The New Year, whether January 1st or the Lunar New Year, is an excellent opportunity to review what we have been doing and set new resolutions or positive intentions for the New Year.
This includes reviewing our study practices and setting our intention to develop effective study habits that assist us in achieving academic success in the year ahead.
Why are effective study habits essential for academic success
There are several reasons why academic success is easier to achieve when we have effective study habits.
Effective study habits and techniques help us understand and retain what we have learned in the classroom. This is essential for performing well in exams and assignments.
Students often feel overwhelmed with the number of assignments they must complete in their units. Frequently, the intensity of feeling overwhelmed increases around exam time when the pressure of studying for exams and completing assignments is at its highest. Good study habits, like having a consistent schedule, taking breaks, and studying in manageable chunks of time, reduce our stress levels and feelings of being overwhelmed.
Effective study habits include taking care of our physical and mental well-being, for example, getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and exercising. Taking care of our physical and mental health supports our overall well-being and improves our academic performance.
Effective study habits build your confidence because as your study habits contribute to your progress and success, your confidence in your abilities grows, leading to better performances and a positive attitude towards learning.
Hence, given the importance of having effective study habits, how can we develop effective, practical study habits in 2025?
Developing effective study habits in 2025
In developing effective study habits, it is crucial to remember that the most significant impact often comes from the small changes we make in our study practices.
The importance of small changes in developing effective study habits
There are several psychological, practical and physiological reasons why making small changes is more effective than attempting to make large-scale changes.
These reasons include:
• Small changes are less overwhelming. When we try to make large-scale changes, we can procrastinate because we feel overwhelmed by the goals we have set for ourselves. Small changes are easier to begin and to sustain. For example, committing ourselves to study for one hour can leave us procrastinating and re-organizing our desks or cleaning out our bags while we think about studying for an hour. Committing ourselves to study for four lots of 15 minutes with a break between each block of 15 minutes is easier to achieve.
Small changes create a sense of accomplishment, which motivates us to keep going. This is known as the “progress principle”. When we complete the four lots of 15 minutes, we have a sense of achievement that motivates us to keep studying.
Small changes reduce resistance to change. Humans tend to resist large-scale change because of the uncertainty that significant changes create. There is also the sense of not wanting to leave our comfort zones. Smaller changes allow us to adapt without triggering strong resistance.
Small changes create sustainable habits because small changes are easier to repeat consistently, which leads to long-term habits. Once habits become established, they require less willpower to maintain.
Small, consistent changes accumulate over time. This is the basis of the compound effect, where incremental changes create exponential results. For example, reading 10 pages daily can lead to finishing approximately twelve books a year.
Small changes also tap into the behavioural science principle of tiny actions, creating a ripple effect that shifts our identity and mindset over time. We spoke above about the confidence that effective study habits create within us. As we begin to see the results of the small changes we make to our study habits, our sense of ourselves as competent students grows, and we develop a learning mindset that often remains with us after we complete our initial qualification or degree.
Hence, making small changes in our study habits brings success because they are realistic and manageable and promote consistency over intensity. They harness the power of incremental progress and are more sustainable, reducing the risk of discouragement or burnout.
Suggestions for developing effective study habits
Developing effective study habits is neither complex nor complicated. The best results come from the consistent application of a few principles. Often, however, we forget these basic principles, which is why it is good to remind ourselves of them at the beginning of a new year.
Have a consistent place where you study to improve the effectiveness of your study.
To improve your concentration, choose a quiet, free-from-distractions place. This could be a library or a designated study place in your home. Finding the right place for you may take a while as you experiment with different places. What is important is that once you find the place that assists you in studying, you keep coming back to that place. The reason for this is that, at a subconscious level, your brain begins to associate that place with studying. This association is important because even when we don’t feel like studying, going to our study corner or place makes it easier to start studying.
Minimising distractions to improve the effectiveness of our study habits
Minimising distractions and interruptions is part of having a consistent place where you study. For example, studying in your favourite coffee shop may sound like a great option; however, if you are being distracted by other customers or the noise in the coffee shop, then the place is not ideal. There are too many distractions.
Other distractions interrupting focus and efficiency when studying are messages and alerts on our phones. It is a good idea to have our phones silent so we are not distracted.
Another way we can be distracted is by exploring websites and other information that may be interesting but not central to the topic we need to study.
Minimising the distractions around us helps us maintain focus and study efficiency.
Using the Pomodoro Technique to assist with effective study habits
The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and is based on breaking work into manageable intervals, known as Pomodoro’s, separated by short breaks.
The steps to using this technique involve
Choose a specific task or goal to work on.
Set a timer, for example, 15 or 20 minutes. This is known as one “Pomodoro.”
Work without distraction for the entire length of time. In other words, avoid checking your phone, emails or other distractions, as mentioned above.
Once you have completed the time, take a 5-minute break to stretch, drink, relax or check your phone.
Complete four Pomodoro’s and then take a longer break for 15 or 30 minutes.
Benefits of this technique.
There are several benefits to this technique.
The fixed intervals encourage deep, uninterrupted work.
Knowing that you will only be working for 20 or 25 minutes makes studying less daunting and reduces procrastination.
Regular breaks help maintain energy, prevent fatigue and reduce burnout; and
The structured schedule makes it easier to complete tasks systematically.
The importance of active learning for effective study habits
Active studying is a method or strategy whereby we engage and interact with the material we are learning to reinforce the learning process.
Active learning differs from passive learning or studying, where we take in information mainly through reading and listening. It is more difficult to retain information with passive learning.
Examples of passive learning include:
Rewriting notes
Reread chapter summary & outline
Memorize theories
Reread textbook
Highlight material
Review highlighted material
In contrast, active learning includes techniques like:
Explaining the material in your own words and speaking it aloud
Formulate and write down questions as you read
Answer practice questions and seek to do additional practice questions/problems
Relate theories to real-life examples, interests or stories
Develop a concept map or flow chart to organise the material
Break diagrams down into smaller parts to explain how each part of the process works together
Participate in group discussions and group study sessions.
Active involvement with the material you are studying deepens your understanding and retention of the information.
Master the art of Notetaking to develop effective study habits
Effective note-taking is critical for academic success, as organised notes make reviewing and retaining information more manageable.
One technique for effective note-taking is the Cornell method, which assists with systematically organising and condensing notes.
To start with, divide your Word document or page into three sections.
Cue Column – on the left-hand side of the page, about 2.5 inches wide
Note-taking Column – is the remaining space on the right-hand side of the page.
Summary area – about two inches high across the bottom of the page.
During the lecture or if you are reading, jot down the main ideas and key points in the Note-taking column. It can be helpful to develop your own shorthand of symbols and abbreviations to save time.
After the class or you have completed the reading, write down questions or keywords in the Cue column that summarise the main points and prompt recall of the information.
Write a summary of the page in the summary section at the bottom of the page. This will reinforce your understanding and also act as a quick review tool.
Finally, cover the Note-taking column and try to recall the details. This active recall practice assists with enhancing memory retention.
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Practice Spaced Repetition to increase the effectiveness of your study habits
Spaced repetition involves reviewing information at increasing intervals over time instead of trying to cram for exams in the weeks before the exam period. The benefit of spaced repetition is that it enhances long-term memory retention.
Managing time effectively to improve study skills.
Time management in study sessions is crucial to ensuring that the activities that achieve the most significant benefit are given the greatest focus. A traffic light system, for example, is a simple way to identify what information should be studied first.
Green – identifies those topics to be studied first. These topics are essential and straightforward for us to learn the information.
Amber, these are the topics we need to study next. They are equally important; however, they are more time-consuming than green topics.
Red – these topics have the lowest priority.
The start of the new year is a good time to review our study habits and make small changes that will enhance what we are doing well or to include new habits that will improve our academic achievements.
TMC Academy provides a supportive academic learning environment, with lecturers and staff committed to ensuring students succeed. The Academy offers comprehensive counselling to address student's needs at each stage of their academy journey. In reviewing your study habits for 2025, it is essential to set yourself up for success by speaking to your lecturers and getting their advice and suggestions and also to use the counselling sessions that are provided so that 2025 will be a year of academic success and satisfaction as you see the rewards of your study habits.
For further information on the counselling and support provided by the Academy, click here.
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