"With finals week just around the corner many students are struggling to find ways to be prepared." --Calliope Dean, 8th Grade
With finals week just around the corner, many students are struggling to find ways to be prepared. There are many different ways to study, and everyone has their own way to do it. Here you can find some ideas on how to find motivation, stay organized, and get everything done in time.
Motivation is the most important step of studying. If you don’t have motivation you won’t even be able to start. There are many ways to stay motivated, according to howtostudy.com. “Take breaks. When you feel that you need to take a break, try to stop at a point where it is logical to stop. This will make it easier for you to resume studying after your break.”
Taking breaks while studying is beneficial for many reasons, according to health.cornell.edu. “Taking purposeful breaks (anywhere from 5–60 minutes) from studying to refresh your brain and body increases your energy, productivity, and ability to focus.” Examples of purposeful breaks include, taking a shower, listening to music, stretching or calling a friend.
Another way to stay motivated is to study with a friend, according to torrens.edu.au, “Findings point to higher motivation, better learning retention and greater engagement with tasks as some of the benefits of learning with friends. Plus, there are practical benefits; friends often share class notes, strategies for time management and useful study tools with each other.” When studying with friends whether you're in person or on the phone, it increases motivation, and decreases procrastination.
Studying with a friend can also decrease stress, “Research shows that when a friend is physically present during a stressful event, student test subjects have significantly less cortisol in their saliva (a physical symptom of stress) and demonstrate higher self-worth and self-esteem, than when a friend is not physically present.”
Mila Boyden, 7th grade student at OSA, says that her favorite way to find motivation is, “Getting a lot of snacks to eat while studying, I’m a person who cares a lot about my grades so remembering why I’m studying helps with motivation.”
Christopher Olsen, History and English teacher at OSA thinks that the best thing to do is, “To try breaking the material into smaller parts. Motivation is hard, especially when you don’t have much interest in what you're studying.” Olsen also recommends that you “Get to a point where you’ve made some progress in learning.”
Taking breaks while studying is beneficial for many reasons, according to health.cornell.edu. “Taking purposeful breaks (anywhere from 5–60 minutes) from studying to refresh your brain and body increases your energy, productivity, and ability to focus.” Examples of purposeful breaks include, taking a shower, listening to music, stretching or calling a friend.
Another way to stay motivated is to study with a friend, according to torrens.edu.au, “Findings point to higher motivation, better learning retention and greater engagement with tasks as some of the benefits of learning with friends. Plus, there are practical benefits; friends often share class notes, strategies for time management and useful study tools with each other.” When studying with friends whether you're in person or on the phone, it increases motivation, and decreases procrastination.
Studying with a friend can also decrease stress, “Research shows that when a friend is physically present during a stressful event, student test subjects have significantly less cortisol in their saliva (a physical symptom of stress) and demonstrate higher self-worth and self-esteem, than when a friend is not physically present.”
Mila Boyden, 7th grade student at OSA, says that her favorite way to find motivation is, “Getting a lot of snacks to eat while studying, I’m a person who cares a lot about my grades so remembering why I’m studying helps with motivation.”
Christopher Olsen, History and English teacher at OSA thinks that the best thing to do is, “To try breaking the material into smaller parts. Motivation is hard, especially when you don’t have much interest in what you're studying.” Olsen also recommends that you “Get to a point where you’ve made some progress in learning.”
Staying organized while studying will help you get everything done, and have a better attitude towards it.
When studying it’s always beneficial to have a relaxing space to do it, according to firsttutors.com, “A study concluded that a messy study space can ‘undermine people's persistence in completing tasks”. When relaxed, it’s much easier to study because you’re less stressed about other things. In a messy studying environment it’s harder to focus because it’s simply uncomfortable to work in.
Another way to stay organized is to have a plan. You can write down everything you need to study and work through at your own pace. According to intelligent.com, “Creating a study plan allows you to see how you spend your time, and ensures that you are setting aside enough time outside of class to complete homework assignments, study for tests, and review and retain the information you are learning.” In order to manage your study time you need to know the time you have, and how much time you need for each subject. For example, if you know that studying for your Science test is going to take longer than your English paper you have to plan accordingly. You can find other tips for making a study schedule here.
When studying you want to have a method, according to london.ac.uk, “Creating good healthy study habits has made it so much easier to ‘get down to work’ and be in the mental zone with limited procrastination. If you study for four hours a day approximately, but try not to set yourself goals by time, or you could find yourself watching paint dry and counting it as four hours study.” There are many methods you could try, such as the pomodoro method, or you could find your own way that works best for you.
Staying organized is beneficial in so many ways, but some aren’t sure about how to do that. There are many other ways to stay organized that aren’t listed here that might work better for you, explore your options and find out what works best.
“I think with organization, a lot of people think there’s a certain way to stay organized. But it comes down to what works best for you,” Olsen states.
Callie Frederick, 8th grade student thinks, “It’s absolutely important, I think it would very much help me study. I just can’t find a way to do it.”
When studying it’s always beneficial to have a relaxing space to do it, according to firsttutors.com, “A study concluded that a messy study space can ‘undermine people's persistence in completing tasks”. When relaxed, it’s much easier to study because you’re less stressed about other things. In a messy studying environment it’s harder to focus because it’s simply uncomfortable to work in.
Another way to stay organized is to have a plan. You can write down everything you need to study and work through at your own pace. According to intelligent.com, “Creating a study plan allows you to see how you spend your time, and ensures that you are setting aside enough time outside of class to complete homework assignments, study for tests, and review and retain the information you are learning.” In order to manage your study time you need to know the time you have, and how much time you need for each subject. For example, if you know that studying for your Science test is going to take longer than your English paper you have to plan accordingly. You can find other tips for making a study schedule here.
When studying you want to have a method, according to london.ac.uk, “Creating good healthy study habits has made it so much easier to ‘get down to work’ and be in the mental zone with limited procrastination. If you study for four hours a day approximately, but try not to set yourself goals by time, or you could find yourself watching paint dry and counting it as four hours study.” There are many methods you could try, such as the pomodoro method, or you could find your own way that works best for you.
Staying organized is beneficial in so many ways, but some aren’t sure about how to do that. There are many other ways to stay organized that aren’t listed here that might work better for you, explore your options and find out what works best.
“I think with organization, a lot of people think there’s a certain way to stay organized. But it comes down to what works best for you,” Olsen states.
Callie Frederick, 8th grade student thinks, “It’s absolutely important, I think it would very much help me study. I just can’t find a way to do it.”
Once you know what you have to do, and have a plan. All that’s left is to get started and finish the work, but that’s not always the easiest thing to do
The only way to finish studying is to eliminate distractions. Some people can listen to music or watch something in the background and still focus, others can’t. By eliminating anything that’s distracting to you. Turn your phone on silent, call a friend to make sure you're on task. Whatever you have to do to get the work done.
Take care of your needs before studying, bring everything you think you would need in order to not go back to get something then get distracted. Bring food, water, anything you think will be necessary to have while studying.
According to host-students.com, “The easiest way to help yourself perform to your best ability is to stay hydrated and keep away from junk food. Set a reminder on your phone to drink a large glass of water every couple of hours and snack on healthy fruit and nuts during your studies.” Eating too much junk food or not eating enough can make it even harder to focus, “A lack of water or eating foods with high levels of fat will make you feel irritable and lethargic, which is the last thing you’ll want when you’re trying to be productive!”
Another way to stay focused is to reward yourself for completing tasks. According to, “You can use this positive reinforcement while studying, by rewarding yourself whenever you meet a study goal, complete a particular project, or simply after spending a long period of time sat at your desk working hard.” You can reward yourself with treats or things you’ve been wanting to buy but haven’t found a reason to. “No matter what it is you’re rewarding, the more you associate good outcomes with studying, the more motivated you’ll feel when you next sit down to study.”
“The best way to get things done is to know what your priorities are,” said Olsen “Knowing what’s going to cause you impending doom if you don’t get it done.”
“There’s a way of dividing tasks between things that are either high priority or high importance,” he continued. “Like say you have a big project that’s due a month from now, that’s high importance but not high priority, because you have other assignments that are due tomorrow.”
The only way to finish studying is to eliminate distractions. Some people can listen to music or watch something in the background and still focus, others can’t. By eliminating anything that’s distracting to you. Turn your phone on silent, call a friend to make sure you're on task. Whatever you have to do to get the work done.
Take care of your needs before studying, bring everything you think you would need in order to not go back to get something then get distracted. Bring food, water, anything you think will be necessary to have while studying.
According to host-students.com, “The easiest way to help yourself perform to your best ability is to stay hydrated and keep away from junk food. Set a reminder on your phone to drink a large glass of water every couple of hours and snack on healthy fruit and nuts during your studies.” Eating too much junk food or not eating enough can make it even harder to focus, “A lack of water or eating foods with high levels of fat will make you feel irritable and lethargic, which is the last thing you’ll want when you’re trying to be productive!”
Another way to stay focused is to reward yourself for completing tasks. According to, “You can use this positive reinforcement while studying, by rewarding yourself whenever you meet a study goal, complete a particular project, or simply after spending a long period of time sat at your desk working hard.” You can reward yourself with treats or things you’ve been wanting to buy but haven’t found a reason to. “No matter what it is you’re rewarding, the more you associate good outcomes with studying, the more motivated you’ll feel when you next sit down to study.”
“The best way to get things done is to know what your priorities are,” said Olsen “Knowing what’s going to cause you impending doom if you don’t get it done.”
“There’s a way of dividing tasks between things that are either high priority or high importance,” he continued. “Like say you have a big project that’s due a month from now, that’s high importance but not high priority, because you have other assignments that are due tomorrow.”
Keep in mind that these tips might not work for you, everyone has their own way to study and get things done. These tips are just to get you started.