Becoming a high performing student part 1: 3 good habits to build
I'm sure we’ve all heard of the phrase “we are what we repeatedly do” at some point in our lives. This famous quote was originally said by Aristotle and the full version is “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. Clearly, our habits have profound impacts on our behaviours which ultimately influence our success. As students, it is always important to evaluate our study habits and ask if they are really setting us up for excellence.
Here are 3 HABITS TO BUILD ON YOUR WAY TO BECOMING A HIGH PERFORMing STUDENT
1. ACTIVE STUDYING
Coming in at number one, this is perhaps one of the most important study habits to have especially at the university level. This is the process by which you are engaging with the material in a meaningful way to promote understanding. One way you can do this is when you finish a lecture, take out a new piece of paper and without looking at your notes or textbook, try and write down everything from memory. This may seem difficult at first but it is a great way to identify areas that you don’t understand so you can focus more on those specific topics while you are studying.
2. SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS
With the growth of social media it has become more tempting than ever to multitask while we study. However, the human brain needs about 23 minutes and 15 seconds to resume its focus on a given task after a distraction or a shift in focus. So disrupting your studying by sending a few texts here and there could make your study session much longer than it should be because your brain takes time to regain focus.If your phone is a distraction for you then the next time you study, set a timer for yourself for 25 minutes and during that time make sure to turn on “do not disturb” mode so you don’t receive any notifications. When the timer ends, take a 5 minute break and then repeat the cycle! This will make it easier to focus and get work done.
3. STUDYING IN GROUPS
Studying together is something that almost all students enjoy and there are many benefits for it! When you study with your peers you have the opportunity to teach each other, solve complicated problems, edit each other's work and provide emotional support for each other. All of these can greatly help you become a better student yourself! However, it is also important to choose the right people to study with and you should try to keep your group to a maximum of 3 to 5 people. Finally, as much as we love being together with our friends, it is crucial that you also know when and how to work individually because you must write your exams alone. One common method you could try is before meeting up with your group, try and do some practice questions on your own and then discuss your answers together.
We hope you have found this article to be informative and useful. It is worth mentioning that every student is different and the way how you study for different subjects should be different as well. The habits that we have discussed here only provide an overview of the steps that you can take to become a better student. At Large Tutoring, our primary goal is to provide our students with high quality strategies and services to help them achieve their academic success. We would love to hear any questions or comments you may have about either the topic of this article or the services we provide, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
