Studying for college, especially for those who do not have much experience in a faculty, can be challenging. Of course, some careers are more difficult than others, but one thing is clear: preparing for university exams and keeping up with the syllabus given in the subjects of the university requires more preparation than you would expect in a normal school or high school.

So… how to study for the university? How can we adopt those study habits that will allow us to adapt well to the pace of work and learning expected of us in a faculty? Let’s look at it.

How to study for college and learn week by week

When adapting to the typical type of study at a university, keep the following key points and ideas in mind.

1. Autonomy is what matters

The first thing you should know is that in the university world the person directly involved in learning is clearly each of the students . If in high schools the lack of experience of the students had to be compensated by a very proactive attitude on the part of the teachers, this logic no longer exists in the university. Students must do what is necessary to keep up with the content they teach in class, without expecting help from anyone (especially considering that in most faculties there are many more students than teachers).

So get rid of the idea that behind you is a lifeline of people willing to prevent you from having to repeat subjects or pay for exams again. It doesn’t work like that anymore.

2. Face-to-face classes are an important resource

Many people believe that classes are simply that place to attend so that they don’t get their grades discounted for attendance. However, there is something that makes these spaces very valuable: they serve to raise questions .

There is a habit of viewing questions in class as a rarity, something that only slows down the pace of the curriculum. However, they are the essence of what it means to teach.
The question session serves to fill in the gaps in knowledge that remain between what is explained and what is learned by analysing what the teachers say. It is normal that this type of knowledge gap appears, so something must be done to prevent it from continuing to exist.

Raising a question aloud is something that can save us minutes and even hours of searching through notes, reviewing literature, consulting other students, etc.

3. Create a calendar

You should avoid by all means making your study time dependent on the dates you have exams so that you can check your notes a few days in advance.

To do this, create calendars from the first week of the semester, locate the days of the exams, and create a first sketch of your study sessions for each subject. Bearing in mind that to optimize your study time you should dedicate time to studying all subjects at least once a week , distribute those sessions so that you have a balanced calendar.

4. Create diagrams

Don’t just read what it says in the books, photocopies and notes you’ve taken as you listen to what’s being said in class. Write your own versions of those contents. This may seem like an unnecessary “extra” task, since it theoretically involves duplicating something that already exists in other visual media, but in reality it is not. The reason is very simple: doing that requires you to express in your own words a content and make it form a coherent “whole”.

For example, doing this activity with the content to be learned will allow you to detect in time those “gaps” of knowledge and those apparent contradictions that, otherwise, would only come to your knowledge at the time of taking the exam or shortly before. It will also make studying much easier, because having all the content in one place and being part of a structured text in a way that makes things much easier for you.

On the other hand, rewriting the contents of the syllabus makes you memorize them much better than you would just by reading, because it makes that information more fixed in your memory.

5. If you can, study in a group

Group study sessions are an ideal way to detect early doubts that otherwise would not have occurred to you. These sessions help you focus on those difficult questions that would have fallen off your radar if you just studied on your own, without the others. Be sure to study with people who have a similar level of knowledge as you , or it could be a frustrating experience.

6. Goes through imaginary tests

At the end of each study session, ask yourself questions from an imaginary test. That way, doubts will appear in a controlled environment, where in case you don’t know them you can go to the sources. Those that have been challenging you will learn well simply because they have put you through a moment of tension and uncertainty, which will remind you of them in the future . Emotional memory is very powerful.

7. Create rest breaks

No study session longer than an hour is bearable. The idea, in order to perform well, is to take short breaks of about ten minutes every three quarters of an hour, approximately. That way you will be resting properly, preparing yourself to face the next study session in full possession of your faculties.