Hello everyone,

As we head toward spring break and mark the middle of the semester, we begin to prepare for midterms or start preparing for finals, projects, and presentations. Studying can be stressful as one struggles to find tips and tricks that will actually work and stick, trying to discover ways of studying and retaining (learning) the information instead of just looking or copying. The key to studying is to not overwork yourself, start early, be alert, pay attention, and repeat.

Whether you have a midterm coming up in a few days or after the break and have time over the break to study or just barely enough time to study, here are some tips and tricks I have gathered over the years as I tried to find things to make studying doable. I also attached videos that have helped.

• Spend time looking at it: Before getting ready to study, spend time looking at the material, scanning, skimming, and previewing whatever you have to read and remember.

• Create a relaxed study space: Set up a tidy, well-lit space where you can focus and not overwhelm yourself, making it calming but energizing.

• Drink water: Have a water bottle on hand or get up and drink water every once in a while. Drinking water can aid learning and impact cognition while keeping you alert, re-energized, and hydrated.

• Get up and stretch: Similar to drinking water, stretching will help you be alert and re-energized. It will also help you avoid cramping up when sitting for a long period studying.

• Take breaks: Taking short breaks will allow you to let the information get fully processed in your mind, not rush through, refresh yourself, get distractions out of the way, and repeat.

• Schedule a time for it: Give studying the time and patience it deserves to benefit you by dedicating a chunk of the day to the task.

• Recite the information, re-tell it: This helps with repetition and lets you summarize the information by retelling it; you can also record it and hear it back.

• Sleep: It is essential to get those needed hours of rest despite thinking otherwise. During sleep, the information goes from short-term to long-term memory.

• Reward: Reward yourself to help motivate you to keep studying and help with the engagement.

• Rewrite: re-writing the information will help with muscle memory and repetition.

• Make it into a tune: music helps with learning if you create it into a catch tune, repeating it; it is likely to stick

• Walking: Exercise is helpful, and walking will re-energize. You can also rehearse it while doing so.

• Mindfulness: Before starting the study session, take a few breaths; it will help with concentration by centering on the task and pushing away interruptions.

I hope some of these studying ideas I learned along the way can help you as midterms, finals, other, or in-between stuff approaches you.