Transcription
All right, time for you to confess. Which one is it? Did you open up your laptop to be productive, but somehow ended up here instead? Or are you supposed to be studying, but then you went on your phone and now you're watching yet another study tip video? You know what? I don't blame you, bestie.
Everyone always says, "Have a good morning routine. Take breaks. Don't highlight everything. Don't cram last minute." Now, are those good tips? Yes. But do they work? No. If you clicked on this video, see, this is where most people misunderstand. Being a good student isn't just about having a planner, having a routine, and having a fancy note-taking method.
In this video, bestie, we are covering study tips that actually make a difference. How to manipulate your time so that you have more of it to study. How to eliminate procrastination before it even starts. How to stop wasting time on tasks that don't actually improve your grades. And build the discipline that you need to succeed. But if you don't just want to be a good student and you want to be outstanding instead, listen to the last hit. It might surprise you. Let's go!
And thank you Grammarly for sponsoring this video. First, your study sessions need a pass-fail condition. When it comes to studying, your brain needs clear finished lines, not open-ended time blocks. Now, what do I mean by that? So, for example, you probably plan your study sessions something like this: "I'll study biology for 1 hour. Review physics chapter 7 for 2 hours. And cry for 30 minutes." And let's just be honest with ourselves, this is what actually happens. You spend the first 10 minutes hyping yourself up and figuring out where to start. The next hour just looking at the material. And then the last 15 minutes with one eye on the clock, waiting for it to be over. Before you know it, time is up. But we didn't actually get anything meaningful or productive done.
Because what does "revise chapter 7" even mean, bestie? Does it mean that you completed your notes? Kind of understand the topic? Maybe you can answer five objective questions? Or can you answer two high-order essay responses? Because these are really different versions of "study chapter 7." If we had an exam tomorrow, we'll fail if we did version one and two of "study chapter 7." So your study sessions need a pass-fail condition, meaning your study sessions should have a clear, measurable outcome. Either you completed it, or you didn't. There's no in-between.
So here are some examples. Instead of your goal being, "I'll finish my notes," make it, "I'll complete my notes and be able to roughly answer the learning objectives." Instead of "study chapter 7," it should be, "I'll study chapter 7 until I can answer 10 objective questions correctly." And here are a few more examples. Feel free to screenshot, bestie. It's actually really easy to make your own objective questions. If you already have a Grammarly account, just turn on the extension, highlight the topic that you want to test yourself on, then ask it to give you questions. You don't even need to pay for this feature. It's completely free. So if I answer all the questions correctly, then my study session can end, whether that took 1 hour or 4 hours. This is how I know for a fact that I have studied chapter 7 and didn't just assume that I did. And that's how you truly have a productive study session. Subscribe and like this video if you're enjoying it so far.
Next, recognize which tasks don't actually improve your grade. Once you notice this, you really can't unnotice it. But there are actually so many necessary study-related tasks that don't actually improve your grade, at least not enough to justify how much time they take. Here are some common time-draining tasks. Feel free to screenshot so that you can refer to it. So I want you to keep in mind that while these tasks are necessary, they shouldn't be taking up the majority of your time. Whenever you realize you need to get one of these things done, ask yourself, "Is there a faster way to do this that still gets the job done?"
Now, I'm going to speedrun a bunch of different ways you can save your time, so don't blink. Why spend hours and hours making notes when you can just buy them? This is coming from a chronic note-taker, okay? When you simply don't have enough time, aka me in university, it's just smarter to use the time that you have left to actually learn the material. Because when you tell yourself that you learn better by making notes, do you actually? Or does it just force you to organize your thoughts, which can be done with a mind map? Or rewrite information, which can be done by scribbling on a rough sheet of paper? Remember in my previous video where we talked about all the secret ways to learn faster? The fastest way to learn is by linking concepts together, and that is where your time should go. I'll link that specific video here and in the description box below.
Now, if you're a student and you already have a Grammarly account, let me rapid-fire a bunch of different ways you can save time by using your existing subscription. If you're wondering how I score top essay marks like these in university, then one of my secret weapons is asking Grammarly to identify gaps in my essay. That's how you get feedback like this. If you think that citations take up too much time, then there is an auto-citation tool that appears when you have the extension installed. These are all free features as well. Most of you already know that you can use AI to craft things like emails, maybe to a professor and you're asking for an extension. But if you upgrade to Grammarly Premium, you get access to tools that can help you turn wordy sentences into clear, effective ones, or even a plagiarism tracker if your university is really strict on that. I actually did create an entire downloadable document that you can use that lists all my favorite AI functions that Grammarly's AI software offers, just to make your life a little bit easier. This will actually save you so much money because now you only need one subscription instead of multiple AI tools. I'll also leave the link to create a Grammarly account in the description box below. That's grammarly.com/films01, and you'll get 20% off Grammarly Premium using that same link.
Next, how to stop procrastinating. Personally, I believe that the key to overcoming procrastination isn't chucking your phone across the planet or waiting for motivation to magically appear. It's all about making procrastination difficult. Procrastination thrives in friction. The harder it feels to start, the more likely you are to put it off. So, for example, instead of giving yourself a 20-minute break, because let's be for real, we'll just scroll for 20 minutes and then suddenly it becomes an hour. So instead of a magical 20-minute break, try watching one episode of a show or reading a few chapters in a book. Why? Because if you struggle with procrastination, your breaks should have a clear endpoint. That way, you're not relying on self-control to stop, but the natural end of a task. Because we, bestie, have no self-control. And this is important because when we actually finish something, whether that's an episode, a chapter, or a walk, you just get a sense of completion. And so you feel refreshed and not restless. And now you're ready to start again.
Another procrastination tip that I love is that you should always prepare for your next task before you leave your desk. So if you know you're going to write an essay later, leave your document open on your laptop. Or maybe you're studying a different subject tomorrow, lay out the textbook and the notes that you need. That way, when you start a new study session, you won't procrastinate or hang around. You can just sit down and start.
Next, how to be more disciplined. Here's the funny thing. If all you do is study and nothing else, you won't do as well in your academics as you actually can. Listen closely because this is coming from personal experience, bestie. I want you to think about every single outstanding student that you know in real life. The interesting thing is, they probably do other things as well. Maybe it's music, dance, sports, or all three. And yet, they still score so well in their exams. And you might wonder to yourself, "How?" When you're busy, you're forced to prioritize and cut distractions. Think about it, right? If you only have 2 hours to study every day, you'll probably make the most of it because you don't have time to waste. But if your days are free, you can just tell yourself that, "I'll study tomorrow, and tomorrow, and maybe tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow."
If you want to be disciplined, you need to make yourself busy. But there is a smart way to do it. Pick one skill and hone it. It could be anything: photography, baking, art, music, public speaking. It doesn't matter what it is. What matters is how far you take it. Let's just say you pick baking. Here's how to take that further. But what is the point? This is the point. The skills, these experiences will teach you skills that if you're a high school student, you can include in your personal statement when you apply to top universities. If you're a uni student, these are the things that you can talk about in your scholarship application or in your job interviews when they ask you for experiences, your strengths, and your weaknesses beyond academics. And plus, when you go on first dates, this will make you interesting. Having a passion outside of school teaches you way more than just time management. And when you're disciplined in one area of your life, it spreads to other areas. Thank me later, bestie.
Next, how to see improvement in your grades fast. I need you to rewire your brain a little bit, okay? Always remind yourself: "Finish now, improve later." Let me explain. The faster you finish something, the faster you know how to improve. Because let's be real, bestie, perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise. Most of the time. For example, take that practice test, even if you're not ready. Now, why on earth should we do that? Yes, you won't be able to answer most of the questions, and yeah, it's going to feel a little painful. But you see exactly what gets tested, how the exam is structured, and the level of difficulty of the exam. By your second try, you'll know exactly what to focus on and how thoroughly you need to study your material. Or maybe you just start panicking so hard and you actually start studying properly. Win-win. Either way, finish now, improve later.
Instead of spending hours memorizing your notes, tell yourself to summarize the entire thing in 10 bullet points. You probably can't do it, but you'll know exactly what you can remember and what you can't, and which points are the hardest to recall. Again, finish now, improve later. To train this habit, just take however long you think you need to finish a task and just cut it in half. So if you think you need 3 hours to draft your essay, just cut it to 1 and a half hours and force yourself to finish it. If your immediate reaction is to say, "I'm not ready," then that's perfect.
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Now, I want you to listen to this whole part if you don't just want to be a good student, but you want to be outstanding. Here is my big sister advice. Advice that I give all my juniors to set them up for success in real life. Join clubs and societies, but not for the reason that you think. If you're watching this, you're either a teenager in high school or a young adult in university. Your experience during these years will hone two skills that your academics will never teach you: emotional intelligence and social awareness. As I get older, it becomes more and more obvious that opportunities and success don't go to the smartest person in the room. They go to the most charismatic. It's that person who can get the interviewer to laugh, or to convince the cashier at the coffee shop to give them a discount, or even lighten the mood of a team meeting with just one comment. And every single time, the straight-A students who spend their whole lives in books end up really confused and upset when they don't land internships, they don't get the best jobs, and they struggle to make connections. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you know, but who you know. And you need to make sure people not only remember you, but also like you. So you need to join clubs and societies, or any team-based activity, not just to fill out your resume, but to learn how to navigate the real world. At the end of the day, anyone can score an A. And yes, anyone can also be a people person. But it's really rare to be someone that excels in both. So promise me that you'll become that person, and I promise you, you'll become unstoppable.
If you've made it this far, comment down below a sun emoji if you prefer studying during the day and a moon emoji if you prefer studying at night. Remember to like this video, subscribe, and turn on the notification bell and set it to all so that you don't miss out on any future uploads. Thank you for 1,316,000 subscribers, and I'll see you all in my next video. Bye, bestie.