Hi Everyone.

I recently finished my Bachelor Degree and wish I had seen these tips sooner.

In my early years of uni I would always get too anxious to talk to anyone else in the class and as soon as class finished I would just want to get home.

By my final year I learnt that everyone was there because they had similiar goals and interest. I got to know 2 or 3 other class mates and we formed a study group. It made studying less stressful as we could share ideas and also just have a laugh too.

I highly recommend using coloured post it notes to highlight key topics and concepts. This makes it much easier at exam time (and reduces the chance of forgetting things when anxiety is heightened).

Best of luck to everyone with there studies. Remember help is there don't be afraid.

Hi there :) I'm new here.

I've recently been feeling very overwhelmed with study and uni in general... And like Busguy1631, I also wish I had found this sooner.

I've known that I could use a bit of help for a while now, and I'm only just recognising it and acting on it. I used to think there was something wrong with seeking help. Totally not true. I visited Beyond Blue a couple of times in the past but never stayed on the website for long - but now I know how calming and welcoming it is.

Some of the comments in this post particularly have already brightened my day: the Pomodoro technique and Noisli website suit my work habits perfectly, and I'm really looking forward to using them.

I can't remember who was looking for something that could save your computer tabs so you don't have to worry about closing windows, but there's a Google Chrome Ad-On that's great for that: it's called Toby. It basically sets up a home page where if you open Google Chrome like you normally would, you can see all of your saved tabs in neat folders ready for you to return to. It's great for storing tabs that you need for bibliographies.

Another useful Ad-On I have is Weava Highlighter, which allows me to highlight any words on webpages. Saves me from printing out and highlighting manually... Though I still prefer to do things on paper. (Man do I get sick of looking at laptops all day.)

I hope these might be of help to you guys :) Something that really inspires me is your zest for learning.

Thanks for the helpful tools guys.

I find it really useful to start my day with exercise before studying. I find I can get very depressed if I don't exercise and it get's my mind in the right place to feel calm, creative and focused.

Thanks for all the tips guys! I love hearing about how other people study because I haven't found a perfect formula for myself yet.

One thing I find really important is exercise - I know it's been said before but I wanted to emphasise it. When I was studying for Year 12 exams, I incorporated exercise really well - my gym was near school and since we had 6 weeks of study before exams (including holidays) I made an effort to get in the habit of going every day and it did wonders for me. Now that I'm at uni where I usually only have 1 1/2 weeks of study before exams, I find I usually ignore exercise and I always feel like crap by the end of exams. I'm working on making more time for it because it definitely makes a difference!

I also find that having a particular spot at uni to study helps me. I have study areas that I go to when I want to really smash out some work, and have other areas for days where I only have an hour between classes and just want to watch a TV show and chill for an hour. Really draws the line between study and free time which I find helps keep me focused when I do want to work

Hi AnxiousS,

I really liked your post and found it helpful. But I would like some advice- my family are really noisy, especially my brother and I'm finding it hard to find a nice quiet place to study! My father is always coming and going overseas so this disrupts family life. I would love to go to a local park or coffee shop but my mother loves to micromanage everything I do and would probably object. Help!

With thanks,

Saddo_in_Stilettos_22

From Grace

Hey Saddo_in_Stillettos_22,

I had the same issue - my family is also super loud, TV always running and you can hear everything even over headphones playing music. I also don't like listening to music when I study, so that made it much worse. I used to try staying at the library until really late - good because it was actually quiet, but bad because it took time to travel there and I'd end up going to sleep super late which really affected me.

I'd had people recommend noise-cancelling headphones to me, but the buzzing annoyed me and they were like $400 - no thanks. I ended up buying a pack of those memory foam earplugs from the chemist for about $6 and honestly, wish I'd gotten them sooner. Highly recommend trying them - and if they don't work for you, you haven't wasted much.

Best of luck :)

Noise cancelling headphones are beyond fantastic but my biggest problem is the fact my parents hate me wearing them. They're absolutely incredible for studying though.

I found your post very helpful. Thank you for this good piece of advice.

Hello. Im new in this forum. I found your post very helpful in terms of studying and keeping up with my grades. Thank you for your helpful Post.

Thanks for these tips romantic_thi3f! Even for an older student like me sometimes just really good advice in a fresh way can do just the trick! Especially the student counsellor part, they are gold mines!

I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to tackle a thesis? Like how to not lose interest and procrastinate when it's the only thing you are working on? Any help would be appreciated :)

we have different ways of how we focus on things and be able to study well. some are able to review with music, with people talking around and the like. Others prefer a quiet environment for them to concentrate. Either way, we see to it that when we study or review, we match our environment with our personality. We develop creative ways in order to cope and be able to study well.

Hi Sweesoft,

I couldn't agree more! I guess I'm struggling to find what works for me, as writing a thesis is a different kind of study as opposed to revising topics for an exam, for example. Do you have any advice for me?

Hey everyone!

Something I found really useful while I was studying at uni was making a plan for the day ahead that allowed me to do something I love in between studying. So for example if I wanted to study from 9-5, I would make a plan for the day that looked something like this:

9 - 9:50 study

9:50 - 10 study break, stretch my legs, check my messages etc

10 - 10:50 study

10:50 - 11 study break again, snack (e.g. fruit and nuts or nut bar with tea)

11 - 11:50 study

11:50 - 12 study break

12 - 12:50 study

12:50 - 2 Lunch break, with 30 minutes to prepare and eat lunch mindfully, away from the screen and 40 minutes to do something I enjoy such as watch an episode of my favourite tv show or a bit of drawing or a walk around the block

2 - 2:50 study

2:50 - 3 study break

3 - 3:50 study

3:50 - 4 study break

4 - 4:50 study

4:50 End of the study day! YAY!

I find that by putting 10 minute break at the end of each hour I give my eyes a break from the screen (if i'm using it for an assignment or something) and it also lets my mind have a well needed break so that when I get back into it my mind isn't foggy. I also love putting something in the middle of the day that is more creative and fun rather than focusing on study all day because without this I would most likely procrastinate anyways and definitely spend at least 40 minutes at a minimum on my phone or procrastinating some other way, so why not plan it in and allow yourself the freedom of doing something you love as well as having a productive day studying!!

Hi! Thanks for these tips, they are really good and have helped on studying for my assessments.

Do you have any tips for feeling stressed because of being really busy with school work and homework?

Thanks!

Hi Cassie07,

Welcome to the forums!

Whenever I feel stressed about schoolwork piling up or I don't understand something and it takes me a while to get it. I find the best thing to do is to step away from it for a bit of time. For me, I took as long a break as it took me to calm down. Sometimes it was 10 minutes, sometimes it was 1 hour, sometimes it was a whole day. However, there are many other pieces of school work you could be doing in that time. I found that doing easy work in that break between stressful pieces of work helped me feel more productive, as if I was getting more stuff done, and hence, reduced my stress even more.

Hope this helps,

P0L0

Hi Cassie,

I find the best thing to do when the amount of school work keeps piling on it to set yourself realistic goals about how long you want to study for, whatever works for you wherever that be studying in one hour blocks or two hours blocks.

Also another tip is to go for walks or engage in some sort of physical activity in between studying. This will help your mental health which will effect your ability to study efficiently and effectively. For myself going for a walk helps, because studying all day long without a solid break doesn't work for me. Again this comes down what studying methods work for you but I hope it helps :)

Good luck studying.

Hi Busguy1631,

I also had finished my Bachelor of Psychological Science in 2019! My story is completely identical to yours! In my first 3 years, I was very defensive and never talked to any classmate at uni! But when I got into my GDPA things suddenly changed! I developed my study skills, better eating habits, and exercising a lot more. From there grades skyrocketed from Cs to HDs! I have also formed a study group and believe it is AMAZING!

For others, I would like to share my routine:

2:45 - 6:45am - Wake up/workout1/breakfast/workout2

7:00 am - morning snack

7:30 to 6:30pm - study/volunteering/lunch,snack,dinner/prep for the next day

Also, in between, I have small breaks - just for stretching and relaxing.

Thats is a summary of my routine. I would love to know how others are managing their time around studying?

Cool thread!

Here is my study tip: Covid edition

I know it sounds weird but I struggle to study without noise so for most of my HSC I studied in a library because I found the background noise centering. That small and manageable amount of pressure of people watching was enough to keep me sitting in that chair and push through distractions. Being surrounded by others my age studying also helped because I could see and hear my support network.

I understand that know is a very different time so to replace that I have found these asmr video video online that say positive affirmations to you. They are nice to use either as a you study or as a break. It is nice to reaffirm that you are valid and okay even when you don't feel it. Just google asmr spiritual healing etc and test it out!

This actually has been really good advice I really suck at studying so some of your advice you have provided I’ll try to look into to help me get better. :)

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for sharing all of your advice- I'm so glad this thread has been helpful and I've gotten so many tips as well. So grateful for everyone here :)

emma cross - would you be open to sharing the link here? I get so lost in YouTube so it would be so handy.

I can see that noise has been a bit of an issue since COVID, completely understandable. Such a good idea with the noise cancelling earbuds (simple is best!). One of the other things I stumbled across was this one- it's the sound of colleagues, but you can edit it based on your preferences; like the tapping of keyboards or chit-chatter in the background. https://soundofcolleagues.com/#

Is there anything else people are struggling with or we can brainstorm around?

rt