17 College Study Tips To Make Sure You Ace All Your Classes

This post is all about college study tips.

Even if you were a straight A student in high school, it can still be difficult to do as well as college, especially your first semester. College classes are much harder and require a lot more time and effort.

I know it can be hard to study in college with all the extra social events you may have but you can't do well in college without putting effort into studying! It can be hard to put school before fun sometimes but hey, you're paying for education not parties, right?!

After going to college and studying for hundreds of exams I can tell you first hand the bests study tips that will guarantee you ace your tests.

This post is all about college study tips.

Best College Study Tips:

1. Stay Organized

Staying on top of your work and keeping organized is the only way you will succeed in college. It is super important to make sure you are keeping all your work in a binder, folder, or on your computer so you have all the materials and notes to study. 

Shoving your notes and syllabus in your backpack is an easy way to lose things and will make studying later on much harder!

2. Make A Schedule

Personally, I always created a calendar at the beginning of the semester so I could easily look at what was due or needed to study for the week in advance.

Your professors will give you a syllabus the first day of classes which will include all the dates for important things - due dates, exam dates, etc. Take a few hours to go through each class's syllabus and mark all the dates in your calendar. I did this in a planner and color coordinated it according to each class but you could put it in Google calendars too! Whatever system you like but having everything laid out right at the beginning of the semester is sooo helpful. 

Creating a schedule will help you space your studying out better and keep you from cramming the night before. It will also make sure you aren't forgetting about any homework or exams!

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3. Set Breaks

One of my biggest college study tips is to make sure you are taking breaks when you are studying. Sitting down and trying to study all at once will get overwhelming and frustrating so make sure you give yourself time to take breaks!

4. Put Away Distractions

Whether it's the TV, music, or your phone, make sure you are turning off or putting away anything that could distract you easily. 

I would always set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes so I knew when my breaks were and not check my phone until the timer went off! This will allow you to still be able to check your phone as needed but still setting a time that you absolutely won't look at your phone and focus completely on your work.

5. Find A Quiet Study Area

I find it pretty much impossible to study anywhere loud or where people are talking. Whenever I tried to study in a loud area I would find myself getting distracted by other conversations or zoning out completely. If you are the type of person who studies best to music that's fine! But, in my experience, quiet spaces are the best.

Try different places out and see what works best for you. Once you find the type of place you work most productively, stick to that! 

6. Bring Water And Snacks

If you plan on studying for over an hour or two I would definitely recommend bringing water and snacks. Nothing is worse than trying to focus while you're starving!

7. Find A Classmate To Study With

I found that I always studied best with someone else. Now, this doesn't mean your best friend if you know you will just goof off and get distracted. I would study with a classmate that has the same class as you and take turns quizzing each other or working together on a study guide.

Another great way of studying with someone is teaching each other the material. If you know it well enough to teach it, you know it well enough to ace it on your exam!

8. Go To Review Sessions

Review sessions are held for a ton of classes and I would definitely recommend going to them. This gives you a perfect time to ask your professor or TA questions and a perfect review for your exam! 

(Pro tip: a lot of time professors will base review topics directly from questions of their exam so you may even be getting a freebee exam answer)

9. Ask Your Professor For Help If You Need It

This is one of my biggest college tips for doing well in a class and studying for exams. Your professor is being paid to make sure you understand the material so take advantage of that! Professors almost always have office hours so take advantage and attend them if you need a little more one-on-one help.

Professors also love when students come in to their office hours. They don't really have other chances to get to know their students, especially in bigger lectures, so you might even get some extra tips that other students won't. Also a great idea if you know you're going to need a letter of recommendation in the future to build a relationship with a professor! 

10. Take Advantage Of Tutoring Through Your School

A lot of the time tutoring is free through school so make sure you know where to access it! My school had tutoring buildings during most of the day so it was easy to walk in and ask questions on your own time. If your school has tutoring options like these definitely utilize them!

11. Don't Procrastinate

This is my biggest college study tip of them all!! Seriously, nothing is worse than cramming a 6 hour study session in the night before an exam. Not only will you be miserable but you won't retain a lot of the information. Split your studying up the week before your exam and study a little each day and I promise you will do better than if you were to push it off until the night before.

12. Take Good Notes In Class

Taking good notes in class is a study tip any college student will tell you is so important. If you only half pay attention in class and slack off on taking notes you will have nothing to study for the exam!

Take your time in class to take good notes that you understand well so that you can go back and review them when studying. Reviewing old material is much easier than trying to learn new stuff!

13. Know How You Study Best

Some people study best when their notes are visual or colorful. Some study best by hearing the material out loud. Figure out what studying methods work for you and use those every time! 

I personally found that I retained information best when I saw it on paper using colored pens and highlighters but everyone is different. 

You can take quick tests online like this one to see what your best studying method is!

14. Make Sure You Are Understanding What You Are Studying

Reading your textbook over and over doesn't mean you understand the information you are reading. Like I said before, quizzing yourself, having someone quiz you, or teaching material to someone else all helps make sure you understand what you are studying. 

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15. Use Quizlet

Using Quizlet is a college study tip I could just not leave out. If you haven't used Quizlet before, it is basically a free website to make online flashcards. This is super great because you can keep your flashcards on your phone and study whenever or wherever!

(Pro tip: look up your class, professor, or topic on Quizlet. A lot of times a Quizlet will have already been made for the class so you can save time making them and spend more time studying)

(Pro pro tip: I used to make my Quizlets private and sell them to other students in the same class. Totally legal because you're just selling a study guide you made!) 

16. Handwrite Review Guides

I always found handwriting my study guides helped me remember the information a lot better. Part of this is because I am a visual learner but it also has been proven handwriting something will help you remember it better! 

Handwriting a review guide also helps because you can organize the information in a way that makes sense to you. Plus, you will have all your learning material in one place!

(P.S. you can totally sell study guides too)

17. Switch Up Your Study Area

Switching up where you study is another great college study tip! Sometimes it can get monotonous studying in the same place and a change of scenery will give you a fresh space to study.