By Cecilia Schutt
Photo by Cecilia Schutt
May is here, which means there is only one thing left that stands in the way of summer vacation: exams. Everyone wants to do well on their finals, but how they prepare varies greatly. Students use a variety of studying techniques, and sometimes they don’t study at all. While some students might have their studying process down, it can sometimes be hard to know how to review the material in the most efficient way. Upperclassmen at Willow have had a little extra time to get this process down and are ready to share some academic wisdom.
Sometimes, the hardest part is just getting started.
“My best study tip is to give yourself the three second rule,” said Senior Ruby Murphey. “Give yourself 3 seconds, and then just get up and do it. It helps me to not procrastinate and start my work at a reasonable time.”
“Don’t study in your bed!” warns junior Paige Moore. “Your brain is gonna confuse your bed as a place of work, so you are gonna have trouble going to sleep. If you study in your bed you’re linking your studying to something else. If you study at a place that is either meant for studying or a general area, it allows you to focus on that one thing. I now study on a yoga mat or my desk and it has helped me.”
There is ample, solid, scientific evidence to back this up. A brief search yields many studies, such as one from the American College of Healthcare Science, titled, “Never Do Homework in Bed: 3 Reasons Why.”
“Take good notes during class,” advised senior Red Strong. “It saves me time later from having to look up and teach myself the info, and if I can lock in during class, I rarely have to go back and study later. When I write things down as I’m hearing them, I remember them.”
For those looking to prepare for an English assessment, junior Kaia Thompson recommends to “look at grammar, or read and analyze a short story or poem to practice before a test.”
“For science, it really depends on the subject,” said Thompson. “For physics and chemistry, I memorize formulas and work out former problems. For biology and vocab and system-based science, I prefer taking notes from a book or video.”
Junior Santiago Rodriguez-Carmona recommends reading the AMSCO book for AP History classes, saying, “I like to focus specifically on units that I feel weak on.”
When studying for math, Strong said, “I just do literally every kind of problem over and over again, find lots of practice problems online, and ask for a study guide.” Thompson also recommends doing practice problems but adds that “it’s better to look at problems that you’ve already solved to work them backwards, before attempting to solve a new problem.”
For those who need to review for French or Spanish class, junior Milton Isaac said, “I like to rewrite my own notes based on what I already know and what I need to know more of.”
