Studying. If there’s one thing high school’s really about, it’s studying. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to need to study as long as you are in school. And hey, most of the time, you don’t really know what you’re doing. You just watch some 5 minute speed reviews and take 3 practice tests at 10 P.M. at night. Hopefully something will happen in the morning. And sometimes, hopeless prayer is all we can give. But even if that’s the reality, it’s not what you truly want. It’s incredibly unproductive, and really not helpful in truly learning the information you need to. You’re in desperate need of study tips, and I’m here for that. So, without further ado, here are the top 5 study tips for high school that you need as a student.
#1 : Start in Advance
As much as you might hate to hear it, you have to start studying a little earlier than the night before the test. It’s an one of the essential study tips for high school and beyond. While it’s easy to push that test date to the back of your mind and ignore it until you really need it, it’s not going to bring you the success you want.
My suggestion? Start studying at least a week before. While that is a general rule of thumb, the study time you need completely depends on the subject and difficulty of the test you’re studying for. If what you’re studying for is a final, AP exam, or any huge test of that sort, it’s a better idea to start studying a month in advance. For a small 30 minute quiz, maybe just a couple of days will be enough time for you.
You also have to look at yourself, the class, and how you absorb the information. IS this class easy for you, or do you struggle in it? Are you able to pay attention and learn all the material quickly, or do you fall asleep regularly and have to relearn everything at home?
How it worked for me
For the psychology elective I took last semester, I hardly ever studied. It was not an advanced level class, being a semester-long elective, and the content in the class was something I was able to absorb and understand in class itself. The most I ever did was look over my notes and complete the review sheets given in class.
Chemistry, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. It’s an honors class, so it is a very rigorous class in general. Most of the time, I cannot keep up with the material in class and I have to go home and slowly look over everything to fully understand it all. Whenever there is a chemistry test coming up, I make sure to start studying around a week beforehand. I complete all the assignment sheets given by the teacher and find more online to complete. I always want to be completely confident that I know what I’m doing so I perform well on the test.
It’s up to you to decide how much time you want to spend studying, but you have to start ahead of time. No more single night cram studying, because you’re going to spend a lot more time to really understand the information. Maybe it’s a bit more effort, but it’s what you need for those good scores.
#2 : Keep Distractions Aside
This is what we always hear as one of the study tips for high school, and that’s because it is true. If you want to study to your full potential, that has to be the only thing you are focusing on. It is absolutely crucial that you remove all the distractions from your vicinity for a completely productive study session.
The main distraction you’re going to have is your phone. We always want your phones around us, and no amount of willpower will keep us from looking at them. Here’s what the best strategy I find is, especially for me.
I am a bit of a lazy person. Once I’m sitting down to do anything, I really don’t like getting back up. Even if I’m dying of thirst, I’ll still wait until the very last second to get a sip of water if it means getting up. For this reason, keeping the phone entirely out of my line of reach. I would keep it in the room over in a drawer, or downstairs on the dining table. I’ll never feel the need to look at my phone knowing I’d be too lazy to get up and get it from so far away.
This strategy, I believe, is pretty universal. We don’t get distracted by phones because we have something extremely important to look at. We get distracted because we want to play a game or scroll through TikTok, and that phone is only an arms-length away. Of course, maybe it will be different for you, because you are different personally, but this is pretty helpful for all.
#3 : Study in Intervals
It’s been a well proven fact that cram studying is not helpful for understanding information, yet we still do it every time. And it doesn’t just mean studying everything the night before. It’s also studying everything at once, without giving yourself any break.
Studies have proven that studying in intervals is the way to go. In this study, it was shown that studying in intervals of up to an hour were much more productive in terms of learning rather than longer periods of time. Why? Well, you’ve probably seen it yourself.
When you start studying, things feel pretty fine, don’t they? You’re going through the material at your normal pace, comprehending everything and moving on at a regular rate. But, after a while, things don’t seem too hot. It takes you forever to understand even just a paragraph of text, and you’re really not remembering anything you’ve learnt as of recently. Your brain is getting fatigued from those long hours of studying, so all the studying you do past that 30 minute mark is pretty much useless.
What do you do instead?
Study for 30 minute intervals, taking 10 minute breaks in between. What you do on those breaks is up to you. It could be taking the dog out for a bit, eating a small snack, or doing some yoga. Anything that helps wind down and relax yourself to start up fresh again.
The only things I would suggest against is napping and using electronic devices. Both of those are very compelling activities that often surpass just 10 minutes. It’s really hard to take that short of a power nap, and it’ll quickly turn into hours, ruining your study schedule. Entertaining yourself with electronics, like your phone or computer is an even worse of an idea, because they are so addictive, and entirely unhealthy as well.
#4 : Practice Healthy Habits
This is another important part of your lifestyle, but people often forget that it’s important for proper studying as well. You can’t expect your brain to absorb information well if it isn’t healthily fueled with the nutrition and energy it needs to do so.
Healthy Habit #1 – Good Sleep
While you should be getting 8 or more hours of sleep a day, you know you probably aren’t. But right before that test, you have to lock in and make sure it happens. At least a week in advance, give yourself a strict bedtime schedule that’ll give you those 8 hours of sleep daily. Make sure that the day before you are especially strict, so that you’re as fresh as possible for test day.
Healthy Habit #2 – Good Food
The next thing you need to remember is food and nutrition. What you eat greatly impacts your cognitive function and ability to learn. As this study found, students who ate healthy foods, like fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, regularly performed better on math and English tests than those with more unhealthy diets. It’s quite the proven fact that eating good food helps you perform better in anything. Put down the chips packet and eat some fresh fruit instead, or even just dark chocolate, to get your brains pumping a bit more.
Healthy Habit #3 – Good Exercise
The last habit you need to remember is exercise. Exercise not only strengthens your body, but also your mind. In fact, this study shows how regular exercise helps reduce symptoms of depression in people who suffer from it. That is to say, your brain is influenced by the movement of your body, and keeping it active helps keep your brain fresh as well. So, if you’re sitting in front of a computer all day studying, it might be a good idea to set aside an hour or two for some physical activity.
#5 : Don’t Over-study
The last of the study tips for high school students with all that test anxiety, don’t over-study. While it might seem counterproductive to not study and study and study until you quite literally cannot, it is actually more helpful to do less. All these tips above aren’t only for a healthy study schedule because you may hardly even have one, but also prevent you from burning yourself out by doing too much studying. I know some of you are incredibly stressed with school, but you need to remember that over-studying isn’t going to help you at all.
Essentially, you need to stop worrying so much. There is hardly a test that your entire life depends on, and your future will fall apart without it. There is no need to put so much pressure on yourself to do well on a single test that you’ll probably forget about in the future. And if you’re seriously experiencing these feelings, you most probably struggle with academic validation, and should check out the academic validation section of Diary of the Mind to get all the tips and help you’ll ever need.
Conclusion
It’s all laid out for you now. You have the top 5 study tips for high school to guarantee you success, especially if your study strategy is non-existent. You might’ve been a last lamb prior to finding this article, but now you sure aren’t. You’ve get everything you need—and more—to finally study in a successful and productive manner.
But don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t work out a few times. You can never guess what’s going to be on an exam, nor can you guess what’s coming next in your life. All that matters is that you put your best foot forward in every test you take, and not resort back to the half-baked study practices you had before.
The reason you are taking these tests is to learn. It’s to educate yourself on the subject at hand (which is very important in your life because education will always be important) and test your ability to utilize it. But that’s not where the learning ends. You’re also learning how to apply what you know in real life struggles, and how well you can prepare your body and mind for what’s to come.
Don’t take these tests, and these study tips for high school, as just another thing you have to do. Take it as an opportunity to learn, and put your personal abilities out there with the knowledge you have newly acquired. That way, once you’re out of high school, you’ll truly know how to make your mark on this world.
