As you might expect, I love psychology. I love studying and learning new things. Yet, there is one thing I struggle with. One a month, the UvA gives me examinations, and I hate reading the same text about two hundred times. If examinations come up, I feel like escaping my study and hiding under my bed. Of course, if I do that, I can say my degree farewell, so I came up with silly ways to help myself study.

The silly things that help me study

In the first weeks of a course, I am okay. The love new information, so I summarise it all. This way, I have an advantage in the way that I already have learned the information.

If exams come up, I trick myself into reading my summaries by collecting them all together, and minimizing the size of the letters. That way, it seems like there is less to read (which of course is untrue), and I get less unmotivated.

I do the same thing with my notes. I take a lot of notes during the course, and I dislike having a mountain of paper to work through. So, when exams come up, I re-write my notes in a more efficient, and (literally) smaller way, so it is all scrammed together and seems like less to read (it is silly, I know). Another advantage of this strategy is that I trick myself into learning while I rewrite the notes.

When I’m really don’t feel like reading my notes, but I have to, I give myself rewards after each chapter. This can vary by a m&m or a cup of tea. Since I like chocolate as well as tea, I keep reading.

When I become to un-concentrated and stare out of the window more than 80% of the time, it is time to take a walk. This might be the only thing on the list that isn’t silly. Fresh air can make you think more clearly and it is a healthy break (unlike the chocolate).

Another thing I do is to read my notes and summaries from the back to the frond. I begin with chapter 9, and work to chapter 1. I do this because my summaries take up way to much space, and in the end I will be less concentrated. So, if I feel I remember chapter 9 not as well as chapter 1, I begin to read it the wrong way around.

I take a marker and underscore everything that seems important in my summary. While this this mainly makes my summaries very colourful (a lot of times whole pages are underscored), it makes it easier to spot the important parts. When I become too lazy to read the whole summary again, I settle for reading only coloured parts.

Speaking of colours, when I have notes I don’t fully understand or remember, I give the upper corner of that page of my notebook a nice little colour as well. If I also become too lazy to read the underscored sections of my summaries, I check out the coloured-cornered pages. That way I can check out the last things I didn’t remember easily.

I hope that you enjoyed my silly habits, and wonder, what is the silliest thing that helps you study?