10 Study tips to get you through this term

The HSC does weird things to us. Exam season comes around and suddenly you find yourself sleeping with your Maths folder under your pillow because you read somewhere that your brain absorbs information in your sleep by magical osmosis through several layers of bedsheets and, um, skin… 🙄

We’re all guilty of trying weird study methods at one stage or another, whether due to desperation or pure boredom. Most of them turned out to be total fails, but we rounded up 10 of the ones that might prove beneficial, if not just extremely amusing.

1. Brush and learn

Here’s hoping that you spend at least five minutes brushing your teeth every day 🤞. That’s a solid thirty-five minutes every week (yes, my maths is right), which may as well be put to good use right? Stick something you’re struggling to learn on your bathroom mirror (essay plan, quotes, equations etc.) and read it over and over whilst you brush. Just don’t tape your entire revision folder to the mirror because you’ll end up remembering approximately nothing.

Side note: you’ll probably end up brushing your teeth for longer than thirty seconds too, so it’s a win win.

2. Label

If you’re a fan of immersive learning, then you probably already have notes written all over your bedroom walls, but if you’re a language student looking to get real strange, try labelling every item in your house with its French (or whatever it might be) equivalent. We’re taking no responsibility for driving your entire family insane, but all will be forgiven when you come out with awesome French marks.

3. Do some funny accents

For those with a ton of quotes to remember, reciting them in a weird voice can really help you memorise them, plus different accents can help you decipher which quote belongs to who. For example, if you’re a history student trying to remember different sources, read all your quotes from one historian in a Severus Snape voice and all your quotes from another in the Queen’s accent. You’re 100% guaranteed to look like an absolute nutcase, but if it works who really cares (just maybe do it in the privacy of your home).

4. Listen to music

I know it’s the ‘proper’ thing to do to listen to classical music while you work, but unless you’re a Mozart fanatic, this tip is getting old by your second day of revision. Listening to music can really help you stay focussed and relaxed, but not all playlists are created equal. If you blast the top charts, you’ll end up remembering more of Ed Sheeran’s musical memoir than the quotes in your English essay.

Pick instrumental stuff instead so you’re not distracted by lyrics and veer towards the more uplifting end of the spectrum, there’s no need for added heartbreak in the library. The only downside to this is that you can potentially ruin your favourite music by associating it with HSC doom forever…

5. Record yourself

This is a super helpful tip if you’re trying to memorise an essay or a long response. Record yourself reciting the answer (reeeaally slowly – this is key) and listen to it whenever you can: before bed, on the bus, at the gym. Even if you’re not really listening, have it on whenever you can, a lot of what you remember is taken in on a subconscious level. Once you’ve listened to yourself a few times, try speaking along and see how much you can keep up with. If there’s specific bits you keep tripping up on, keep rewinding and try again.

6. Take past papers very seriously

The first few times you attempt a past paper, you’ll probably take your time and use your notes if necessary, which is totally fine because the point is that you’re applying your knowledge. But eventually, you should start practicing past papers under exam conditions – timed, no notes, the lot. AND THEN. Then you can get really weird and stage a whole dress rehearsal with school uniform and a parent as ‘exam supervisor.’ Not just for fun (if you’re that way inclined), but because it’s going to force you to get through the past papers without notes and it will help you get used to exam conditions so you’re not such a nervous wreck on the day.

7. Walk. Shout. Repeat.

When you’ve been hunched over your desk for a couple of hours and literally nothing is going in, try getting up and walking around the house whilst shouting out key facts/formula/quotes. Remember look, cover, write, check? (Those were the days…). Well this is the new and improved look, shout, walk, repeat. You don’t actually have to yell, but we think it’s more effective, plus it’s going to wake your brain up a bit.

8. Bribe yourself

If you want to get through, say, a whole topic by the end of the week, give your mum $50 and if you don’t finish your work by then, the money is hers. You’ve never felt motivation like when there’s money on the line, trust us.

9. Write a song

Oh the annoyance when the only thing you can remember are the song lyrics from Ms. Swift’s nauseatingly catchy ’22.’ You can put those lyric-remembering superpowers to good use though and make an equally memorable song out of your business studies strategies.

10.  Watch an Atomi video

Okay, so we wouldn’t exactly call watching an Atomi video weird per se, but it’s a welcome change from the monotony of note reading and they also happen to be WEIRDLY effective (see what I did there…) 😉. You can even get creative with how you watch them… Try connecting your laptop to your tv and having a screening session with your mates that do the same subjects. Super effective when you’re all sitting around talking about the content together. So get on it.