrastination While complete avoidance of procrastination is the goal, sometimes it’s unavoidable. Constructive procrastination involves doing another task that also needs to be done when you feel like procrastinating. If you find yourself unable to study Civil Law, consider switching to another pending task, such as completing your Mathematics assignment. This way, you remain productive while giving in to the urge to procrastinate.

25. Visualization Techniques Visualization involves picturing the information in your mind, which can significantly improve memory and recall. For instance, when studying Anatomy, envisioning the body parts, systems, and processes can enhance your understanding. If you’d like to explore this strategy more, read my article on the visual peg-word system for memorization .

26. Listen to Music Without Lyrics Listening to music while studying is a controversial topic. Some people think it helps them to achieve a flow state, while most research suggests that “ media multitasking ” is a distraction whether we realize it or not (Xu, Wang, & Woods, 2019). Generally, I recommend that if you do like that background nose, try to listen to music without lyrics, like lo-fi playlists from YouTube, which act as background noise and could potentially prevent your mind from wandering.

27. Study with Friends Thalluri (2016) found that “study buddy support groups” significantly support studying. Friends can keep each other accountable and help motivate one another. And, according to social learning theory , working in groups helps us to reinforce knowledge. For example, if you’re talking about the course content with friends, you’ll hear their unique perspectives, which you can critically compare to your own, which augments, supports, positively alters, and strengthens your own perspectives.

Study habits act as the building blocks of your academic journey. Efficient study habits not only ensure better academic performance but also help in gaining lifelong skills like time management, goal-setting, and self-discipline. By adopting effective study habits, you modulate your academic journey to a more favorable and fruitful path.

If you want to dive deeper into getting good study habits, I’d recommend James Clear’s Atomic Habits book – it’s an amazing book for learning to get more productive and optimize your time as a student.

Issa, A.O., Aliyu, M.B., Akangbe, R.B., and Adedeji, A.F. (2012). Reading interest and habits of the federal polytechnic students. International Journal of Learning & Development, 2 (1): 470-486.

Nonis, S. A., & Hudson, G. I. (2010). Performance of college students: Impact of study time and study habits.  Journal of education for Business ,  85 (4), 229-238.

Ogbodo, R. O. (2010). Effective Study Habits in Educational Sector: Counselling Implications.  Edo Journal of Counselling ,  3 (2), 230-242.

Thalluri, J. (2016). Who benefits most from peer support group?–First year student success for Pathology students.  Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences ,  228 , 39-44.

Walck-Shannon, E. M., Rowell, S. F., & Frey, R. F. (2021). To what extent do study habits relate to performance?.  CBE—Life Sciences Education ,  20 (1). doi: https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-05-0091

Xu, S., Wang, Z., & Woods, K. (2019). Multitasking and dual motivational systems: A dynamic longitudinal study.  Human Communication Research ,  45 (4), 371-394. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqz009

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Number Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Word Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
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• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Incentives to Give to Students

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Essay on Good Study Habits

Students are often asked to write an essay on Good Study Habits in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Good Study Habits

Setting a study schedule.

Creating a study plan helps you manage time wisely. Choose a time of day when you can focus best, maybe after a snack or playtime. Stick to this schedule every day to make studying a normal part of your routine.

Quiet Study Space

Find a peaceful place at home where you can study without noise. Keep this area clean and organized with all your study materials, like books and pencils, so you won’t be distracted looking for things.

Taking Breaks

Studying for too long can make you tired. After every 30 minutes, take a short break. Walk around or stretch to feel fresh and ready to learn more.

Asking Questions

When you don’t understand something, ask a teacher, parent, or friend for help. It’s important to clear up confusion right away so you can keep learning without any doubts.

Reviewing Your Notes

250 words essay on good study habits.

To build good study habits, making a plan is key. Think of it like a timetable that tells you what to study and when. It’s important because it helps you use your time wisely. Try to study at the same times each day so your brain gets into a routine.

Creating a Perfect Study Spot

Your study area should be quiet, comfortable, and free from distractions. Keep your books and supplies in this spot so you’re ready to get to work. A good study space helps you focus and do your best.

Taking Notes

When you’re learning something new, write down the important points. Your notes can be short and simple. Later, you can read them again to remember what you learned. This makes studying for tests easier.

Asking for Help

If something is hard to understand, don’t be shy to ask for help. You can talk to your teacher, friends, or family. They can explain things in a different way that might make more sense to you.

Reviewing Often

Go over your notes a little bit every day. This is better than waiting until the day before a test. When you review often, the information stays fresh in your mind.

Rest and Health

Remember, good study habits are about being regular, organized, and taking care of yourself. Stick to these simple rules, and you’ll be able to learn better and remember more.

500 Words Essay on Good Study Habits

Understanding good study habits.

Good study habits are like secret tools that help you learn better and faster. Imagine your brain as a garden. Just like a garden needs the right care to grow, your brain needs good habits to learn new things. These habits can make studying less hard and more fun.

Planning Your Study Time

Creating a study space.

Your study space is like your personal learning zone. It should be quiet, tidy, and have everything you need, like pencils, paper, and your books. A good space helps you focus and keeps you from wasting time looking for things.

Setting Goals

Setting goals is like having a treasure map for your studies. You decide what you want to learn or how much you want to read each day. Small goals can lead to big wins, and when you reach your goal, it feels great!

When you don’t understand something, asking questions is a super power. It’s okay not to know everything. Asking helps you learn, and teachers are there to help you understand.

Going over what you’ve learned, again and again, is like practicing a sport. The more you review, the better you remember. You can use flashcards, read your notes, or teach someone else what you’ve learned.

Staying Organized

Keeping your notes, books, and schedule organized is like keeping your toys in order. When everything is in the right place, you can find what you need quickly and it makes studying easier.

Just like you need rest after playing, your brain needs breaks during study time. Short breaks help you stay fresh and pay attention. You can stretch, walk around, or just close your eyes for a few minutes.

Staying Healthy

Eating well, sleeping enough, and moving your body keep your brain sharp. Think of healthy habits as fuel for your brain. Just like a car needs gas to run, your brain needs good food and rest to work best.

Getting Help When Needed

Sometimes, even with good habits, studying can be tough. It’s smart to ask for help when you need it. This could be from a teacher, a family member, or a friend. Everyone needs help sometimes, and it’s a part of learning.

In conclusion, good study habits are key to doing well in school and learning new things. By planning your time, setting up a nice study space, writing goals, taking notes, and asking questions, you can become a super learner. Remember to review what you’ve learned, stay organized, take breaks, stay healthy, and get help when you need it. These habits will make studying easier and more successful for you.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Happy studying!

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Creating Positive Change: Good Study Habits Essay

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Good study habits are best described as a set of tools that facilitate an increase of the amount of information learned and also make the information to be remembered for a long time. Well, I did not grow up with good study habits, I used to spend most of my free time playing video games, watching movies and listening to music, and hardly doing my homework. Despite my parents’ effort of taking me to a good school, I paid little attention to schoolwork. As a result of these, I registered very poor school grades, which in turn led to frustrations both for me and my parents. It is this experience that made me convict myself to creating a positive change towards studying my school work. I realized that developing good study habits was paramount because through them, I could gain success and satisfaction during the school years and the same could be extended to the working world.

The journey towards attaining this positive change has not been easy though. I am still working on this endeavor. The very first step I am taking is to make sure that, my home is a good place to study. For any positive results to be attained in studying at home, the home environment should be made conducive for thinking. It is now clear to me that, I can only concentrate on one thing at a time; this then means that, the home environment should be free from noise and distraction. In light of the importance of quietness and less distraction, I now design a time chart for one week in which I allocate study time late in the afternoons and early evening because at this time there is minimal activity in my house.

The second step I am taking to make this change happen is to eliminate common distractions such as television, radio, and stereo, just to mention but a few. Well, I was used to studying in a noisy environment. But at the moment, I switch off the television and reduce the volume of the radio while studying. I am optimistic that, within a short time, I will be able to study in absolute silence. Furthermore, I have arranged for phone time when I can make or receive calls to avoid disruptions during study time. In addition, I have informed my friends of the appropriate time they can visit me. Lastly, I keep all the supplies I need in the study area, for instance, pens, papers, clips, calculators, and many others.

The third important step I am taking to make this change happen is providing physical conditions in the study area that are conducive for concentration. To achieve this, I have good lighting, cool temperatures, a comfortable chair, and a table to help me be alert.

For me to have reached where I am now, it took me hard work and patience. When I was starting to cultivate this habit, I felt fatigued and was almost giving up. I even lost some of my friends. Sticking to the goal of developing good study habits in order to make a change for the better, has made me realize the importance of developing a routine and term commitment to each and every decision I make in life. It is through this experience that I also realize, good concentration doesn’t just come but it takes time and patience to shape.

In conclusion, good study habits are acquired and developed by an individual. In order to achieve this, it is equally important to set a study time for work at home, allocate a comfortable amount of work every day without being too pushy, provide a conducive studying environment free from destructions and noise, and above all have a positive attitude, commitment, and patience.

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A Study on Study Habits and Academic Performance of Students

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Improving Students’ Study Habits and Course Performance With a “Learning How to Learn” Assignment

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — College Students — 8 Effective Study Habits for College Students

8 Effective Study Habits for College Students

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Study Habits: How and Why to Practice Effective Studying

August 9, 2019

Whether in public or private school, most students encounter the same basic curriculum. Granted, the curriculum has changed over the years , but the fundamentals still apply. Math, language arts, history, geography, and sciences are core subjects. Some students will achieve advanced levels in these topics but all will need to develop effective study habits to achieve their best.

Schools cover core and niche subjects well but don’t always address how to study them. Let’s look at what good study habits are, and how to practice them.

Why are study habits important?

Good study habits help don’t just help in school; they help in professional settings and life in general. Practicing good habits regularly allows you to be your most productive and efficient. Successful students tend to become successful professionals, and this success is often built on well-established habits. The best study habits turn into good habits for any time.

Unfortunately, students do not generally learn study skills in school. With rare exceptions, there are few classes in either public or private schools focused on them. Students are expected to develop these skills on their own. All students develop habits, but many of these habits can be counterproductive. For example, countless parents complain about their students doing homework while watching television. That is a study habit, just not a good one.

Developing good study habits early usually leads to retaining and using these habits throughout life. Middle school and college chemistry students are at different levels, but both can use the same habits to learn the material. A CEO and a high school civics students have different needs, but both need to be organized and focused to reach their goals.

What are the Best Study Habits?

The best study habits include:

• Organization
• Time management
• Developing a personal learning style
• Clear note-taking
• Studying efficiently
• Working effectively with teachers tutors

Success in every part of life requires good organization . Getting and staying organized allows students and adults alike to accomplish tasks efficiently. It’s more than having a tidy desk; it involves tasks like managing multiple work spaces at school, effective record keeping, and clear labeling.

Time Management  is also an excellent habit for both students and professionals. It minimizes stress, errors, and time waste. Time management begins with tools as simple as a calendar or egg timer. Practicing macro (weeks, months) and micro (days, hours, tasks, projects) time management helps students complete tests within the time limit, and project managers track progress on year-long projects.

Developing a personal learning style  is important because everyone learns differently. Some students do best with visual examples. Others prefer dialogue with teachers. Some learn everything they need from reading books straight through. Flashcards, mnemonics, and memory tricks can all help different kinds of learners. Find what works for you, and build your study plan around that.

C lear note-taking is essential. Remember, you’re taking notes so you can reference them while you study later. Make sure you can easily read and understand them. There are different ways to do this , so play around.

Studying efficiently means you can retain, repeat, apply, and synthesize information. Studying efficiently tends to happen when your other good habits are in play. Are you organized and managing your time well? Do you know how you best learn and retain information? Are your notes clear and easy for you to understand?

Finally, working effectively with teachers and tutors  is key to getting the most out of your education. Trust your educators, and trust the process.

How Can I Improve My Study Habits?

It’s never too late to start improving your habits. It takes a conscious effort, self-discipline, and hard work. Most people, adults included, have a difficult time doing this on their own. It’s hard to be constructive and self-critical, and it’s easy to be complacent. Regardless, every person reaches a point in life where it is too challenging to keep track of accomplish your goals without a plan for doing so. We need to keep changing and growing, and good habits help this.

Start by getting familiar with the habits discussed here. Ask yourself: am I already practicing these? How can I be more effective? Take inventory of your answers. Then, think of simple steps and begin practicing them, one at a time. For example, if you need to work on organization, buy or repurpose folders to organize your notes and resources by subject. If you need to improve time management, get a weekly planner that works for you and fill it out at the start of every week. Regular practice is key.

Parents can help too. Parents should collaborate with students, learning about effective study habits, and working to integrate them into daily life. Practicing these habits together helps parents stay involved and informed about student needs and goals. One simple strategy is to have weekly planning sessions, where students and parents discuss their goals, schedule, and what they’re anticipating for the week.

Finally, consider seeing a tutor. Tutors specialize in maximizing study efficiency, and focus on an individual student’s learning needs to develop a personalized study plan. A fundamental part of any good plan comes down to practicing good habits.

To learn more, visit our academic tutoring page.

Practice Makes Permanent

Developing and practicing these habits makes them permanent. The school year often gets interrupted, through scheduled breaks, through the summer, and through snow days. Sometimes, extenuating circumstances shut schools down and require students to study from home. In these gaps, it’s easy for students to fall off their studies and lose the knowledge they gained in school. However, if you practice these skills regularly, it’s much easier to stay on top of your studies, even when school isn’t in session.

These steps will help you develop positive study habits. Think of it as investing in yourself. Each skill takes time to learn but ultimately saves time and energy in the long run. That is what it’s all about: building an efficient and effective process that allows you to accomplish all of your work while opening up time for the fun things in life.

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Studying 101: Study Smarter Not Harder

Do you ever feel like your study habits simply aren’t cutting it? Do you wonder what you could be doing to perform better in class and on exams? Many students realize that their high school study habits aren’t very effective in college. This is understandable, as college is quite different from high school. The professors are less personally involved, classes are bigger, exams are worth more, reading is more intense, and classes are much more rigorous. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you; it just means you need to learn some more effective study skills. Fortunately, there are many active, effective study strategies that are shown to be effective in college classes.

This handout offers several tips on effective studying. Implementing these tips into your regular study routine will help you to efficiently and effectively learn course material. Experiment with them and find some that work for you.

Reading is not studying

Simply reading and re-reading texts or notes is not actively engaging in the material. It is simply re-reading your notes. Only ‘doing’ the readings for class is not studying. It is simply doing the reading for class. Re-reading leads to quick forgetting.

Think of reading as an important part of pre-studying, but learning information requires actively engaging in the material (Edwards, 2014). Active engagement is the process of constructing meaning from text that involves making connections to lectures, forming examples, and regulating your own learning (Davis, 2007). Active studying does not mean highlighting or underlining text, re-reading, or rote memorization. Though these activities may help to keep you engaged in the task, they are not considered active studying techniques and are weakly related to improved learning (Mackenzie, 1994).

Ideas for active studying include:

• Create a study guide by topic. Formulate questions and problems and write complete answers. Create your own quiz.
• Become a teacher. Say the information aloud in your own words as if you are the instructor and teaching the concepts to a class.
• Derive examples that relate to your own experiences.
• Create concept maps or diagrams that explain the material.
• Develop symbols that represent concepts.
• For non-technical classes (e.g., English, History, Psychology), figure out the big ideas so you can explain, contrast, and re-evaluate them.
• For technical classes, work the problems and explain the steps and why they work.
• Study in terms of question, evidence, and conclusion: What is the question posed by the instructor/author? What is the evidence that they present? What is the conclusion?

Organization and planning will help you to actively study for your courses. When studying for a test, organize your materials first and then begin your active reviewing by topic (Newport, 2007). Often professors provide subtopics on the syllabi. Use them as a guide to help organize your materials. For example, gather all of the materials for one topic (e.g., PowerPoint notes, text book notes, articles, homework, etc.) and put them together in a pile. Label each pile with the topic and study by topics.

For more information on the principle behind active studying, check out our tipsheet on metacognition .

Understand the Study Cycle

The Study Cycle , developed by Frank Christ, breaks down the different parts of studying: previewing, attending class, reviewing, studying, and checking your understanding. Although each step may seem obvious at a glance, all too often students try to take shortcuts and miss opportunities for good learning. For example, you may skip a reading before class because the professor covers the same material in class; doing so misses a key opportunity to learn in different modes (reading and listening) and to benefit from the repetition and distributed practice (see #3 below) that you’ll get from both reading ahead and attending class. Understanding the importance of all stages of this cycle will help make sure you don’t miss opportunities to learn effectively.

Spacing out is good

One of the most impactful learning strategies is “distributed practice”—spacing out your studying over several short periods of time over several days and weeks (Newport, 2007). The most effective practice is to work a short time on each class every day. The total amount of time spent studying will be the same (or less) than one or two marathon library sessions, but you will learn the information more deeply and retain much more for the long term—which will help get you an A on the final. The important thing is how you use your study time, not how long you study. Long study sessions lead to a lack of concentration and thus a lack of learning and retention.

In order to spread out studying over short periods of time across several days and weeks, you need control over your schedule . Keeping a list of tasks to complete on a daily basis will help you to include regular active studying sessions for each class. Try to do something for each class each day. Be specific and realistic regarding how long you plan to spend on each task—you should not have more tasks on your list than you can reasonably complete during the day.

For example, you may do a few problems per day in math rather than all of them the hour before class. In history, you can spend 15-20 minutes each day actively studying your class notes. Thus, your studying time may still be the same length, but rather than only preparing for one class, you will be preparing for all of your classes in short stretches. This will help focus, stay on top of your work, and retain information.

In addition to learning the material more deeply, spacing out your work helps stave off procrastination. Rather than having to face the dreaded project for four hours on Monday, you can face the dreaded project for 30 minutes each day. The shorter, more consistent time to work on a dreaded project is likely to be more acceptable and less likely to be delayed to the last minute. Finally, if you have to memorize material for class (names, dates, formulas), it is best to make flashcards for this material and review periodically throughout the day rather than one long, memorization session (Wissman and Rawson, 2012). See our handout on memorization strategies to learn more.

It’s good to be intense

Not all studying is equal. You will accomplish more if you study intensively. Intensive study sessions are short and will allow you to get work done with minimal wasted effort. Shorter, intensive study times are more effective than drawn out studying.

In fact, one of the most impactful study strategies is distributing studying over multiple sessions (Newport, 2007). Intensive study sessions can last 30 or 45-minute sessions and include active studying strategies. For example, self-testing is an active study strategy that improves the intensity of studying and efficiency of learning. However, planning to spend hours on end self-testing is likely to cause you to become distracted and lose your attention.

On the other hand, if you plan to quiz yourself on the course material for 45 minutes and then take a break, you are much more likely to maintain your attention and retain the information. Furthermore, the shorter, more intense sessions will likely put the pressure on that is needed to prevent procrastination.

Silence isn’t golden

Know where you study best. The silence of a library may not be the best place for you. It’s important to consider what noise environment works best for you. You might find that you concentrate better with some background noise. Some people find that listening to classical music while studying helps them concentrate, while others find this highly distracting. The point is that the silence of the library may be just as distracting (or more) than the noise of a gymnasium. Thus, if silence is distracting, but you prefer to study in the library, try the first or second floors where there is more background ‘buzz.’

Keep in mind that active studying is rarely silent as it often requires saying the material aloud.

Problems are your friend

Working and re-working problems is important for technical courses (e.g., math, economics). Be able to explain the steps of the problems and why they work.

In technical courses, it is usually more important to work problems than read the text (Newport, 2007). In class, write down in detail the practice problems demonstrated by the professor. Annotate each step and ask questions if you are confused. At the very least, record the question and the answer (even if you miss the steps).

When preparing for tests, put together a large list of problems from the course materials and lectures. Work the problems and explain the steps and why they work (Carrier, 2003).

Reconsider multitasking

A significant amount of research indicates that multi-tasking does not improve efficiency and actually negatively affects results (Junco, 2012).

In order to study smarter, not harder, you will need to eliminate distractions during your study sessions. Social media, web browsing, game playing, texting, etc. will severely affect the intensity of your study sessions if you allow them! Research is clear that multi-tasking (e.g., responding to texts, while studying), increases the amount of time needed to learn material and decreases the quality of the learning (Junco, 2012).

Eliminating the distractions will allow you to fully engage during your study sessions. If you don’t need your computer for homework, then don’t use it. Use apps to help you set limits on the amount of time you can spend at certain sites during the day. Turn your phone off. Reward intensive studying with a social-media break (but make sure you time your break!) See our handout on managing technology for more tips and strategies.

Switch up your setting

Find several places to study in and around campus and change up your space if you find that it is no longer a working space for you.

Know when and where you study best. It may be that your focus at 10:00 PM. is not as sharp as at 10:00 AM. Perhaps you are more productive at a coffee shop with background noise, or in the study lounge in your residence hall. Perhaps when you study on your bed, you fall asleep.

Have a variety of places in and around campus that are good study environments for you. That way wherever you are, you can find your perfect study spot. After a while, you might find that your spot is too comfortable and no longer is a good place to study, so it’s time to hop to a new spot!

Become a teacher

Try to explain the material in your own words, as if you are the teacher. You can do this in a study group, with a study partner, or on your own. Saying the material aloud will point out where you are confused and need more information and will help you retain the information. As you are explaining the material, use examples and make connections between concepts (just as a teacher does). It is okay (even encouraged) to do this with your notes in your hands. At first you may need to rely on your notes to explain the material, but eventually you’ll be able to teach it without your notes.

Creating a quiz for yourself will help you to think like your professor. What does your professor want you to know? Quizzing yourself is a highly effective study technique. Make a study guide and carry it with you so you can review the questions and answers periodically throughout the day and across several days. Identify the questions that you don’t know and quiz yourself on only those questions. Say your answers aloud. This will help you to retain the information and make corrections where they are needed. For technical courses, do the sample problems and explain how you got from the question to the answer. Re-do the problems that give you trouble. Learning the material in this way actively engages your brain and will significantly improve your memory (Craik, 1975).

Take control of your calendar

Controlling your schedule and your distractions will help you to accomplish your goals.

If you are in control of your calendar, you will be able to complete your assignments and stay on top of your coursework. The following are steps to getting control of your calendar:

• On the same day each week, (perhaps Sunday nights or Saturday mornings) plan out your schedule for the week.
• Go through each class and write down what you’d like to get completed for each class that week.
• Look at your calendar and determine how many hours you have to complete your work.
• Determine whether your list can be completed in the amount of time that you have available. (You may want to put the amount of time expected to complete each assignment.) Make adjustments as needed. For example, if you find that it will take more hours to complete your work than you have available, you will likely need to triage your readings. Completing all of the readings is a luxury. You will need to make decisions about your readings based on what is covered in class. You should read and take notes on all of the assignments from the favored class source (the one that is used a lot in the class). This may be the textbook or a reading that directly addresses the topic for the day. You can likely skim supplemental readings.
• Pencil into your calendar when you plan to get assignments completed.
• Before going to bed each night, make your plan for the next day. Waking up with a plan will make you more productive.

See our handout on calendars and college for more tips on using calendars as time management.

Use downtime to your advantage

Beware of ‘easy’ weeks. This is the calm before the storm. Lighter work weeks are a great time to get ahead on work or to start long projects. Use the extra hours to get ahead on assignments or start big projects or papers. You should plan to work on every class every week even if you don’t have anything due. In fact, it is preferable to do some work for each of your classes every day. Spending 30 minutes per class each day will add up to three hours per week, but spreading this time out over six days is more effective than cramming it all in during one long three-hour session. If you have completed all of the work for a particular class, then use the 30 minutes to get ahead or start a longer project.

Use all your resources

Remember that you can make an appointment with an academic coach to work on implementing any of the strategies suggested in this handout.

Works consulted

Carrier, L. M. (2003). College students’ choices of study strategies. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96 (1), 54-56.

Craik, F. I., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104 (3), 268.

Davis, S. G., & Gray, E. S. (2007). Going beyond test-taking strategies: Building self-regulated students and teachers. Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 1 (1), 31-47.

Edwards, A. J., Weinstein, C. E., Goetz, E. T., & Alexander, P. A. (2014). Learning and study strategies: Issues in assessment, instruction, and evaluation. Elsevier.

Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2012). No A 4 U: The relationship between multitasking and academic performance. Computers & Education, 59 (2), 505-514.

Mackenzie, A. M. (1994). Examination preparation, anxiety and examination performance in a group of adult students. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 13 (5), 373-388.

McGuire, S.Y. & McGuire, S. (2016). Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate in Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Newport, C. (2006). How to become a straight-a student: the unconventional strategies real college students use to score high while studying less. Three Rivers Press.

Paul, K. (1996). Study smarter, not harder. Self Counsel Press.

Robinson, A. (1993). What smart students know: maximum grades, optimum learning, minimum time. Crown trade paperbacks.

Wissman, K. T., Rawson, K. A., & Pyc, M. A. (2012). How and when do students use flashcards? Memory, 20, 568-579.

If you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.

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How To Improve Study Habits For Students: 15 Strategies From The Science Of Behaviour Change

by William Wadsworth | Last updated Nov 11, 2022 | First published on Jan 29, 2021 | 2 comments

Meet the expert

William Wadsworth

By William Wadsworth , the Cambridge University trained cognitive psychologist and specialist in how to study smarter, not harder. He leads the world’s largest research study on use of effective learning strategies, is regular exam prep expert for The Times , and hosts the Exam Study Expert podcast , with 1 million downloads to date.

Review and additional research by Dr Kerri Edinburgh .

How do you change when change is hard? How can students like you or me improve their study habits, and actually make the new habits STICK?

The secret is knowing WHAT you want to change and HOW to change it.

Prefer to listen? This article also available as a podcast episode:

If you’re reading this, you might already have some ideas about WHAT you want to improve about your study habits:

• Maybe you want to work harder.
• Adopt some productivity hacks to get more done in less time.
• Get your assignments completed well ahead of time.
• Or switch to smarter ways of learning information.

Perhaps it’s all of the above, and more!

(Still looking for ideas on WHAT to improve about your study habits? Then check out my previous article on the 7 habits of highly effective students for a great overview.)

But honestly, deciding what you want to change is the easy bit.

This article focuses on what happens next.

How to make the changes stick .

I think we all know that it’s one thing to set good intentions. It’s quite another to actually see them through consistently for the long term.

So let’s find out how to improve your study habits – for good.

Let’s make this your best year yet!

Free: Exam Success Cheat Sheet

My Top 6 Strategies To Study Smarter and Ace Your Exams

Privacy protected because life’s too short for spam. Unsubcribe anytime.

Part 1: Meeting your inner caveman, and why s/he can make it so hard to act on your motivations

I’m going to start by answering a very simple question:

Why is it that you do certain things and don’t do certain other things?

What drives your behaviour?

Why do you find yourself doing so many things you know aren’t in your best long-term interests? Things like helping yourself to an extra slice of cake, or procrastinating on TikTok rather than getting on with your essay?

The psychology of human behaviour is very complex. But it’s very important to understand, because only once we understand why we behave in the way we do, can we truly become masters of our behaviour.

I’m going to cut through the complexity for you today, and boil it all down to 3 very simple factors. Together, these underpin just about anything you decide to do. The 3 factors can work together, but often, they are in conflict, pulling you in different directions.

The 3 factors that drive your actions each day are:

Factor 1: your automatic habits

Think of all the things you do on autopilot every day.

You might have checking habits when you leave the house (“phone, wallet, keys…”), or hygiene habits (you brush your teeth, right?).

It’s entirely possible to train new habits. For example, in the past 5 years, I’ve trained myself to wipe down the screen afterwards with a squeegee thing after every shower. I do it every day. If I’m showering when travelling and there’s no squeegee, I feel a fleeting moment of discomfort when I can’t perform my post-shower ritual.

When you train an animal, what you’re really doing is building a habit. You’re training a dog to respond to the word “sit” by sitting down.

Habits are very primal, very raw things.

Their impact can be pretty powerful, but they’re usually slow to build and change.

Factor 2: your motivations

What exactly is it that you want to do?

How do you think you should be allocating your time?

What tasks will produce results that are in alignment with your goals and values?

This is anything from your long-term destination in life, right down to your plan for any given day. If you want to be an A-grade student and graduate at the top of your class, that motivation might spur you on to put in some extra work over the holidays or vacation. (Even if no one is asking you for that work!)

You can of course choose your motivations. The trouble is, what you intend to do doesn’t always translate to what you actually do .

Why? Time to meet Factor 3:

Factor 3: the instincts of your inner caveman

As we all well know, your motivations don’t always translate into your actions.

You’ve been meaning to finish an assignment before the night of the deadline for once… but it’s never quite worked out.

You’ve been meaning to get out for some exercise every day… but somehow life has got in the way.

So what’s the problem?

Why is it so hard to actually see through on good intentions to improve your study habits?

It mainly comes down to a set of instincts that are constantly guiding your actions and behaviours. It’s possible to trace most of these instincts traced back to explanations from evolutionary history. They are the patterns of thought that evolved to keep you safe in a very different world to the one you face today.

I collectively refer to this set of instincts as your “inner caveman”.

There are 3 really important instincts to know about:

A. Your inner caveman is lazy…

…S/he likes you to conserve energy.

To take the low-effort path rather than doing something that’s harder work.

For your hunter-gatherer ancestors, the supply of food (energy) was limited, so it made sense to conserve calories whenever possible. If there was a choice between taking an energetic action or not, your inner caveman will tend to prefer not.

B. Your inner caveman hates taking risks…

… S/he wants to keep you safe from harm.

In 10,000BC the dangers were very real and very physical. Your ancestors didn’t want to get eaten by a predator, or trampled by the animal they were trying to catch for lunch!

In the modern day, the dangers are much more theoretical. Now, we’re afraid of failing a harder course, or of putting in extra effort on a project only to be rewarded with an average mark.

This also ties into social risks: your inner caveman loves to be accepted, to stick with the tribe, because life as a lone caveman is a darn sight harder than if you can share the burden of surviving. It’s good to have other tribe members around who can watch over you through the night. So the possibility of any form of social embarrassment is often a particularly painful risk to contemplate.

C. Your inner caveman loves quick thrills

Your brain evolved a reward system that responds very strongly to certain desirable things in the environment.

The rush you get from eating sugar is a great example – it’s a fast hit of energy to fuel a burst of activity, like a hunt. Sugar used to be hard to come by, so our ancestor’s craving was only rarely indulged. Modern humans find it only too easy to indulge that craving, of course!

Many modern-day pleasures take advantage of our love of a quick thrill.

That ranges from the sugary foods we most crave, through to the addictive video games on your console or smartphone.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking these pleasures in moderation. But if you allow your inner caveman to get too obsessed with them, you end up with rotten teeth, and getting nothing done all day because you’re too busy gaming.

Taming the beast

Your inner caveman is starting to sound like a bit of a wild beast, no?

But the good news is that, like any wild beast, your inner caveman can be tamed.

You just need to learn how to turn their strengths to your advantage, like a judo master.

I’m going to walk you through a set of 15 strategies to help you master your inner caveman.

As you’ll discover, many of these strategies work beautifully together to create a complete system to bring about the improvements in your study habits that you want to make.

Ready? Let’s do this!

Your inner caveman is lazy: here’s how to persuade him/her to get up and GO!

I’m going to start with strategies designed to counteract your inner caveman’s laziness.

1.      Be clear on exactly what new study habits you’re adopting

Your inner caveman is looking for any excuse for an easy life.

If there’s a change you’ve decided to make in your study habits, don’t give him / her any reasons not to get with the plan.

That starts with being absolutely clear on what the plan is . Be really specific about what actions to take, and exactly how are you’re going to go about them. Go beyond the obvious here.

Let’s say your new habit is to go running every morning: what do you need to do to make that happen?

• What will you be wearing?
• What time are you going to set the alarm?
• And what route are you going to follow?

If you expect to just wake up on Day 1 and figure all that out on the fly, you’re setting yourself up for failure. So set yourself up for success, by planning it all out in advance.

It’s exactly the same with adopting new habits in your studies. Think through all you’ll need in order to make your improved study routine happen. When will you do the work, what materials will you need, and so forth.

And by the way, if you need some advice on the specifics of what good study technique looks like, I would highly encourage you to download my exam success cheat sheet:

If you’re doing flashcards, which is one of the recommendations in my study cheat sheet (see above), you’ll need some sort of cards to work with. You might also want to dig out your exam syllabus, and have a copy printed out for you by your desk.

Do you have a way to stay hydrated – if you’re working in a library for example, do you have a water bottle you can take in?

If you’re not in a library, are there any textbooks you’ll need to go and borrow or buy before you start work?

You get the idea.

Anything you need to make your plan work, get it all ready in advance.

By the way, this process of gathering your stuff is a great way to ease yourself into starting a new study routine . None of this takes a huge amount of effort, so it’s a nice way to feel you’ve taken the first step, without really having to summon up too much willpower.

2.      Make it easy, make it obvious

Next, I want you to remove any friction to following through on your plan for improved study habits.

Try leaving out all your study stuff neat and ready to go the night before.

Put your books out on the desk, open to the right page.

You’d be shocked at how that little action helps you slip straight into work mode. I have a friend who wants to spend more time learning the guitar. The guitar is out of its case, propped on a stand by the sofa – making it super-easy to just pick it up and start playing instantly.

On the other hand, hide away anything that might distract you.

I’ve talked before about turning your phone off and putting it out of sight when you’re working. Same if you have a games console in the house – you don’t need to throw it out, but unplug it and put it away in a cupboard. Distractions become substantially less tempting when they’re out of sight, and when there’s just a little extra effort needed to find them.

Put chocolate out on a table in my house, and it will disappear very quickly. But put it away in a cupboard, and it lasts substantially longer. Out of sight really is out of mind when it comes to things you don’t want to be distracted by.

So put the distractions out of sight, keep your study stuff in sight.

Though a small caveat that you might not necessarily want your study materials out and at the top of your mind 24/7. You might need to compartmentalize, and have some times of the day or week when you’re not engaged in your studies, so you can allow your mind chance to rest.

3.      Start small: the “just five minutes” trick

If you’re still feeling resistance to starting your new improved study habits, try starting small.

There’s two variants of this: the “just 5 minutes” trick, and the Virginia Valian approach.

Try the “just 5 minutes” trick to overcome light to moderate resistance, and bouts of laziness or low willpower.

It’s simple: set a timer for 5 minutes of work, and give yourself permission to stop when the timer goes off.

Chances are, you won’t feel like stopping once the 5 minutes is up! Once you’ve started, it’s much easier to carry on, and you might get a whole study session in after all. Often the idea of doing an hour of studying is far more off-putting to your lazy inner caveman than the reality once you get started.

So get started, then watch as the resistance melts away.

Same with starting on a run. If don’t want to do a whole run, then try running for just 5 minutes. Or even getting changed into your exercise clothes and standing outside. Once you’re there, you’re much more likely to want to go ahead and do some more.

4.      The Virginia Valian Approach

Now, if you’ve got a much more deep-seated aversion to working, you may need something more drastic. That’s the Virginia Valian approach, which I’ve named after the famous academic who inspired this approach.

Virginia was a very high-ability student, but had, in her words, a pretty serious work problem. You can read her full story here .

In summary, Virginia had got literally no work done for weeks on her assignment. She was in a bad way: she knew she needed to start making progress, but was facing titanic resistance to the idea of working.

So she asked herself: what daily target would I feel comfortable about setting?

For her, even just a couple of hours a day seemed completely daunting and off-putting. No way.

What about half an hour?

Better, but still feeling a lot of resistance to that idea.

OK – so what about 15 minutes?

That feels OK. Let’s try that.

And she did. For weeks on end – just 15 minutes per day. It may not sound like much, but it’s amazing what you can accomplish with a quality 15-minute session day after day after day.

Eventually, she felt her stamina improving, and was able to stretch that 15 minutes to 20 minutes. To half an hour. And eventually, to several hours every day.

So if you’re stuck in a complete rut with improving your study habits, start by asking yourself the question:

What small amount of action every day could I set myself that feels comfortable and completely do-able?

Start with that, and build from there.

Your inner caveman hates taking risks: take back control and improve your study habits

With the help of these first strategies, you should already be starting to overcome the laziness of your inner caveman.

The next set of strategies will help you get around your inner caveman’s preference for avoiding risks.

5.      Set process goals, and focus your energy on those

Your inner caveman hates the idea of setting yourself up for a goal that you’ll probably fail. No-one likes to feel a failure (even if the only person that knows about it is you!).

I recommend setting an overall goal for your studies – the outcome you want from your course – and writing it down. Have it as a North star to make sure you’re always steering in the right direction. But day-in-day-out, there’s no need to be constantly looking up at the star. You’ve got more immediate concerns.

I’d much prefer you to focus your daily energies on a clear process goal : a target for what actions you’re going to take on a regular basis.

To explain the difference between a process goal and an outcome goal:

A process goal would be to work for 2 hours, or run for 30 minutes.

An outcome goal is to finish Chapter 2, or write 5000 words, or run a personal best on the race track.

In other words, a process goal is about the journey, the process, the outcome goal is about the destination.

And the nice thing about a process goal is they’re completely predictable, and completely within your control.

The outcome goal involves aiming for something that’s only partially in your control. Sometimes you can finish a chapter in 2 hours, sometimes it might take more or less time depending on how challenging the material is, and how familiar you are with it.

On the other hand, if your goal is about the process rather than the outcome, it’s entirely in your control. Every single day becomes a day in which you can succeed against your target, and feel great about yourself.

6.      Make sure your goals are realistic

Process goals are great, but the target you choose needs to be realistic, otherwise, you’ll have a hard time improving your study habits.

I recommend being conservative in what you think you’ll be able to achieve at first, and scaling up over time as you’re able to. It doesn’t get much more conservative than the Virginia Valian approach – 15 minutes a day! – so don’t be afraid to set very modest goals to start with.

I’d far rather you set a small daily goal and achieved it every single day this week than tried to stretch yourself too far, only to fail, feel demoralised and demotivated.

Be realistic in your target setting. Put all your energies into focusing on what you can control – trusting the process – and trust that the outcome will follow from that.

7.      Change your environment: work on fitting in

Your inner caveman is a deeply social creature.

S/he craves being accepted by the tribe, and hates the idea of being cast out and isolated. Any kind of social embarrassment is an abhorrence.

(We’re all a little different in this respect of course. Some crave social acceptance more than others – but it’s true to some extent for most people.)

So instead of fighting this fact of life, let’s work with it to improve your study habits.

If you want to boost your motivation to study hard , find yourself a tribe that works hard.

Look for an environment where “fitting in” means getting your head down and getting some studying done.

An easy place to find such a tribe is at a library, or perhaps a silent study room if your school or college has one. You’re basically looking for a room that’s got other people working studiously in it. You don’t even need to know the other people for your herd instincts to kick in.

Once you find such an environment, you’ll likely perceive some peer pressure to look as if you’re working.

Your inner caveman will WANT to work in order to fit in, and avoid social embarrassment. Perfect!

8.      Find an accountability partner: improve your study habits together

Working among a herd isn’t right for everyone – for some, the pressure will be too great, tipping over into anxiety.

A slight variant on this strategy is to see if you can find a friend who’s on the same journey as you.

Hold each other accountable.

Agree to debrief every day, or every week, on how you’re doing with those new habits.

Your need to impress will kick into overdrive. You’ll want to have positive news to report, and will want to avoid embarrassment by admitting to your friend that you’re failing.

This principle is a very powerful one, and underlies the huge effectiveness of many group classes to change behaviours. Just think of effectiveness as support groups to help people quit smoking or lose weight.

9.      Look out for limiting beliefs

I’ve come across many inner cavemen in my 1:1 work with students as a school and exam success coach .

One of the peskiest things about these cavemen is that they’re great storytellers. Often their stories are neither accurate nor helpful. As modern humans, we’re subjected to a constant babble from our inner caveman of stories about what we can and can’t do.

What we are and are not capable of.

To achieve success, we need to get past these limiting beliefs.

Let’s take one of the most common limiting beliefs: that we’re not good enough to achieve something. In order words, that our level of talent in a given area is fixed, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“I’m not good at math(s).”

Or “I’m not smart enough to get good grades.”

Here’s the truth: your levels of ability in a given field are not fixed forever.

You can improve.

There’s a growing body of evidence that your brain can literally grow and change at a neurological level as you learn. The very wiring in your brain levels up as you practice and gain skill in an area.

So, train yourself to relish the feeling of finding things challenging, of feeling your ability stretched. Because that feeling is the feeling of your brain growing bigger and stronger and fitter! Exactly the same way that finding a workout challenging is the feeling of your body growing stronger and fitter.

As I tell my coaching students , “feel the burn when you learn”!

If you want to find out more about how 1:1 exam success coaching with me could save you time and get you bigger results this year, hit the button below:

10. Build on the bright spots

You might not have heard of Dr Timothy Wilson , but he’s one of the world’s leading authorities on behaviour change.

His book Redirect is one of my all-time top recommendations. In it, Tim talks about how the stories you tell yourself have a powerful impact on your behaviour, and how to go about changing those stories.

We’ve already met some examples of those “stories” when we talked about limiting beliefs just now. (I’m bad at math(s), I’m not smart enough, etc.)

I particularly like his “bright spots” technique.

This means looking for examples of places or circumstances where you’re not quite as bad as normal!

If you struggle in math(s), say, is there a particular topic you actually did OK with?

Was there a teacher you started to flourish with?

Was there a time when you showed a little more promise?

Starting by nurturing these bright spots as proof that better things are possible, that you are capable of more. Take courage and confidence from the very existence of these bright spots.

Then go a step further.

Ask yourself what it was about these examples that made them different and better. If there were particular things you did that time that helped, could you do more of that in future?

See if you can spread the light from the bright spots wider and wider through your work.

Your inner caveman loves a quick thrill: here’s how to use that to your advantage to improve your study habits

So, let’s take stock.

By now, we’ve got over your inner caveman’s laziness, we’ve convinced him or her that change isn’t so risky after all.

Now all we need to do is solve the problem of your caveman wanting its quick thrills.

My final strategies allow you to do just that.

11. Improve your study habits by promising your inner caveman a reward

Can you “manufacture” a quick thrill to reward your inner caveman for good behaviour?

Much as you might toss your pooch a doggy treat when it’s obeyed a command to “sit” in training, you give your inner caveman a tangible reward to say “good job” when you follow through on your intentions.

Food is an easy example. My high school Biology teacher used to polish off a whole packet of chocolate digestive biscuits on the one night of the year he blitz-marked all of the practice exam scripts.

(Don’t try this at home!)

For you, it might be rewarding yourself for a good day’s studying with an episode of your favourite show on Netflix.

12. Threaten your caveman with a “punishment”

The flip side of craving quick thrills is a strong aversion to suffering punishments. That’s just psychologists’ term for any outcome which is unpleasant in some way, such as losing money.

How can we use “punishments” to keep that inner caveman in line and improve study habits?

There are plenty of apps that will help: Beeminder is one good example. The app is totally free to use as long as you’re on track, and it’ll send you nice “well done” messages along the way. But if you go off the rails… you pay!

I’ve even known a PhD candidate set up a contract with a friend. For every month he fails to stick to his word count target, he’ll owe $200. Ouch.

You could even combine this strategy with your inner caveman’s fear of social embarrassment. Make the “punishment” a social embarrassment if you fail to hit your goals, for example, announcing to your friends on your social media account of choice if you miss your writing target one day. Hopefully, that will have a bit of a positive feedback loop, as your, hopefully, supportive friendship group encourages you to get back on track the next day.

A word of caution on rewards and punishments

Whether you’re promising a good outcome or threatening a bad one, beware making the incentive too strong.

If you do, there’s a risk that you start to erode any intrinsic interest you have in your new study habit. Your brain thinks that the only reason you’re studying is to get the reward or avoid the punishment, and so you actually become less interested over time in your studies.

So if you’re going to use punishments and rewards, try to use the lightest possible prize or threat that still gets you to take the action you want.

My advice would be to use punishments and rewards as a kick to get you started, but switch to something else to stay the course over the long term.

13.  Temptation bundling to improve your study habits

You could also try “ temptation bundling ”. This is where you bundle something you don’t especially want to do together with something you really, really want to do.

Don’t want to go to the gym? Addicted to that new show on Netflix? Perfect: from now on, the only place you’re allowed to watch that show is when you’re in the gym .

Resisting adopting a new study habit? Wild about that new shake shack that just opened? Perfect: from now on, the only time you’re allowed a milkshake is as you’re sitting down to work with your new study technique.

Combine the thing you’re resisting with the thing you really want to do.

You might need the gym idea if you have too many of those milkshakes!

But you get the idea 🙂

14. Making long-term goals into short-term actions

If you heard my recent podcast episode Eating The Frog with productivity legend Brian Tracy , you’ll have heard him talk about the buzz you get from completing a task.

As Brian explained, it’s easy to feel daunted by the idea of working on our biggest tasks – that giant project or assignment or dissertation. We know a day’s work on it isn’t going to make much progress on it, so we delay starting in earnest until the last minute. Then it all ends in panic, and having to finish it in a big hairy time-pressured ball of stress.

The strategy to counter that is to break the big task up into lots of little sub-tasks. You won’t get the whole dissertation written today, but you can tick off some of the papers you need to read. You can still get a sense of accomplishment from ticking off the “sub-tasks”.

Anything that gives you a feeling of progress is going to motivate you to keep working every day on the project.

And for projects where the daily tasks are very repetitive, consider tracking your actions on a wall-chart.

Try putting a simple tick on each day of the calendar when you fulfil the habit you set out to achieve each day: whether that’s going for a run, or spending 10 minutes reading ahead for your classes the next day.

It’s surprisingly satisfying to see that streak of days building up. Visual proof that you’ve now accomplished the action you intended to take for 3 days running, or 10 days running, or for 30 days running!

And you’d better do it again tomorrow – you don’t want to break that streak!

And speaking of “tomorrow”, that brings us nicely to our fifteenth and final strategy:

15. Connecting to your future self

Fascinating research suggests it’s possible to re-programme your brain to value your future self more than it does currently. (At least temporarily – and that might be all it takes to improve your study habits and get into a new way of working for good).

So make the future feel closer: connect to your “future self”.

To do this in practice:

• Hang out with your future self on AgingBooth: ( iOS / Android ) an app that transforms a picture of your face into what you’ll look like decades in the future. I’ve even known people to get their AgingBooth photo framed and hung on their wall, as a constant (if slightly weird?) reminder of your very distant future.
• Use FutureMe.org to send an email to your future self: write a letter to yourself to be delivered at a time of your choosing. “Dear Me, I hope you’re happy with the results I’m currently working so hard for you to enjoy…”. The act of writing the letter connects you with your future self, makes you think hard about what “future you” will want. Receiving the letter is a pretty wild moment too!

Both of these strategies will help bring your perceptions of the future a little closer, helping to motivate your inner caveman to make preparing for the future a priority in the present.

That helps reset the balance between your long-term motivations to work towards an important goal, and your inner caveman’s love of a quick thrill in the present.

As a quick aside, I see you’re listening to this from the future – what’s it like?!

Did you manage to figure out how to improve your study habits…?

An invitation: take the shortcut to exam success, with my help

Before I leave you, I want to end today with an invitation.

If you’re studying for exams at school, university, college, or in the workplace to further your career, I hope you’ve found this blog helpful. I put a lot of energy into creating it for you, and I know there are literally hundreds of thousands of students who use my free resources to get an advantage in their exams.

But if you’re looking for the ultimate shortcut to study smarter, upgrade your study habits, and get the exam outcomes you’re for with less work and less stress, I would like to warmly invite you to my exam success coaching programme.

You can work with me for as little as a single one-off session to rapidly fine-tune an aspect of your study habits or exam technique, or invest in maximising success while minimising your stress levels with a long-term coaching programme throughout exam season or even through your whole course.

Just hit the blue button below to find out more, and book a complimentary chat today:

I’m standing by and ready to help you study smarter, reduce stress, and ace your exams this year.

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Study Habits That Can Improve Grades and Performance

• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

It is never too late to develop great study habits . If you're starting a new school year, or you just want to improve your grades and school performance, take a look at this list of good habits and start making some changes in your routine. You'll find that it does not take that long to form a new habit .

Write Down Every Assignment

The most logical place to write down your assignments in a ​ planner , but you might prefer to keep a to-do list in a simple notebook or in your smartphone notepad. It doesn't really matter what tool you use, but it is essential to your success that you write down every single assignment, due date, test date, and task.

Remember to Bring Your Homework to School

It sounds simple enough, but many F's come from students forgetting to bring a perfectly good paper to school. To avoid forgetting your homework, establish a strong homework routine with a special homework station where you work each night. Get in the habit of putting your homework where it belongs right after you finish it, whether this is in a special folder on your desk or in your backpack. Prepare every night before bed.

Communicate With Your Teacher

Every successful relationship is built upon clear communication. A student-teacher relationship is no different. Miscommunication is another one of those factors that can cause bad grades, despite good efforts on your part. At the end of the day, make sure you understand every assignment that's expected of you. Imagine getting a bad grade on a five-page paper because you didn't understand the difference between an expository essay and a personal essay .

Be sure to ask questions and find out what format you should use when you write a paper or what type of questions might appear on your history exam. The more questions you ask, the more prepared you'll be.

Organize With Color

Devise your own color-coding system to keep your assignments and your thoughts organized. Select a single color for each class (like science or history) and use that color for your folder, highlighters, sticky notes, and pens. Color-coding is also a tool to use when conducting research. For example, always keep several colors of sticky flags on hand when you're reading a book for school. Assign a specific color for every topic of interest. Place a flag on a page containing information that you will need to study or to cite.

Establish a Home Study Zone

Create a specified study place. After all, if you can’t concentrate, you certainly can’t expect to learn very well. Students are different: Some need a completely quiet room free from interruptions when they study, but others actually study better when listening to quiet music in the background or taking several breaks.

Find a place to study that fits your specific personality and learning style . Then stock your study space with school supplies that will help you avoid last-minute interruptions to go find needed materials.

Prepare Yourself for Test Days

You know that it's important to study for tests, but there are other things you should consider in addition to the actual material that the exam will cover. For example, you might show up for the test and find the room is freezing cold. For many students, this would cause enough of a distraction to interrupt concentration. That leads to bad choices and incorrect answers. Plan ahead for heat or cold by layering your clothing.

Or you might be the kind of test-taker who spends so much time on one essay question that you don't have enough time to finish the exam. Prevent this problem by bringing a watch and being mindful of time management.

Know Your Learning Style

Many students struggle in a subject without understanding why. Sometimes this is because they don't understand how to study in a way that matches their brain style. Auditory learners , for example, are those who learn best through hearing things. Visual learners , by contrast, retain more information when they use visual aids, and tactile learners benefit by doing hands-on projects.

Examine and evaluate your learning style and decide how you can improve your study habits by tapping into your personal strengths.

Take Fabulous Notes

There are a few tricks to taking fabulous notes that really help when it comes to studying. If you are a visual person, make as many doodles on your paper as you can—useful doodles, that is. As soon as you realize that one topic relates to another, comes before another, is the opposite of another, or has any kind of connection to another, draw a picture that makes sense to you. Sometimes the information will not sink in until and unless you see it in an image.

There are also certain code words to look for in a lecture that can indicate that your teacher is giving you the relevance or the context of an event. Learn to recognize keywords and phrases that your teacher deems important.

Conquer Procrastination

When you procrastinate, you're gambling that nothing will go wrong at the last minute—but in the real world, things do go wrong. Imagine it's the night before a final exam and you have a flat tire, an allergy attack, a lost book, or a family emergency that keeps you from studying. At some point, you will pay a big price for putting things off.

Battle procrastination by recognizing the feisty little voice that lives inside of you. It tells you that it would be more fun to play a game, eat, or watch TV when you know better. Don’t listen to that voice. Instead, conquer the task at hand without delay.

Take Care of Yourself

Some of your personal habits might be affecting your grades. Are you feeling tired, achy, or bored when it comes to homework time? You can change your grades by practicing a few healthy homework habits. Change the way you feel by taking better care of your mind and your body.

For example, between text messaging, playing video games, surfing the internet, and using social media, students are using their hand muscles in new ways, and they're growing increasingly susceptible to the hazards of repetitive stress injury. Find out how to avoid pain in your hands and neck by learning about ergonomics and changing the way you sit at your computer.

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