Studying in the USA is a dream which many students from all over the world harbor, as it opens up a world of possibilities. With the help of Forward Pathway you can help secure your chances of getting an admission, but that is just the beginning. A good GPA will present you with excellent opportunities. However, contrary to popular misconception, the US curriculum is designed in such a way that you can get really good grades without slogging all day long. Here are some tips to study smarter, not just harder.
Attend All Your Classes
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College in the US is very relaxed on student’s attendance in the class, which you absolutely cannot take for granted. Try to attend all your classes because the lessons that are imparted there are priceless. Your class notes will come to great help in your exam preparation, and the lectures will help you understand your texts clearly. If needed you can also talk to your professors and get any queries answered immediately as well. If you have no option but to miss out a class or few, collect the class notes from your classmates as soon as you are back.
Don’t Keep Backlogs
Source:universitymagazine.ca
At the beginning of your semester, it will seem that exams are far away and you have plenty of time to chill around before you start studying. However, with the hectic academic schedule, which is peppered with quizzes, papers, projects and more, you will find it hard to actually prepare at the last moment. Therefore, study a little every day so that you do not fall behind the class. The easiest way to go about it is to study whatever you have learned in class through the day, every day, so that you are up to date.
Plan And Focus
Source:blog.learnsignal.com
You need to create a solid study plan that you can follow. Start with a small-time duration, say a week, and set down your study plans and goals for the end of the week. Instead of biting more than you can chew and trying to do everything at once, arrange your subjects or assignments and notes as per priority and need so that you know where to begin, as well as where to go from there, in order to achieve your set goals by the end of the allotted time. Reward yourself every time you fulfill your goals so that you feel encouraged to do better,
To start, you should make some sort of a “to-do” list. As the title says, it is not the point to study for the entire day to get good grades. Instead o that, you should organize your time properly. For instance, you should study lessons after your classes end for 3 hours. After you accomplish that part of the job, you should use 2 or 3 hours to have fun. The free time comes as some sort of reward that will motivate you to respect the plans you have.
Still, don’t spend your free time on some “basic” things. Do only things that you love. For example, if you want to go for a walk, then you should do that for that period. In case you like ice cream, go to the nearest shop and purchase one. We will let you decide on the way of how you will organize your free time. However, the crucial thing here is not to think about the lessons, classes, and other stuff. Forget about that for a couple of hours and recharge your batteries. A reward like that is always going to be priceless for you.
Join A Study Group
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Bring in your academic life and social life together and you’ve got yourself a study group! Find yourself a good peer study group, or start one so that you can study and work on getting good grades together, while enjoying some time with friends in the process. In such a group you can bounce your ideas, exchange notes, observations and study tips, clear out doubts, and learn something yourself in the process. Thus, even if one of you ends up slacking a bit, the other group members will be able to pull them up to the mark.
US colleges demand focus and smart study, instead of spending hours with your face in your books in order to get good grades. This way you can enjoy a social life and score well too.
Find Motivation
Distractions will come in different shapes and sizes. For instance, if often comes in the form of lazy students that negatively influence our will to study. That is another reason why spending time with A study group would be a clever move. However, in some moments, you may lose motivation completely. That is the reason why you always need to have some source of inspiration that will push you up.
Despite that, you should make a good atmosphere for studying. You will hear students saying that they were reading lessons for the entire day. Unfortunately, that is far away from the truth. Most of that time they were spending on their phone checking their social media accounts. Because of that, it is crucial to go offline in every possible way. Turn Airplane Mode on your mobile and do not allow someone to distract you. Social media accounts can wait. Even if you got a couple of messages, it won’t be a big problem for people to wait for 2 or 3 hours.
Reduce Stress
Source:thoughtco.com
We will continue in the same manner. Stress often demotivates students and reduces their level of focus. Instead of concentrating on lessons, they start thinking about their failure. Even when they start on time, they are afraid that they won’t manage to learn everything they need.
There are many ways of how you can get rid of those negative thoughts. For instance, listening to quiet and slow music can help you relax your body and thoughts. If you see that something like that works, you should use the same methods until the negative thoughts disappear. Despite that, physical activity can also replace the negative thoughts with the positive ones. Going to the gym for only one hour can help you raise your physical and psychological energy. After you end with the training, get a shower, and start finishing the job. In other words, going to the gym or exercising at home needs to be part of your “to-do” list.
