5 Study Hacks To Survive and Thrive Next Semester

By Rochelle B. Sarmiento (Polylinker)



New year, new professors, same campus crush, old yet fresh ways to deal with the new semester.

Driven by the idea that we want you to make the story out of the next few months worth writing on the blank pages of 2016, we present here some study facts and hacks that might help your relationship with the one that never leaves you - Acads - come into a better and clearer point.

One integral part of studying is having complete notes. A study reveals that students who take down notes have better understanding of the concepts and facts, and are far able to generalize and integrate the information they have written compared to those who have transcribed the lecture by typing them onto their laptops. 

However, do not limit yourself only to the details articulated by the professors. Never be complacent— do further readings and research about the discussion, so you will have a wider grasp and appreciation of the subject matter. 
An average user checks on his phone 150 times each day, a study suggests. Having the said gadget an arm-length away may bring about frizzles to the habit of unlocking it, distracting you while you are seriously studying some course materials.

You have to be free from any attention-diverting ambiance, so get rid of as many distractions as possible while working. If you cannot concentrate because you constantly keep on checking notifications and tweets, log out your social media accounts. If you find yourself on episodic cues waiting for text messages, then put your phone on airplane mode or, better yet, shut it off. The notifications and texts will always stay where they are even after you are done crossing off everything from your to-do list.
(The only catch, however, is if the material you have to study for is saved on your gadget.)


Staying up all night has been known to impair reasoning and memory for as long as four days, which may even jeopardize your performance during the week when all of your exams have piled up.

Try to space out your study sessions instead of trying to learn all the lessons discussed just in one sitting— caffeine-fueled, bleary-eyed. Break down your work into short time increments and periodic pauses in order to reinforce comprehension and concentration. But then you have to watch out of the time while taking a break between the actual study sessions. Do not ever let your study breaks be longer than the actual time it gets you to mug up a particular topic.

Students achieved worse on tests of attention and thinking speed after consuming food of high-fat and low-carb for five days; whereas those students who were fed with nutritious foods had no considerable drop in performance, a study at University of Oxford shows.

To keep your mind working well, you need to have a healthy diet. Stay away from too much instant food. And as much as possible, do not skip meals. Keep in mind that even a vending machine renounces itself in complete surrender when it does not have some food or coffee to offer its avid customers any longer.


Having that highest score does not necessarily mean that you have learned more about the course than those who were merely given passing or failing marks. The moment you fall into the trap that grades gauge how much of the lessons one has successfully committed to memory is the moment when you let yourself defy the very essence of learning.

Still, everything is a matter of personal preference. We suggest that you look raptly for an effective study habit and stick to it, if you haven’t found the one yet. And if your current study habit is not working, it pays to try something new.

Bear in mind also that studying is hugely a play of having a proper mindset. So before facing the coming semester, make sure that you are truly ready to venture on the right path of learning. Succumb not to the malady of gratification in getting whatever numerical code, but to the real gist of the story you are about to write– to study with a selfless and burning desire to learn something, to learn some things. 

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