10 Ways to Study Effectively (Study Tips)

I can remember a time when I went to school and with it, came no time for enjoyment in my life or any time for myself. After the first semester, my body was getting to a point of exhaustion. Exhaustion due to 16 -18 credit hours, working full time, clinical as well as trying to find time for studying. So one day, I sat back and evaluated my circumstances and tried to figure out how I can squeeze in everything in a 24 hour period and still have enough time for enjoyment. After a whole day of thinking, even though I couldn't afford to spend that day to think about time management, I made a plan and put it into action the next day. I realized after the first week of putting this plan into action, I did have time for myself as well as 6 hours of sleep per day and my grades improved. So the question is, how can we pick our nose and still maintain to insert information into our minds?
1. In life as well as the school life, everyone needs to get organized. This might entail you buying some folders, small recorder with the cassettes (not the digital) and extra notebooks of course. Before you start getting organized, ask yourself this one question, "Have you ever searched anywhere from 2-10 minutes just trying to find that one piece of paper that you really needed?" The answer is probably a yes!!! If so, then let's start organizing. First, get out all your books, notebooks, everything. Start putting everything in piles of each subject that you have. Start organizing your notes by Chapters, from 1 to whatever in each of your subjects. Stick those in one of the folders that you have bought (this does include all the papers that you have in your textbook as well). Now all your loose paper should be gone and organized, now you should only be left with 1 folder (or if you needed 2 folders, label the folders such as "Chapters 1-5"), a textbook and/or lab book and a notebook for each of your subjects. This was simple enough, but now the problem is getting your lazy butt to keep it that way. As soon as you get a handout or any type of paper from class, put it in the folder right away. Wouldn't it save you time to go directly to that folder and find that piece of paper in 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes looking for that paper?
2. If possible, get a computer. Instead of spending money on beers and who knows what else, invest in a computer, preferably a laptop. You can find a good used one for 3 - 5 hundred easy on eBay or Craigslist, it doesn't need to have a bunch of garbage on it and be high tech as long as it has about 20 gigs of free space, DVD/CD player and capable of surfing the web. If you can't afford one, get a memory stick of at least 20 gigs and put it on your keychain and not just in your pocket. You will be more prone to losing it in your pocket instead of your keychain. Now start storing everything on a computer or the stick of your notes. Just because you got a computer now, don't let this teach you to be lazy, organize your computer by subjects as well and make a folder for each of your class. Heck, take your laptop with you in class and start taking notes on Word, if you know how to type (and you should learn btw) then typing would be quicker than handwriting the notes. If note taking requires you to draw diagrams, use the paint feature and copy and paste. If you're not computer savvy, then perhaps, you need to take a computer course. Reality check, just about every job involves computers, even McDonalds. Now since you have a storage device, save all your work and don't delete anything, this includes when you go into the next semester or the next. Here is why! I do remember a time when I wrote a paper on the cause and effect of Diabetes, lucky for me, the next semester, another teacher asked for the same thing. I just printed it, read it and turned it in. A lot of time I just saved. When doing this of course, just make sure that you got at least a C on the first paper you wrote so the only thing you have to do is just to polish it up a bit. If you got anything below a C, then my advice is to rewrite the whole paper. If you did get any paper below a C, then maybe you should sign up for another English course.
3. When studying, only concentrate on one subject at a time. You don't need your mind to think about the molecular structure of a cell and then trying to figure out the mathematical formula for the radius of a circle at the same time. Your mind is already in overdrive cluttered up with so much information. As well as your body, your mind needs a break to. Don't overload it, if you do, your mind will store the information in the short term memory rather than the long term. In other words, your brain won't remember anything so you're just wasting your time trying to study for two subjects instead of one.
4. Reading!!! AAGGHH!!! I bet majority of you out there has fallen asleep reading your school books, nevertheless, just looking at the pages. There is no easy way of getting out of reading, you have to do it. Reading does take majority of time when it comes to studying. So when and where do you have time to read? Everywhere and every time! Here is the trick that I learned while reading. A typical class is 50 minutes or 1 hour and 20 minutes, more or less. Read in class, simple. While in class, that is 50 - 80 minutes of reading time that you can allot. While reading, don't be afraid to highlight. No professor or teacher will get on your butt for reading in class or highlighting. The question is, can you pay attention to the lecture while your mind is reading? The simple answer is yes. Majority of the teachers follow from beginning to the end of the chapter, this is where you come in to read. While the teacher is lecturing about the chapter, follow along as well as reading, then highlight the main points. This sounds simple and it really is, it just takes practice. By the end of class, you should have the chapter read or at least most of it.
5. Highlight your book and don't be afraid. I do realize that bookstores do not buy back the books if it is highlighted. Do you want to sacrifice the money that you are going to get back or your education and your future career? Hummm, tough question there!

6. Here is where the small tape recorder comes in with cassettes as I have mentioned. During your highlighting stage, you should have highlighted only the main and strong points of the book. After your first test, you should have the basic idea of what is on the test and what is covered. So get your book out and start reading what you have highlighted in your book into the recorder. Do this with all your subjects and categorize the cassettes, such as, "Psych 101 Chap. 1-2". This process should not take that long since your only reading what you have highlighted unless you're a highlighting freak. The point is, keep up on the recording when you go through the chapters in class. Now since you have got the recordings, study with them. This does include listening to them in the car, at work, while you're walking in between class, even eating at Burger King. The point of this is to save time as well as studying at the same time. Once you get in a habit of this, you will be amazed at how much time you can save just by listening to your notes that you have recorded instead of being at the library or at your desk with your book trying to cram everything into your brain all at once. With this, you can be listening to the notes more than once, twice or a lot more in which would benefit you because then it would be stored in your long term memory instead.
7. Diagrams and pictures. With the recordings, there is a down side to this. You cannot see diagrams or pictures such as the skeletal system or the structure of a cell. With this type of situation is where the copier can be your best friend. Copy the diagrams or pictures from your book and label the picture as, "A&P 101, diagram 1". In your recordings, mention something in there like, "Look at A&P 101 diagram 1". This is so much more convenient than carrying around your 100$ book and turning to the pages to find what you need. The only thing you would be carrying is a couple of pieces of paper and your recorder to study. The advantage of this is that it would save your back from carrying your backpack everywhere and the convenience of studying anywhere and everywhere.
8. Rest. As the old cliché goes, your body needs 8 hours of sleep. Just try to remember that your brain is part of your body and needs the same attention. When studying, give your brain some relaxation time to absorb everything that you have studied for. Study for an hour then grab yourself some coke or coffee, heck, grab a beer if that helps (but only one 12 oz can, don't overdo it.)
9. I do realize that everyone is different when it comes to a place to study, so find a place where you feel the best that can better stimulate you to absorb all the information. As being a bartender for so long, I felt more comfortable being at a bar to study. I use to take my books, notes, recorder and my laptop to the darkest hole in a bar and possessed the table all to myself. Feeling comfortable in an environment relaxes your brain to better absorb all the information that teachers are throwing at you. This might seem a little strange to a lot of people but it worked for me, so now, find a place that works for you.
10. Number ten is the best of all, as the old Hank Williams Jr. song goes, "Get drunk and screw". Not literally of course, but then again??? The whole point is, your body is already stressed from the exhausted efforts of studying, family, working and the big "R" word (Responsibility). Give yourself a break and go out with friends, drink, dance, run naked in the forest singing the Candy land song if you have to. Just de-stress and try to give your body some one on one time. Your mind is of no use if it is always tightened by the spasms of stress. Just give yourself one on one time every now and then. Don't get too cocky!
I don't mean that studying from your book is bad, but the recording idea is something to save time and to absorb vast amount of information on your free time such as driving, eating or even sleeping. While attending school, your time is as precious as diamonds. These methods might not work for you but it did work for me. The only problem was getting in a habit of doing all that I have mentioned above, such as highlighting, recording, copying and staying organized at all times. From what I have learned by going through the techniques above is that after my habit has been established, my time for myself has increased. Mainly due to myself saving time from reading, always having my nose in the books and by trying to memorize everything in such a short amount of time. When I did go tackle the books to study, I realized that I already knew at least 80-90% of what I needed to know due to the information that was absorbed through the recordings. So that only left up to 20% of what I needed to study for, there has even been times when I didn't need crack open a book to study, the information was already there because I have heard it so many times while driving, eating and sleeping.
While I was thinking of a way trying to find time to study, I realized that I had a lot of free time when I was driving, working, eating and sleeping. This is the time that I could have used to be absorbing information instead of jamming out to Ozzy while driving; I even listened to the tapes while asleep so that my subconscious can take over at times.
I do hope all this stuff helped, but if not, it's Ok. Everyone has a different side and a different way of studying based on their uniqueness. My advice, stay in school and don't ever give up on your destiny.