How to Get the Most out of Your Study Time

Author George R.R. Martin once wrote that “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” while “the man who never reads lives only one.”

Many people do study in truly ineffective ways. They choose a poor study spot and allow themselves to be distracted time and again and fail to focus on the task at hand. You need to stop wasting that little time you have available and make the most out of it by learning as much as possible within every second! And how exactly to do this? Well I've got you covered. Below, I have highlighted 7 important factors to take into consideration. Trust me, if you can pay attention to these factors and apply these rules, you'll feel much more rewarded after every study session you have.

1 Set a study goal or goals.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? How will you know when you're done? You need to set a goal so you can answer those questions. If you’ve been given a study guide, then your goal could simply be to learn everything on the guide. You'll know if you've achieved it when a friend asks you all the questions and you can answer those questions eloquently and completely. Whatever you're trying to achieve, get it on paper and set a deadline based on your personal time schedule. This will make your studying more realistic and progressive.

2 Set a timer and have breaks

Don't go just go full on for 3 hours or more and expect to retain all you've learnt within that period. Set a timer for 45 minutes or an hour and when that timer is up take a break for 10 or 15 minutes. Use that time to cool off and relax. A range of 45 to 50 minutes gives you enough time to dig deep into your studies, and five- to 10-minute breaks allow you enough time to regroup. Use those short mental breaks to check in with family members, grab a snack, use the restroom or just hop on social media to reconnect with friends. You'll prevent burnout by giving yourself that reward of a break. But, once that break is over, get back at it. Be strict with yourself on that time frame!

3 Put a "do not disturb sign"

If you live in a bustling house or busy dorm, then the chances of you being left alone to study are slim. And maintaining laser-like focus during a study session is incredibly important to your success. So, lock yourself in your room and put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door. It will make your friends or family think twice before barging in to ask about dinner or inviting you to watch a movie. Sometimes it requires a certain level of concentration to keep focus, so if you're the type that gets easily distracted you might want to consider this.

4 Break down larger topics or chapters into smaller segments

If you have seven chapters to review, then it's best to go for them one at a time. You can get really overwhelmed if you have a ton of content to learn, but if you start with just one small piece, and focus solely on mastering that one part, you won't feel quite as stressed. Never try to multi task with studying, it will only divert your attention and slow you down. You're trying to make the most out of your time remember?

4 Engage with what you read.

Reading should be more of a conversation than a lecture. By reading someone’s words, you’re engaging in a silent dialogue with the author. You can keep up the conversation, and retain the information for years to come, or let the author “speak” until the book is done, and let the words fade into memory. Creating that conversation is one of the best ways to actually learn from reading.

So as you read, don’t just let your eyes read the words. Think about the material. Highlight or mark the passages that jump out at you. Connect passages with related ideas or opposing ones. Write down your questions, your objections, your impressions. If something challenges you, make a note of it. Acronyms can help you remember why you highlighted certain passages. For example, author Tim Ferriss uses “BL”, which stands for “Beautiful Language,” to indicate that he highlighted a passage because it was written well.

By engaging with the material, and not just passively absorbing it, you’re creating a dialogue that will build on what you read and dramatically increase how much you actually remember.

5 Don’t speed read.

In the age of lifehacks and efficiency, we’ve become obsessed with processing as much information as quickly as possible. We’re all for getting things done quickly, but reading is one activity that actually benefits from slowing down, especially during the most meaningful parts of a book.

Speed reading is also a skill that needs to be perfected. In most cases, speed reading amounts to absorbing words quickly, at the expense of processing the underlying information. Your objective will help you here, too: Do you just want to check a book off your list, or actually learn?

The other benefit of taking your time is to actually enjoy the process of reading. Without waxing philosophical here, the ultimate goal of life is joy. Some ideas are too important, or beautiful, to speed read through. Remember, the goal is to learn, not to get through as many books as possible.

As you become a better reader, though, your reading will naturally increase. You naturally read faster as you grow more familiar with general concepts or ideas that you’ve seen before, and your brain will process language and ideas faster the more you engage with them.

6 Get Active When Quizzing Yourself

When you've mastered the information, then get up, and prepare to get moving. Grab a tennis ball and bounce it on the floor every time you ask yourself a question, or walk around the room as someone quizzes you. According to a Forbes interview with Jack Groppel, a Ph.D. in exercise physiology, "research shows that the more you move, the more oxygen and blood flow to the brain, and the better you solve problems." You'll remember more if your body is in motion.

7 Summarize the Most Important Facts and Key Ideas

When you're finished studying, take a clean sheet of notebook paper and write out 10-20 key ideas or important facts you need to remember for your test. Put everything into your own words, then double-check your book or notes to ensure you've gotten them correct. Doing this quick recap at the end of your study session will help cement the most important facts in your head.