How to Study Effectively

Pick up tips and strategies to study effectively for your examinations.

As exams draw closer and pressure mounts, it is important to maximise your time when studying – starting every cramming season on a clean slate means a slew of topics to go through once more. As a result, revision prioritises quantity over quality, and you may end up neglecting weaker areas that require more attention. With that said, here are some tips to study more effectively and efficiently!

1. Outline key areas you are weak in and detail your areas for improvement

Out of the many topics in each subject, identify the topics you may be weaker in and understand the issue at hand. Do you have trouble understanding the content, memorising the content or is it hard to answer the questions with the necessary techniques required? By highlighting your weak points, you are able to delegate tasks more efficiently and spend more time focusing on your areas for improvement. However, one must be mindful to not overlook their stronger topics and neglect them entirely. It is beneficial to have a small, short refresher to ensure that you have locked in the concepts and answering techniques required.

2. Set bite-sized goals for yourself

It is certainly daunting to look at your to-do list and see multiple tasks labelled as “Finish revising for XXX topic by today”. Rather, highlight the tasks necessary to finish revising for each topic. For example, indicate the kinds of questions you set out to do, or notes that you wish to go through in your revision. Using an example, it should look something like this:

• Finish revising for Human Digestive System by today

  • Go through compiled notes from school and tuition

  • Active recall

  • Do 2 past year papers (1 MCQ, 1 open-ended)

  • Go through harder questions from My Masterclass Topical Workbook

By breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks, the sense of accomplishment you feel when ticking it off your list provides a much-needed boost to remain productive and continue your revision.

3. Remove distractions

By far the most important yet least practised tip – perhaps you are going through materials on your phone and you receive an incoming text from your group chat that disrupts your momentum and productivity. While it may be tempting to click on the notification and respond to your friends, you may be very susceptible to spending more time texting rather than going back to what you originally set out to do, ultimately falling behind on your to-do list. The temptation of doomscrolling is real, but one should 

No examination is easy, much less examination preparation. It is a test of your resilience and discipline on top of ensuring academic excellence – follow these tips to stay on top of your game and do well for your upcoming examinations/assessments!