Bad Study Habits That You’ve Probably Been Following

Have you been studying for 8 hours straight every day and still not scoring desirable results? Did you have all the notes, study material, stationery and everything ready, and still something wasn’t right?

So what is it that you were doing wrong?

Sometimes, out of the all the study habits we are asked to follow, we don’t realise that not all are suitable for each one of us. Though the intention behind them is always positive, but the outcome isn’t. Thus you end up wasting both time and energy.

CollegeDekho brings you a list of Bad Study Habits That You’ve Probably Been Following:

Having a study buddy:

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes made by students these days: having a study partner. Studying in groups is for sure helpful, but only for the intelligent ones. The not-so-intelligent ones need to understand that it is one thing to see someone solve a tough physics problem and nod along saying “oh yeah, got it” and another to actually reproduce that same answer in an exam, staring at a white sheet of paper.

Moreover, not every friend is a study partner material, some are just pure distractions. Yes, knowing someone is waiting for you at 5pm in the library acts as a motivation to get out of the house with pen and paper, but that’s pretty much all it can do.
So, make friends in your class and discuss where ever you get stuck but limit studying together for your own good.

Studying in a quiet, peaceful environment:

“Turn off that T.V”, “Turn off the music, how can you concentrate with that on?”, “Be quiet and focus”

This may seem right, but nope! It’s wrong.

Our multi-tasking teenagers are experts in listening to music, texting friends and keeping a track of favourite tele soaps, all while doing their homework. In that case, our motherly advice to focus on one thing is right, but in an extreme exam environment, it can go wrong.

Studying in the exact same spot, day after day may seem the best way to ensure proper learning at home, but research says that during an exam, when you’re thrown into an anxious mental state, with the clock ticking on your head and made to sit in a different environment, then your power to recall what you have learnt at home, suffers!!

What to do?

Try learning new things in different environments, with varied noise levels, sitting in front of the T.V, listening to your favourite rock band and what not.

And even better: go to the classroom where the exam will be held, pick out your seat, and practice a mock test in the same exact amount of time allotted for the test.

Highlighting it all:

Guilty of highlighter abuse? Got red, green, pink highlighters all over your textbooks? I’m sorry to say this but you are suffering from extreme case of “highlighterism”!

Extreme case of “highlighterism” or compulsive highlighting can be one of the root causes for bad grades.

Bright colors on a page do have a visual impact but it is also deceiving. Most of the times, instead of highlighting only key points from the entire page, students end up highlighting chunks of lines and paragraphs from pages, only to confuse themselves later while revising.

Highlighting does make important information stand out on a page, but that doesn’t do you much good as reading highlighted words again and again is not considered to be a super effective method.

Solution: To focus on key information from a page, put highlighted words onto flashcards and practice until you know every term and concept. If you really want your preparation to be colorful and find it helpful in any way, try different colour flash cards for different topics.

Reading the chapter before class:

Reading the chapter before class to get prior knowledge of what’s gonna happen next is a cliche way of learning. But does it actually help?

Research shows that this method is good when you are taking up topics completely new, but for further review, this method is a waste and becomes less and less effective the more deep you go in the chapter.

So instead of studying something beforehand, use that valuable time before class by quizzing yourself on topics from the last class.

Unorganised Study Material:

You have every important thing jotted down on sticky notes, at the back of your notebook, on top of your textbook and even on the surface of your desk. It might help you keep a track of stuff, but not in the long run. Studies show that organising study material in a proper order before sitting down to study can help you to improve your concentration power. With everything available in a particular place, you won’t have to run here and there for information and this will save both your time and energy.

So prepare a timetable, write about your pending assignments, homework, exam dates etc. which will help you stay disciplined and organised.

There are no short cuts or unfailing ways to success or for good grades. A strategy may work for one and may not work for another. People have different work personalities but what is common among them is negative habits.

They may seem right at first, but are one of the most common mistakes followed by students leading to wastage of time and efforts.