What a mess! How can you manage to study several subjects at once now? How do you get through this difficult time? Don’t worry. Follow this little guide and you’ll see how you overcome your challenge.
Create a daily study routine
If you want to be a good student and do well in several subjects, you don’t need to be a superhero, you just need to study every day (or almost), even on weekends and holidays.
The trick is consistency. You’ll be able to perform much better if you make studying a habit.
Set a schedule that allows you to dedicate quality time to your studies. This schedule should be flexible to suit your needs, but there should also be a minimum amount of time per day as a goal, so you will force yourself to stay more focused. If you need to take a break, make sure it is scheduled and short.
Something that can be really useful for this is the Pomodoro technique. You could decide to do at least 2 pomodoros a day, or even a whole cycle of 4 pomodoros, and then you would have a short 5-minute break between each one. You will find that it will be easier this way.
Above all, quality is more important than quantity here. The number of hours is not important, but rather whether you understand and retain the information. A good indicator that you have assimilated the subject is that you can explain it in your own words without looking at your notes.
Put order in your life
Especially when you are working on several subjects at the same time, you need to decide what you will need to spend more time on, since your time will be a very limited resource.
You need to determine which subjects or topics are most important each week and each study day. Not all subjects or topics are equally important or urgent, so use your time wisely.
Create a to-do list (study topic X, make outlines for topic Y, do exercise Z…) and order the items based on their importance and deadlines. Use tools like Todoist or Google Keep to keep track of your tasks.
If there’s something on your to-do list that will take you less than 2 minutes, do it right away, don’t even bother writing it down. This way you’ll avoid stressing about the pile of tasks.
Organize your time and material
Create a study plan like the ones we teach you in our articles. Assign study times for each task and organize yourself well. You will see that it does not cost much, and it will give you a greater sense of control and reduce the fear of failing.
In addition, we recommend that you keep all your study material organized: books, notes, or digital notes. Visual order will help you stay 100% focused.
It’s easy to get lost in one subject and forget about others, so also make sure you set time limits for the subjects that are most absorbing to you and balance your time according to how you planned. This will help keep your brain fresher with the change of subject matter.
Remember that you can use Pomodoros to structure your time, but you can also use the stopwatch on your phone to make sure you don’t go over (although try not to use your phone, it will distract you).
Also, make sure you get enough rest. We know you’re a human being, not a robot, and you’ll need breaks where you can recharge your batteries. Try to avoid study periods of more than 2 hours at a time, and take a break whenever you need it. Remember that what matters here is that you make progress every day, even if it’s little by little.
Prepare for exam periods in advance
We can all see exam time coming, and it may be quite late now, but you must learn the lesson of not leaving everything to the last minute.
It’s a good idea to reread your notes for each class at the end of the day. If something is unclear or disorganized, it’s time to correct it. Keeping your notes up to date will help you review more effectively when the time comes. Write everything down and you’ll see how it will help you review.
When making your study plan, keep in mind the dates, and which exam will come first, and based on that, set yourself the goal of knowing all the syllabus included before that date. Of course, you should also make that extra effort in the subject a few days before the evaluation.
Of course, as you know, you should vary your subjects. Try to get ahead on your work in other subjects so as not to fall behind.
Keep a study group
Your study buddies are there not only to keep you company but also to help you study. No joke.
You and your classmates could form a study group. A study group is more than just a way to share notes. It’s a way to support each other, allowing you to discuss difficult topics, receive feedback, and keep your motivation levels high.
Make sure everyone in the group is engaged and has a similar level of knowledge for it to be effective.
How do you set it up? Ask your classmates if they’d like to study with you, and meet up sometime after you’ve been studying to start explaining topics to each other. We also recommend setting some rules, like no distractions or working with Pomodoro.
Keep in mind that explaining to others is how you will learn the notes the best because when we have to explain things, we end up understanding them best. Psychologically, explaining things to yourself is not the same as explaining them to others, so that we understand each other, and you will also be able to see if the other person understands perfectly what you say or if there is a mistake in your explanation.
Use study techniques
For whatever reason, above all, above all, above all… use study techniques.
During your studies you will have to invest a lot of hours in learning entire subjects, so why not learn study techniques that will speed up your progress and allow you to enjoy more free time? Yes, as you heard: study techniques make it take you less time to learn anything, and the best of all is that they are fun. Time will fly by.
Study techniques work by taking advantage of various memory tricks to make your life easier. Sometimes, they are based on relating images to some concepts to remember them much better. Other times, they consist of putting together several acronyms to form different words and thus remember the order of a list.
We give you many more examples in the following video:
Come on, now that you know how to study several subjects at once, get going and get the best grade of your life! You’ll be proud of yourself, and the best thing is that you’ll have learned a skill that will be super useful in your life. Remember that we can teach you how to use study techniques and much more at Memoria Ninja.
