Going into my third year of college I've finally perfected how I study. Developing a study technique for college can take a while, you have to decide what works best for you. That's why I titled this post "How I Study" and not "How to Study".

If in high school you were like me and didn't really need to study to do well, take some time to try different techniques before you find what really works for you!

What I Use

You can read about the specifics of everything I bought for school here, in my school supplies haul, but for studying purposes I use:

5x7 index cards
my notebooks
Google Drive (docs)
highlighters
black pens
colored pens

What I Do

I take my laptop with my to classes, but I only use it in classes that we're required to have it. I take all my class notes in a lined notebook. I find that I get less distracted in class when I have to write everything down.

After class I type all my notes into Google Docs. Because all my classes use 3 different online sites I have all of their readings downloaded and synced to Google Drive and organized by class. Once I type my notes in they go into a Class Notes folder. Having everything accessible on Google Drive means I can look up anything on my phone if I need it. This is perfect for last minute studying, or answering questions for classmates.

All of my classes have required or optional reading. I've found that professors find a lot of exam questions through optional readings so I now just do all of the readings. And I treat them like lectures: I old-school outline all of my readings and hand-write them into my notebook, then when I have free time I'll type them into my Google Drive. The repetitive copying and rereading of my notes really helps me remember all of the information. Now that my classes are all business related understanding the topics clearly are important for not mixing up the classes.

While I'm doing the readings or typing in my notes I take any key terms or things my professor has said was important and put them on an index card. I like to use the larger index cards because I can draw diagrams, or extended definitions without using multiple cards.

By doing all of this as the semester goes, I don't have to craw when exams come around, and all my study materials are pretty much created! I can build study guides out of my typed notes based on the specific exam details and study only what I need to closer to the exam.

If you're interested in a "What's in my Backpack" Youtube VIDEO let me know in the comments!

xoxo

AME

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