My Favorite Study Methods

After years of studying at university, I’ve tried quite a few different ways of learning. Some methods worked really well for me, while others made me spend hours studying without remembering much.

For the longest time, I thought that if I just spent enough time at my desk, I was studying effectively. Looking back, this definitely wasn’t always the case. I’ve had plenty of study sessions where I filled pages with notes, highlighted half a textbook, and felt productive afterwards, only to realize a few days later that I couldn’t explain what I had actually learned. This was so frustrating. Over the years, I’ve slowly figured out which methods actually help me learn.

These are some of the methods I keep coming back to.

First of all, a thing I frequently used to do was summarizing. I used to summarize entire chapters, paragraphs, and literature content, sometimes ending up with countless pages of summarized content. Although I think summarizing is useful when the material is complicated and I need to organize my thoughts, it never worked that well for me. I could spend hours making a beautiful, detailed summary without actually testing whether I understood any of it. I still summarize sometimes, but I mainly use it to process the material rather than as my main way of studying it.

Secondly, when the material consists of concepts or definitions that I simply need to remember, I often turn to flashcards. I like that they force me to actually retrieve the answer instead of just recognizing it on a page. There is a big difference between reading a definition and thinking, ‘’yes, I know this’’ and actually being able to recall it without looking. However, I don’t use flashcards all the time. If I need to understand how different concepts connect or how to apply them to something, I find other methods more useful.

One method that worked surprisingly well for me is explaining the contents to another person. And by another person, I mean an imaginary person sitting across from me. I try to explain the topic as if the other person knows absolutely nothing about it. This way, I have to actually understand what I am saying and find a simple way to explain it, which helps me massively with remembering it myself in a useful way. And usually, I notice pretty quickly when there is a part of the material that I don’t understand or don’t fully grasp yet. If I get stuck halfway through an explanation, that is a sign to go back to the material and look at that part again.

I don’t really struggle with studying concepts and theory, but when I have to apply it to practice, that’s where the struggle comes in. Working with practice questions was therefore very useful for me, since I practiced applying the theory to various real-life cases and examples. That’s why practice questions are so useful; they don’t just test whether you remember the material, but also whether you know how to use it. If your university provides practice or exam questions, I would definitely make use of them, since they can also give you an idea of what the real exam questions might look like.

After trying so many methods over the years, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that studying isn’t about finding one perfect method and using it for everything. Different subjects require different approaches, and sometimes I even use several methods during the same study session. What works for me might not work for you, and that’s completely fine. It took me quite a while to figure out how I learn best, and I’m still adjusting things depending on what I’m studying. I think the most important thing is to pay attention to what actually helps you remember and understand something, rather than simply doing what feels productive.

Also, try to have a bit of fun with it, and don’t pick methods that drain you within the first half hour.

I hope some of these methods are helpful to you and make studying feel a little easier!