Tips to Developing Good Study Habits

The years a regular individual has spent in school can roughly add up to 11 up to 13 years without the inclusion of pre-school and college. During these times, many individuals develop different habits which they bring with them even towards adulthood. Some habits can lead to problems and complications such as alcoholism or smoking, while others are greatly beneficial, such as time management.

Study habits are habits that are highly beneficial to any individual that develops them. They are a collection of habits that include checking every night for homework, studying for exams a few days before the exam, or making outlines in order to have better study material.

While most individuals wish to have these habits in order to aid them in their academic journey, not many are inclined to actually develop these habits, or that they simply do not know how. If you are part of the latter, then this article is just the right place for you as developing good study habits is the main focus.

1. Set the right atmosphere

Study habits aren’t innate nature to every individual, they are often learned and honed over time by many individuals. This means that anyone can develop these habits whenever they want to. But the key part here is that individuals must want to study and develop these habits.

And what better way to encourage studying and developing study habits than by preparing and setting the right atmosphere to study in? This entails certain circumstances such as keeping the study area clean and tidy, as well as keeping the noise pollution down in order to prevent distractions. It also pays to keep a relatively low temperature when studying high temperatures often cause discomfort amongst certain individuals.

These little preparations can do great feats in keeping an individual from losing the will to develop good study habits and should be the first step taken to accomplish the said task.

2. Stick to a schedule

Study habits are, well, habits. This means that they are to be developed over time and should be repeated over and over again until it becomes almost second nature. Due to this, it is advisable to start planning a schedule for when you shall conduct a study session in order to manage your time effectively.

However, what should be the main focus is to ensure that you are to stick to the said schedule with an earnest passion to see the task through. No matter how well one divides and distributes their time, all will be for naught when the tasks listed in the time intervals are not to be executed.

By following the designated schedule for studying, the urge to study during a specified time will come almost naturally over a few months and you will be on your way to developing good study habits that will hopefully last for a long time.

3. Allow breaks

Working hard towards reaching a goal is an admirable feat that shows one’s dedication towards their goals. In this case, the goal to work on is to develop good study habits. However, there is a fine line between working hard in order to achieve a dream and working too hard that one’s body and brain start to drop in productivity.

This is why one should always keep in mind to issue a few breaks every now and then when studying or doing something related to academics. Using the brain takes up a lot more energy than one might imagine, which is why taking breaks is a great way to prevent fatigue and burnout from developing.

Breaks also improve an individual’s productivity as they can start another task with a fresh and relaxed mind and body. It is completely fine to take a five-minute break every half an hour of doing academic tasks. However, any more than that and one might be prone to the dreaded procrastination. So, keep everything in moderation.

4. Include rewards

If getting an individual to want to study is the trickiest part of developing good study habits, then making yourself interested or motivated enough to continue through the journey is the second most difficult task to pull off.

It can be a common occurrence, especially for those that have not resolved themselves enough towards developing good study habits, to lose interest in the goal and completely disregard the task. However, there is a way around this that has been used by humans as an incentive for thousands of years: rewards.

Rewards can come in any shape or size. Be it another five-minute break, a snack, self-praise, or any other act or object that can be considered a reward. These are a great way to keep one’s self-motivated to last through the entire process until one develops good study habits.

Rewards offer positive affirmation that what an individual is doing is benefiting them. It also provides something to look forward to which would increase the likelihood of developing good study habits.

5. Start with the ones that you find difficult

When individuals are just starting out to plan and divide their time with which subjects to study first, they often tend to shy away from the difficult ones and place them at the bottom of the schedule. However, this should not be the case. Instead, individuals should opt to study the subjects they are having trouble with at the very top or beginning of their schedule. There are various merits to doing so.

First, is that this allows an individual to have more time to utilize while studying the difficult subjects as they can borrow a few minutes from the other easier subjects in order to fully grasp the contents of the subject they are having difficulties with.

Second, is that starting with a difficult subject allows an individual to function at their very best as they are not yet tired or fatigued from any previous studying. This means that they will be able to focus better and have more endurance if they started with a difficult subject.

And lastly, is that after an individual has conquered studying a difficult subject, their morale and pace will greatly improve. This means that the momentum will not decline as there are no longer any difficult subjects that might slow down the study session.

6. Make outlines

Of course, reading from books or reference materials aren’t the only forms of studying one can do. There is also the act of making outlines from books, a teacher’s discussion, or an online article. Making outlines are a great way to improve memory retention as well as developing one’s study habits.

Just like studying textbooks, making outlines takes a lot of time and requires constant repetition as the topics discussed to students will continuously change and become more complex. As such, the act can also develop into a habit that will be very difficult to forget.

Outlines also offer a few benefits such as shorter and more concise study material. As well as the fact that a student can create their outline in any format that they want in order to maximize the effectiveness of their study session.

7. Ask for help

If the event occurs where your own effort does not seem like enough or that you are getting bored studying by yourself, then you can always call help from others. Ask your friends if you can form a study group together to spice things up a bit. Or ask your older siblings to help you with things you find difficult to understand.

Asking for help can lift a little of the burden from yourself and also allows you to gain more insight as you will be aware of other people’s opinions about the topic that they are helping you with. Furthermore, studying as a group or as a pair is a whole new experience that can be a great change of pace whenever you feel like you are getting close to burning out.

If you feel like asking for help from the people you know will be a hassle for them, then a great alternative is to ask for help from someone whose job it is to aid in your studies: a tutor. And if you hire one from FamilyTutor, Singapore’s leading home and online-based tutoring agency, you will be ensured to receive a highly skilled and capable tutor which can help you with your private tuition needs as well as your goal of developing good study habits.

8. Set goals

And the last tip to help you develop good study habits is to set goals. Goals can either serve as a finish line or as a marker to determine how far you have gone. For instance, setting a goal of finishing the year with an A or above will be your finish line which you will work hard to achieve and reach.

Or, you can set smaller goals like getting a 40 during next week’s 50 item quiz. This can serve as a landmark to determine how well your study habits have taken you. These goals can also be used to further fuel the passion one has when developing study habits as they cannot achieve such goals without studying intensely.

In addition, achieving the goals one has set can create positive feedback towards themselves as their efforts have finally borne fruit. This can improve one’s drive to continue with studying and develop their study habits even further.

Carelle

Carelle

Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.

Tell Carelle Below What You Think About Her Post!

About FamilyTutor!

FamilyTutor is an established home tuition agency in Singapore! We match suitable home tutors for our clients not just to improve the students' academic grades, but also to build a strong rapport and meaningful relationship with the students and even the their whole family. FamilyTutor put every student in good hands!

If you need an excellent home tutor, feel free to call/WhatsApp us at +65 8777-2168! Our matching service is free!

Whatsapp Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Linkedin Telegram Instagram

Related Posts!

Follow Us On Facebook!

Our Service!

Education Levels

Preschool Tuition

Primary School Tuition

Secondary School Tuition

IP Tuition

JC Tuition

ITE Tuition

Polytechnic Tuition

University Tuition

Online Tuition 

National Exams

PSLE Tuition 

N-Level Tuition

O-Level Tuition

A-Level Tuition

IGCSE Tuition

IB Tuition

Math & Science Subjects

Math Tuition

A-Math Tuition

O-Level Math Tuition

IP Math Tuition

JC Math Tuition

Science Tuition

Biology Tuition

Chemistry Tuition

O-Level Chemistry Tuition

IP Chemistry Tuition

IB Chemistry Tuition

JC Chemistry Tuition

H2 Chemistry Tuition

Physics Tuition

O-Level Physics Tuition

JC Physics Tuition

Language Subjects

Chinese Tuition

Higher Chinese Tuition

English Tuition

Malay Tuition

Tamil Tuition

Hindi Tuition

Japanese Tuition

Korean Tuition

German Tuition

Humanities Subjects

Economics Tuition

Literature Tuition

History Tuition

Geography Tuition

Social Studies

Chinese Literature Tuition

 

About Us

FamilyTutor is an established and the people’s favourite home tuition agency in Singapore! We match a suitable tutor for you not just to improve the student’s grade, but also to build a good rapport and meaningful relationship with the student and even with the student’s whole family! With FamilyTutor, every Singaporean son & daughter is in good hands.

Read More…

Contact Us

Location

For Parents

For Tutors

Home Tutor Singapore FamilyTutor