Everybody has a distinct way of studying. While certain behaviors are beneficial as students go along the educational ladder (such as through online courses), others are really damaging to your ability to study. Your academic speed should be compatible with the way you study. Make sure you are avoiding bad study habits if you believe you spend a lot of time studying but still perform poorly.
The most recent test results that your child has received have not met your expectations.
Your kid read the books…So what took place?
Many students and parents have experienced it. Ineffective study habits are the root of the issue for many pupils.
Dealing with poor study habits
Examining your child’s existing study techniques is the first step to helping them become more effective students. You may start resolving any issues by identifying trouble areas (or places where your youngster might use a little boost).
There is no one perfect method to study for your child; it’s a process that never ends. However, there are several study habits that every effective learner possesses and that your child may exploit to the most extent possible.
To be a more successful student, teach your child how to stop negative study habits and start forming more productive ones.
How to overcome poor study habits?
Pulling all-nighters to finish a paper or study for a test as an undergraduate could have resulted in passing scores. However, graduate school is unique. A large portion of the academic work required to obtain a master’s or doctorate degree is self-directed and is reliant on completing assignments before the deadline.
According to Wendy Wood, PhD, a professor of psychology and management at the University of Southern California, this means that the less-than-ideal habits that may have previously worked for you are unlikely to result in success.
“Most graduate students are pretty good at studying for exams, but the basis of evaluation shifts as you move into graduate school, and you’re expected to give talks and write a lot,” says Wood. Many pupils don’t have these behaviors in place when they first start school.
She claims that if stress is added on top of that, pupils will revert to their old behaviors, making it difficult for them to pick up new ones.
For instance, Wood and colleagues discovered in a 2013 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology research that students who were in the middle of examinations showed less drive and willpower, reverting to behaviors they had established earlier in the semester. In contrast to individuals who reported often having an unhealthy meal during non-exam weeks, those who typically ate a nutritious breakfast continued to do so during tests.
According to Wood, creating positive habits early on is essential for achieving your goals.
These six suggestions from Wood and other experts are meant to assist graduate students develop good habits that will benefit them both in and out of the classroom.
- Create a new habit in 66 days
- Embrace a routine
- Find a way to enjoy your work
- Take breaks
- Develop realistic goals
- Turn off your smartphone
1. Create a new habit in 66 days
According to Wood, repetition is the key to creating new habits. Researchers observed 96 participants for 12 weeks while they developed a new health habit, such as drinking a glass of water with lunch or going for a 15-minute exercise before supper, in a 2010 study under the direction of University College London psychologist Phillippa Lally, PhD.
Every day, participants shared whether or not they engaged in the behavior as well as how automatic it seemed. The researchers discovered that it typically takes 66 days for these easy behaviors to develop become habits.
According to the study, it might take anywhere between 18 days to 254 days for a behavior to get ingrained in a person’s mind. However, persons who repeat a behavior daily are more likely to do so sooner.
2. Embrace a routine
According to Wood, it’s crucial to connect a new behavior to a certain environment. Decide when and where you work best, then arrange each day around that time and location.
You shouldn’t have to decide if you’re going to write now or in 30 minutes all the time, she advises. Find a writing location that works for you and visit it frequently if you want situations to prompt the choice to work.
She continues by saying that as time passes, you’ll notice that you’re having less trouble and that the situation begins to trigger your former behavior.
3. Find a way to enjoy your work
According to Wood, people won’t inevitably carry out actions they find objectionable. You must thus find a method to relish some component of your work if, for example, you detest studying or writing. If you’re the kind of person who needs to be among others, gather a few people from your cohort for a “writing date,” spend an hour working, then take a break to get coffee and talk about your work.
Recognize what appeals to you, and put it to use, advises Wood. If not, you might need to find a new job that you actually enjoy.
Rewards are effective. Make a deal with yourself that if you do a specific amount of work, you can reward yourself with some TV or Facebook time or other guilty pleasure.
4. Take breaks
The “basic rest-activity cycle” is the 90-minute time at night during which humans travel through five phases of sleep, from light to deep, and then out again. It was first identified more than 50 years ago by sleep researcher Nathan Kleitman, PhD.
Additionally, he noticed that throughout the day, our bodies follow a same 90-minute cycle that shifts our alertness levels from greater to lower. In essence, we need to give our brains space for periods of intense concentration and downtime.
Performing things in 90-minute blocks with pauses in between, a practice known as “pulsing” by productivity gurus, might help you focus far better than working nonstop for long periods of time. Author Brigid Schulte shut off her phone and email for 90 minutes at a time throughout the day to do research for and write the book “Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time,” published in 2014.
According to Schulte in her book, “It was easier to stay focused on work knowing I’d given myself a grace period to get to the pressing home stuff later.”
5. Develop realistic goals
Paul Silva, PhD, author of “How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing” (2007), claims that graduate students’ goals are sometimes “too vague and mushy, like ‘work on my thesis’ or ‘design that study for my dissertation,'” But according to 30 years of study by psychologist Albert Bandura, PhD, having a defined, long-term objective that can be broken down into a series of precise, doable smaller goals is the greatest way to maintain self-motivation.
According to Chicago clinical psychologist Alison Miller, PhD, author of “Finish Your Dissertation Once and For All: How to Overcome Psychological Barriers, Get Results, and Move On with Your Life” (2008), students should try to divide milestone tasks like writing a literature review into smaller tasks that can be finished in under two hours, like reading a journal article or writing a first draught of a subsection. She also suggests tying objectives to particular days of the week.
She explains that knowing what you need to do when you get up in the morning saves you time and energy from trying to find out what to accomplish.
6. Turn off your smartphone
End-of-day psychological disengagement from work and school is crucial, according to Russell Johnson, PhD, a management professor at Michigan State University. That break aids individuals in replenishing their cognitive and emotional capacities that were exhausted throughout the workday.
Johnson and colleagues evaluated the impact of technology, including late-night smartphone usage for work, on sleep, morning energy levels, and job engagement throughout the day in a research published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes in 2014.
They discovered that using smartphones for work late at night interfered with both the quantity and quality of sleep, leaving workers feeling more worn out in the morning and less interested at work the following day. Johnson advises students to avoid the temptation to check their job or school email by turning off their cellphones at night and keeping them away from their bedrooms.
According to Johnson, fatigue may have a poor impact on people’s engagement, learning, and performance at work and school. Stress can also have a negative impact on people’s personal relationships and feeling of wellbeing. Although it might be challenging at times to “turn off” work and school, mental breaks and respites are really beneficial for us.
21 poor study habits to avoid
The following are 21 behaviors you should not engage in when studying:
- Starting a study session without a plan
- Waiting until the last minute to start an assignment
- Spending hours studying, but not getting anything done
- Being distracted by social media and cell phones
- Studying in front of the television
- Trying to cram for tests the night before
- Not asking the teacher for help when you don’t understand
- Studying to remember, instead of studying to understand
- Never using an agenda
- Keeping disorganized notes
- Not learning from your mistakes
- Cramming
- Multitasking
- Listening to music
- Skipping classes
- Not making an outline
- Using social media while studying
- Not actively studying
- Being disorganized
- Not having a study space
- Procrastination
1. Starting a study session without a plan
How to fix it: Prior to your child beginning their studies, make a study plan that defines the goals for this session. Help your kid create objectives for each study session, such as the topics they should be able to explain or the number of pages they will write in an assignment.
2. Waiting until the last minute to start an assignment
How to fix it: List the due dates for each task, and make a schedule with your kid for when he or she will work on each. At least a week before they are due, begin assignments, and work your way through them gradually. They will also become less intimidating as a result.
3. Spending hours studying, but not getting anything done
How to fix it: Find out when your youngster is most productive and encourage them to conduct their learning then. Some kids are most alert and prepared to study in the early morning. Others do their finest work while they are studying late at night.
How to fix it: Log out of social media accounts and turn off the mobile device. after your child is taking a study break, or even better, after they have finished their lessons for the day, save browsing Facebook or sending that text to a buddy.
5. Studying in front of the television
How to fix it: Pick a quiet area in your house where your youngster may study without interruptions. Make this a space reserved just for learning. This will motivate your youngster to start working right away. If at all possible, stay away from your child’s bedroom—this area should be reserved for resting and sleeping!
6. Trying to cram for tests the night before
How to fix it: Start your homework early, and do a little bit every night. Your child will learn the subject more effectively and you’ll be able to spot any places that require further review time if you go over it with them over a longer period of time.
7. Not asking the teacher for help when you don’t understand
How to fix it: Spend a few minutes every night going over and thinking about what your child learnt in class. Make notes on anything your child didn’t understand so they may bring them to the teacher for more assistance.
8. Studying to remember, instead of studying to understand
How to fix it: Encourage your child to make connections between what he or she has learnt so far rather than simply memorizing information for a test. Create a mind map that your child may use to connect ideas and gain a better knowledge of the subject.
9. Never using an agenda
How to fix it: Assign your youngster the task of using their agenda each day for a month. Dates for projects, exams, and homework assignments should be noted. Your youngster will find it simpler to recall things and make plans to finish tasks on time if they get into the habit of writing everything down in their schedule.
10. Keeping disorganized notes
How to fix it: To start, separate the notes from each subject into a separate folder. After that, begin honing your note-taking skills. Try out several note-taking techniques and assist your youngster in selecting the one that suits him or her the best.
11. Not learning from your mistakes
How to fix it: Successful learners take lessons from their errors. Encourage your child to keep trying even if they receive a poor grade on a test or assignment. Make a strategy for your child to do better the next time by analyzing the experience to see where they can still develop.
12. Cramming
A research that appeared in the journal Scientific Reports found that college students were more likely to receive poorer marks if they did not go to bed or get up at regular intervals every day. It is far preferable to study for an hour or two several nights before to the test than to put in an all-nighter.
To allow your mind and body time to relax and heal, you must get adequate sleep. Cramming might lead to both ill health and low grades. excellent sleeping habits are just as crucial to cultivate as excellent study ones.
13. Multitasking
According to Stanford University research, multitasking makes you less effective than concentrating on completing one activity at a time. Researchers also discovered that persons who are continually exposed to many electronic information streams are unable to concentrate, recollect information, or switch between tasks as effectively as those who manage only one activity at a time.
14. Listening to music
When carrying out specific duties, playing music might be helpful. You may feel more inspired or happier as a result. This study habit is highly regarded by many students as being beneficial. However, studies indicate that music does not aid in the learning of difficult or unfamiliar material. It might be challenging to grasp the information you’re studying when listening to music, especially songs with lyrics.
15. Skipping classes
If you don’t attend class, you’ll have to spend a lot of time copying notes and asking your buddies to fill you in on what you missed. Attending every class requires a lot of self-control and resolve, but if you frequently miss them, you’ll have to reread and memorize the material from scratch, which will make it more difficult for you to achieve better marks.
16. Not making an outline
When studying a lot of material, an outline is extremely helpful for keeping track of what has to be studied and organizing your thoughts. Without an outline, your chances of forgetting important subjects and receiving the grade you want rise.
People are frequently seen glued to their cellphones in this digital age, no matter where they are. The FOMO (fear of missing out) may be causing some people to check their social media accounts.
Close all of the tabs for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in your computer or laptop browser to avoid the need to check them. On your phone, you may also disable notifications.
18. Not actively studying
To learn new and difficult concepts, reading and underlining notes will not be sufficient. Think about using active learning techniques like writing projects in your own words, imparting knowledge to others, and testing yourself.
Professor Emeritus Marty Lobdell asserts that assessing or quizzing oneself is effective because it forces you to recall material, something you don’t do while reading textbooks.
19. Being disorganized
Being disorganized would simply make learning much more difficult because there are so many things to do and think about. Don’t merely jot down notes and post reminders in random locations. Keep track of all test dates, due dates for assignments, deadlines, and study plans in a notebook. You may also download an app that will assist you in keeping track of everything relevant to your studies.
20. Not having a study space
It might be difficult to study at home and can lead to bad study habits. Numerous distractions might keep you from giving the subject at hand your full concentration. Any interruption, whether it comes from the TV, housework, or family members who want to converse, might stop you in your tracks.
However, you may take advantage of the comfort and convenience of studying at home provided you make sure to designate a location that is only for that purpose and that is free from distractions.
21. Procrastination
Procrastination is one of the worst habits that people may have when it comes to studying, however other people do better under pressure. We frequently underestimate the amount of time needed to complete tasks and put off studying until later. This yields an output that is less than outstanding.
To guarantee that you can work effectively and complete the job on time, divide the project or assignment into manageable chunks and establish a deadline for each one. The Pomodoro method may also be used to improve time management.
Hey, I am Sachin Ramdurg. I run and manage futuredecider.com website that helps students, graduates, and professionals, to find and decide on their future career with ultimate future career advices and future career guides. I have an overall 12+ years of career guidance experience in multiple domains which has helped multiple students, graduates, and professionals to find the best career path for their future.