Online school is tough – trust us, we know. And it can be difficult to stay focused or motivated to complete your work. To help remedy this, we’ve compiled a list of five study hacks to help you make the best of your online experience and stay ahead of the game.
- Designate and maintain a consistent study space. Having one place where you only go to study will train your brain to know that when you sit down in that spot, it is time to get to work. This could be a desk, a table, an outdoor space – but make sure it’s not a place that you use for other purposes aside from studying, like your bed or kitchen table.
- Create flashcards to prepare for tests. Ask yourself what types of questions you are likely to be asked, and create your own flashcards from your notes with similar questions. This will not only enable you to study in a question-and-answer format (mimicking a test), but the actual process of rewriting your notes as flashcards will help you better absorb the information as well!
- Color-code your notes. Use different colored highlighters or pens to mark the beginning of each point or section in your notes, and make each color stand for something – maybe a term highlighted in yellow is a vocabulary word, while something highlighted in green is a key concept of the lesson. This allows you to quickly go through notes and find information more efficiently, as well as providing a quick way to make your notes more organized.
- Break down your goals. When faced with a large task, such as a long essay or project, break down the larger assignment into smaller, more manageable pieces. Your first step should always be to plan, but after that, you can split it in whatever way works best for you. Maybe each week leading up to a book report, you finish one chapter and write a summary on it, or for a big presentation you work on one Powerpoint slide each day.
- The best way to learn is to teach! If you think you have a concept down, but need to be extra sure that you know it by heart, try teaching it to someone else. This could be your stuffed animals, your pet, a sibling or friend, or even just your own reflection. By trying to teach someone who knows nothing about the subject, you will soon discover whether you know the information by heart, or whether you need to refer back to the previous tips and study more!
By using these tips and tricks, online school can become less frustrating and difficult, and in the long run you will have more time to spend on yourself and doing the things you love outside of school. Good luck!