5 study habits successful students have

``On average, full-time college students spend 15-hours per week studying”, according to The National Survey for Student Engagement 2011.

Tutors contribute to 10% of your college success while students carry the bulk of the work shouldering the remaining 90% and this is the studying part.

Here are 5 study habits successful students have that you could also adopt to your own advantage.

Set up the environment

Before starting to study, always make sure you find the most effective environment. Keep in mind what helps you personally when finding your study place. If you’re the kind of person who needs loud surroundings, set up camp in the dining hall.

If you need non-distracting music, try some slow music because I know some of you who just can't put their earphones away.

Time yourself

You don’t need to work yourself to death locked up in a study room all night. Focusing on one task at a time can works much better because it gives your mind the rest it needs. This technique improves mental agility and lets you break up your studying and not work for hours on end; work for 25 minutes, take a five-minute break and repeat.

Akcnowledge your achievements

Instead of making a list of the tasks you need to accomplish, make a list of the tasks you’ve already knocked out. That way, at the end of your studying session you have a list of accomplishments instead of a list of unchecked topics and assignments.

Trust me, that’ll make you feel like a boss literally! Talk about counting your blessing rather than your miseries.

A method to the madness

Reviewing your notes is often useless unless you use the right method. Personally, I prefered to use conventional study methods in unconventional ways.

Rather than making flashcards with terms and definitions, use flashcards to write down bits of information that you can study while out and about. This allows you to study in smaller doses and have others quiz you when you are out and about.

My best kept secret is using cheat sheets. In high school, I used them to write down every possible bit of information in handwriting so tiny I needed a magnifying glass.

Instead of putting every piece of information on my cheat sheet, I go through my notes and pick out the most important information to add to the sheet. I then use the study sheet to review my notes. Best of all, rewriting the most important facts from class helps you retain everything for the test.

Types of learners

All people learn differently, so knowing how you learn best will help you play to your strengths and that makes the difference between post-test panic and post-test margarita celebrations. You can pick from four main types: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and reading-writing.

Visual learners tend to understand concepts better when shown to them visually like in graphs and charts. Auditory learners grasp concepts by hearing them aloud, so try reciting information out loud or asking questions and hearing the answers.

As for kinesthetic learners, they better ubnderstand by physically doing something, so you’ll want to role play whiklel reading-writing learners grasp concepts by interacting with text, so doing quizzes or making flashcards makes them learn better.

Getting three hours of sleep and drinking three shots of espresso in the morning doesn’t help you do as well on that important midterm. While college and grades are important to success in future jobs, keeping a balance leads to a successful life, so learn to study.