Being able to ace your exams isn't luck, but science. There are many science-backed study hacks that have been proven to help students excel on their exams. Use these scientifcally proven college study hacks to help you do well on your tests every time.
1. Get Your Sleep
The importance of a good night's sleep for everyday living cannot be overstated, but it turns out it plays a significant role when it comes time to take tests as well. While it may be tempting to pull an all-nighter before your test the next day, it's a horrible idea if you want to ace your exam.
The Public Library of Science published a study that showed those who slept immediately after finishing studying retained more information than those who didn't. So get a good night's sleep when you have a test and save the all-nighters for binge watching your favorite Netflix series after you pass the exam.
2. Study in Silence
Listening to your favorite Billboard hits while you study may not be such a good idea after all. While there
may be some benefit to listening to classical music while studying, there are only negative outcomes for
listening to music with vocals when studying for an exam.
A University of Wales study found students who studied without music did much better on recalling the order of things than those who did. So turn the music off when you're studying, or if you must have some music playing in the background, keep it to Beethoven and not Carrie Underwood.
3. Change Your Environment
Always studying in the library? Don't. It turns out studying in different locations can help you recall information better come test time. An experiment from 1978 showed college students who studied a list of vocabulary words in different rooms remembered the list better than those who studied the list twice in the same room.
The brain associates your surroundings with the information you're studying, and this can help you better recall the material at a later date. If you study in more places, the brain makes more associations with the material which makes it easier to remember the information on exam day.
Go ahead and give your favorite study place a break and find new study spots to prep for that upcoming test.
4. Write It Out
Do you experience a lot of anxiety right before you take an exam? Well, if you're one to freak out before a big test, something as simple as writing down how you feel can ease your anxiety and help you ace your exam.
A study published by researchers from the University of Chicago found anxious students who spent 10 minutes writing about what they were feeling performed much better on math exams than anxious students who didn't.
So, if you're feeling overwhelmed before a big test, remember to just take some time to write out your feelings, and you'll be good to go.
5. Switch Up Your Study Tactics
Studying in a variety of ways can help you perform better on your exams. Similar to studying in different locations, studying a variety of different materials can also help you retain and recall information better when it's time to take your test.
A study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology found students who used a variety of study methods to solve math problems performed significantly better on tests than those who didn't.
The idea is that rotating study methods forces the brain to stop and think about how to solve a problem, since it doesn't know which method would be best. For example, if you're studying for a history exam, you will want to create a timeline of significant events, study speeches of prominent historical figures and memorize vocabulary to maximize your chances of acing your test.
Now there's no need to feel overwhelmed when it's time to take your exams. These study tips for college take all of the guess work out of studying. Also, take advantage of all the study resources that Hocking College has to offer from the reference tools, media resources and group study rooms to ace your tests every time.
