By definition, a summary is an objective brief statement or account of the main points. In order to write a good summary, you need to understand the text and you should have the skill to transfer the message of the author to your readers. A summary should not be an analysis of the text, but rather a brief version of the original. Writing a summary can be tricky, because you want to keep it short. We provide you with tips, so you can start writing high quality summaries and make money selling them on Stuvia.

Read the text carefully

The first step is to read the original version of the text thoroughly without taking any notes or underlining pieces of text.

Think about the main point

Once you have read the whole text, take some time to think about what you have just read. Write down the main points of the text and how the text is structured. For instance, is it an article about history? Then the chronological order is important. Or, is it a summary about psychology? Consider structuring your summary around the concepts rather than chronologically.

Use your own words

If you have thought about what the main point is, it makes it easier to put it into your own words. Try to write it down as if you were explaining it to a friend. This way you are also likely to remember the material. This may be one of your goals when you are making a summary for an exam and furthermore, you avoid plagiarism. If you really want to use the exact words of the author make sure to put them in quotation marks, this way the reader will know that it are not your own words.

Revise and review

You should (as always) check your piece of work for its style, punctuation and grammar. Have you reviewed it yourself a couple of times? Find someone else who is willing to have a look at it! They may see things that you missed. Don’t forget to ask if they understand the summary and can make an estimation about what the original text was about. This is a good indicator to find out if you have written a good summary. If not, you know more revision is necessary. Are you satisfied by now with your summary? Make sure to get rewarded for your hard work and start earning money by selling your summaries on Stuvia.

Remaining tips

You should avoid first-person language and direct textual references. But you should definitely refer to the author and the title of the original work, use present tense language and make sure the summary is an objective condensed version.

Sometimes, your brain is more active than at other times. For example, some people work better in the morning, whereas other people have a better focus in the evening. Taking advantage of these moments means that you can optimize your study time. In addition, several studies have shown that the best moments to study are early in the morning and in the evening just before going to sleep. This article will outline how you can use this time to study the most effectively.

Early study sessions

When your alarm goes off in the morning, your body is still relaxed and ready to start the day (even if it does not always feel like this). Try to get yourself out of bed immediately and don’t snooze. It happens to all of us, but scientists tell us snoozing might throw off our energy levels for the rest of the day. This should be a valid reason to get out of bed after hearing your first alarm! Take the time to wake up your body by taking a (cold) short shower or do something else that wakes you, such as a quick work-out or drinking a cup of coffee. After this, avoid all things that distract you from studying. Grab your Stuvia summaries, books, some draft paper and start studying. This routine works way better in the early morning than in the middle of the day. You will have more focus because your brain just got hours of rest.

Late-night study sessions

When you study before going to sleep, your brain will process the information while sleeping. The main reason your brain does this is that it is most probably the last information you received on that day. Do you usually go to bed at 11 PM? Then start studying at 21:00. For instance, repeat your Stuvia summary a couple of times and read it out loud.

Keep in mind that the result of late-night study sessions will be less effective when you have already studied all day long. Your concentration will be less, and you really need that full concentration in order to remember all the information. Tip: study smarter, not harder! Find out yourself what works for you, list the benefits of the day studying and night studying and decide. But remember to always start on time, because repeating the information is the key to getting good grades!

Are you a well-prepared student who spends a lot of time writing notes and summaries of the study material? Then your summaries may be worth money! Is studying taking up a lot of your time and do you find it hard to work beside that? Then selling summaries and notes may be the perfect side job for you. Many students are already doing this and have definitely earned a substantial amount of cash. In this article, we will explain how you can get paid to write notes and summaries.

Writing summaries

Writing a good summary takes a lot of time. You are trying to put the content of a study book with approx. 400 pages into a summary of, let’s say, 30 pages maximum. This is not an easy task at all, since you are trying to only write down the key points. Once you’ve succeeded, you’ll read the summary a couple of times, try to learn it by heart and understand the content. This is how you learn: reading the book, writing a summary and learning the summary.

This way, when you have to take the exam, you are a little stressed but always proceed to get a good grade. In short, your summarizing skills are great and effective for acing your study! But what if we tell you that you could also make some money by sharing these summaries? Since writing them is part of your study strategy, little extra effort is needed to earn money. Who would buy those summaries? In our experience, there are many students that do not have the skills or the time to write summaries themselves. Often, they are willing to pay some money in order to be able to learn from other student’s summaries. You can profit from these students! Give your summaries a second life by selling them. This way, you can earn some money with work that you would do either way. By now, you are wondering where you can sell your summaries and our answer is: Stuvia!

Create an account

Creating an account on Stuvia is easy and free of charge. Only if you sell a document, a small commission will be paid to Stuvia. If you don’t sell anything, you won’t lose anything! This is definitely a win-win situation.

Upload your summaries

After you have uploaded your notes or summaries on Stuvia, the marketing machine will be put into motion. We often draw attention to the best notes and summaries on our website, which will enhance the likelihood that potential buyers see your notes or summary.

Determine the price

One of the advantages of using Stuvia is that you can determine the price for your notes or summary yourself. If you’re just getting started, building your brand might be a good idea: start with a small price. Keep in mind that students often do not have a very high budget. Once the word gets out that you sell awesome summaries, you can adjust the price to be somewhat higher. Students have one goal: passing their exam! And many students are willing to pay a little more money for that.

Cash!

You will be immediately notified once you have sold a document and earned cash! Because everything is digital, you can sell one summary many times. Especially during exam periods, thousands of summaries and notes are sold each day, which means: cash! The best summary is worth a lot of money at that time. By selling these notes and summaries, students can save up for holidays, evenings out and sometimes, they are even able to pay their college money with their earnings on Stuvia. Some people earn money with their documents even after graduation. This way, summaries you write now, can still be a source of income later. Without doing any extra work!

Copyright

At Stuvia, you can sell summaries, class notes, theses and other study material of which you have the copyright. By writing and selling study material, having copyright is very important. If you have written your own summary, then the copyright is yours. Be sure not to plagiarize the study book: make sure that you don’t use literal quotes, images of tables directly from the book.

In short

Why should you sell your notes and summaries? This way, you help other students who don’t have the time or skills to write their own summary or notes. By writing summaries, you are automatically learning for your exam; earning money with something you would do anyway is an easy way to earn some extra money!

While one person takes notes on a laptop, the other prefers making notes with a pen on paper. These days, a laptop is often required for every course, since study materials are usually distributed online. Furthermore, typing is often quicker than writing. Even so, scientific research states that making notes with pen and paper is beneficial since you remember the contents better. All in all, there are different opinions on how to make the best notes during class, which is why this article explains the pros and cons of different methods.

Go to class

During class, the professor gives an overview of the content of the course and explains difficult concepts. Most of the times, additional information is provided that may be required to write down during an exam. By going to class, you can check if you understand the information correctly and ask questions. Asking questions means actively participating in class, which will enhance your knowledge on the subject and make preparation for your exam easier.

Be prepared

When going to class, make sure that you have read through the required materials beforehand. This way, you know what will be discussed during class and you will be able to ask more precise questions. Also, you will retain more information.

Making good notes on your laptop

Pros

• Typing is quicker than writing
• You can easily adapt your notes afterward
• Notes are easy to organize
• You can find your notes quickly (if you use a good system to store your notes)
• You are likely to make less grammatical and spelling errors because of autocorrecting
• It’s easy to sell your notes (via Stuvia, for example)
• You can easily copy images of models and theories into your notes

Cons

• If your laptop crashes, you’re likely to lose your progress. Always use Google Drive, Dropbox or e-mail as a backup
• It is easier to get distracted by social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram

Writing good notes on paper

Pros

• Scientific research shows that writing down notes enhances your understanding of the material, as well as retain the information better
• You write down only the necessary information, which will make a more efficient summary

Cons

• Notes on paper may become disorganized
• Writing by hand takes more time than typing
• If the teacher speaks quickly, you may not be able to keep up
• You could lose or damage your notes (hello, rainy day! Bye, notes that are soaked)

There is no good or wrong way to take notes, so feel free to choose the method that suits you best and helps you learn the most efficiently!

At one point in life, we all have to give presentations, whether we like it or not. Do you already know what is the best way to control your nerves and keep the attention of your audience consistently? In need of some advice on this? We provide you with some tips so you feel confident presenting from now on!

Breathe and take your time

Make sure to be on time and to in advance check if you have everything you need, this way you avoid unnecessary stress en you are able to focus more on the content of the presentation. Our first piece of advice is to stand up during your presentation. A lot of students prefer sitting down behind the computer, as they feel that it makes clicking through slides easier. But on the contrary, standing makes you look a lot more professional. During the presentation, it is of importance to remain calm, to take your time and to breathe calmly. Often people tend to start speaking faster when they are nervous, but for the audience, this is less pleasant to listen to. On top of that, it helps to drop some moments of silence. For instance, when you switch from one slide to another.

Stay on top of your nerves

Nerves are not per definition bad, at times you can even benefit from feeling nervous. It ensures that you stay sharp. Breathing in and out in-between your sentences helps a lot to remain calm. For more information, we recommend you search for breathing techniques on YouTube. And remember, if you are well prepared for your presentation, there is actually nothing that can go wrong.

Be enthusiastic and connect

It helps to listen to someone who is really enthusiastic about something. It grabs your attention immediately and you are more likely to keep on listening. Try to think of an example where somebody was telling you a story and you concentrated on nothing else than the speaker. That is exactly how you want your audience to be when you are presenting. Tip: Check a TED Talk as an example of how to present!

Not only you wish to have the audience looking at you, but also, you as the speaker should make eye contact with your audience in return. To make sure the audience keeps on listening, it is desirable to ask some questions and walk around in the room, to prevent people from getting bored.

Don’t be afraid of questions

After you managed to finish your presentation, there is room for questions. A lot of people see this as a nerve-wracking activity as well, but it should be the least difficult part of the presentation. It is the moment where you can speak naturally and formulate your answers at the moment. Just like a normal conversation, if there is a question to which you do not know the answer immediately, propose to answer the question after the session (this gives you some room to think about the question a bit longer).

In short: breathe, breathe, breathe and take all the time you need. Furthermore, master your nerves, stay enthusiastic, connect with the audience and don’t be afraid of questions!

There comes a time that you are asked to deliver a pitch, presentation or hold an assessment. Most people instantly feel nauseous when they are being told to give a presentation. But why? We are convinced it is not necessary to get scared if you prepare your presentation like a boss. In this article, we will tell you what to do!

Start on time

One of the best tips we can give you from experience is to: start on time! This way you have enough time to prepare and you prevent last-minute stress when trying to build a presentation in one night. If you start in advance, you have time to do good research, find short video clips, for example from ted talks or scientific YouTube channels that actually support your words and to come up with strong opening sentences to make your audience listen.

The topic

We know it is not always possible to choose the topic of the presentation yourself because sometimes you get assigned to a particular subject. If this is the case, we recommend creating enthusiasm. Start reading as much as you can and drown yourself in the specific information. You might find aspects that you sincerely feel are interesting. We emphasis this, because think about it... if you do not find it interesting, why would your audience? Make people care about your topic!

The art of good opening sentences

Have you ever thought about the importance of an opening during a presentation? With a strong opening, you immediately grab the attention of your audience. For instance, you could think of a nice anecdote, a story or a joke. Make sure after this strong opening a clear introduction follows. Here you make sure the audience knows what your presentation is going to be about exactly and what your goal of the presentation is going to be. This way you provide the audience with reasons to keep on listening.

Content

Make it easy to understand and use simple words. Try storytelling, a lot of people get triggered because of stories. When storytelling, back yourself up with examples to clarify. Lastly, with regards to the content, it might be necessary to decide for yourself which pieces of information are the most valuable. It can occur that things do not go according to plan, know what you information you can skip if time runs out.

Cue cards

If you are afraid to forget pieces of text, it may be handy to create cue cards with keywords. This looks professional and is very helpful because it gives you the possibility to have a quick look when you forget what you were talking about. By using cards and keywords instead of the full text of your presentation, you prevent yourself from reading out loud, which is a no-go during a presentation.

Start strong, end strong

We just mentioned the importance of a good start of your presentation, but have you also thought about the closing of your presentation? Actually, this is just as important. You could do this by providing the audience with a short summary, where you highlight the key points of your story. Make sure you blow them away in your final minutes, so they do not forget your message and presentation!

Practice makes perfect

Hearing yourself say the words helps enormously, so practice out loud! This helps you to remember your text and create bridges between the different topics. Also, it helps you with your intonation and where to drop some moments of silence. Furthermore, body language is an important part of presenting, so consider practicing in front of a mirror. You can check if you are okay with the way you stand, with your gestures and your facial expressions.

Dress appropriately

We are all aware of the fact that neat clothes make you look professional and you have to admit that wearing neat clothes makes you feel like a boss, right? But even more important is that the clothes are comfortable as well, don’t go too far out of your comfort zone if you normally only wear sportswear. We feel that with a blouse or a blazer you can rarely go wrong!

Check, double-check

Make sure your memory-stick is properly working and that there are no spelling mistakes in the slides. Would you like to show a short video clip? Check-in advance if the sound works and you added the correct link in your presentation. Also, check if you know how to use your tools. Small details matter at moments like these.

In short: start on time, be interested in your topic, know about the art of strong opening and closing sentences, create cue cards if you wish, practice (A LOT), dress appropriately and check everything including your tools in advance of the moment suprême!

Plagiarism checkers can help you with this, but unfortunately not all plagiarism checkers are safe and accurate. In this article we review the popular Scribbr Plagiarism Checker.

Summary: should you use the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker?

Yes, after reviewing the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker we can definitely recommend it. Although it’s not free, it offers great value for money. Especially students writing an important research paper or thesis should make use of this plagiarism checker.

Pros

• Detects more plagiarism than any other plagiarism checker
• Easy to use plagiarism report
• Documents are not added to a database and can be manually deleted
• Large content database with websites, academic articles and books

Cons

• It’s not free, but in return you get high quality
• It’s not possible to add a citation directly in the report.

Review of the plagiarism report

Scribbr’s plagiarism report feels very intuitive. It consists of three major components;

1. Document preview with highlighted similarities
2. Plagiarism percentage
3. List of matched sources

In addition to the plagiarism report, Scribbr provides resources such as a plagiarism guide explaining the report and a Knowledge Base with articles about plagiarism and citing sources. This way you don’t just check for plagiarism, but also learn to prevent it in the future.

Document preview

The plagiarism report focuses on the preview of your paper. Every sentence that is flagged as potential plagiarism is highlighted and numbered. The color and number correspond to a specific source. This makes the report clear and easy to scroll through.

Another thing that stands out is the lack of ‘false positives’. Common words and phrases are not flagged as potential plagiarism. Therefore, you feel less overwhelmed by the number of similarities, leaving time for you to focus on the important similarities.

Plagiarism percentage

The plagiarism percentage, shown in the top right corner, indicates what percentage of your document is similar to other sources. It is important to note that this is not necessarily all plagiarism.

Similarities that are correctly cited and quoted are also included in this percentage. Unfortunately, this is something that all plagiarism checkers do, because the software is not able to verify the accuracy of the citation. It is up to you to determine if a similarity is correctly cited or if it constitutes plagiarism.

List of sources

The list of matched sources is an impressive feature of the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker. When clicking on the source you get to see a snippet of the original text which you can use to determine if your text is indeed the same or similar.

If the text is indeed similar, you immediately know which source to cite. Most other plagiarism checkers simply link to a google results page where you need to find the source and passage yourself. Unfortunately, it is not possible to cite the source directly in the plagiarism report.

Review of the plagiarism detection software

Based on our experience, we can conclude that the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker detects more plagiarism than any other check on the market. This is due tThis is due to their advanced plagiarism detection software and the size of the content database your document is compared with.

Plagiarism detection software

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker uses plagiarism detection software that is similar to what most universities are using. The advanced plagiarism detection algorithm detects both quoted and paraphrased text. Simply changing a few words in a sentence won’t help. This makes the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker really stand out.

Scribbr Plagiarism Checker flagging paraphrased text as potential plagiarism

Sources your document is compared with

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker compares documents with over 70 billion internet sources and over 69 million scientific articles and books. Most other plagiarism checkers have a much smaller database which contains only internet sources.

This makes the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker especially interesting for students and academics who often consult and cite scientific articles.

Review of safety and privacy

In contrast to other plagiarism checkers, Scribbr doesn’t add uploaded documents to their database. So you don’t have to worry about having an exact match with your own document when your professor decides to check for plagiarism.

In addition, Scribbr allows you to delete your document from the Scribbr server with the click of a button. The fact that they have this feature proves they take the safety of uploaded documents very seriously.

Pricing: is it worth it?

The price of the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker depends on the size of your document. Checking a small essay is cheaper than checking a full dissertation.

• < 7,500 words: $18.95
• 7,500 – 50,000 words: $28.85

• 50,000 words: $39.95

The Scribbr Plagiarism Checker can be purchased with a 15% discount if bought in combination with Scribbr’s proofreading and editing service.

Prices are higher than most other plagiarism checkers, but in return you do get a professional plagiarism report and the peace of mind that all similarities in your paper will be detected. That’s better than spending $10 on a plagiarism checker that doesn’t detect everything.

On average, humans sleep 6 until 9 hours a day. This means that we spend approximately one-third of our lives in bed. But how long do we really need to sleep to wake up fit and ready to study? This article answers all your questions about sleep and studying. Spoiler: sleeping is essential if you want to get good study results.

How many hours of sleep

It differs per person how much sleep you need every night. Some people function with seven hours of sleep, others need nine hours. On average, it is recommended to sleep eight hours per day. How much sleep you need to feel good during the day, depends on your age, how active you are and your body in general. You will know if you sleep enough by looking at how you feel during the daytime. If you have to deliver huge achievements mentally and/or physically, your body needs more rest, for example when studying for your exams!

In general, most students use a lot of energy during their exam preparation. Also, while sleeping, you are processing information. In short, if you try to sleep normal or a little bit more, you will be more rested. This means that you have more energy to study and simultaneously, you will give your brain the rest it needs to process the study material.

The impact of age and gender on your sleeping pattern

The younger your body is, the more sleep you need. This is because your body develops and recovers while sleeping. Studies say that if you are 13-24 years old, you need on average 9 hours of sleep. From 25 years on, you already need fewer hours, about the 7,5 hours per night. There is also a difference between men and women when it comes to sleeping. Men tend to sleep better than women, because of hormonal and psychosocial differences. Changing hormone-levels have an impact on sleeping. This means that if you're a woman, you are likely to need more sleep. Still, this depends per person.

Do you want to sleep better? Keep these things in mind:

• Don’t drink alcohol before going to sleep. Alcohol makes you sleep less well.
• An intensive workout just before going to bed is often not such a good idea: your body is too warm and active to go to rest.
• It’s most effective to create a rhythm. For instance, go to sleep every night at 23:00 and wake up at 07:00 in the morning. Your body will get used to this and you will feel more rested throughout the day.
• Haven’t slept enough? A power nap can help in the afternoon but will cause you to sleep worse in the evening. It’s better to skip the power nap and go to bed earlier at night.
• Really can’t get to sleep? Don’t stay in your bed, but do something else for 15 minutes and try to sleep again afterward.

Going to lectures is a great first step when getting a degree. However, if the exam comes up, it is still necessary to study the contents of the course in order to get a good grade. To memorize all the knowledge in the most efficient and effective way, there are a few strategies you could use. There isn’t such a thing as a very good or the best strategy. It differs per person which is the best strategy. This article explains some of the strategies you can use to prepare for your test or exam.

Repetition

The most simple method is to keep repeating the information, so you will remember it. There are several ways how you can do this. First, decide when you will repeat the information. If you're an early starter, then try to review the contents of the lecture immediately after, then the day after the lecture, after a week and after two weeks. This way, you will still have a general sense of what is discussed during the course.

Other ways of repeating the contents of the course can be done using certain study methods, such as re-reading the information or highlighting the important concepts and sentences in the text. Still, it is advisable to use active study methods to do so, for example by writing a summary or drawing mind maps. It is best to use a combination: try to prep for your exam by repeating the information regularly, highlighting the important parts, creating a summary of it and drawing mindmaps. This way, you are actively processing the information and you will be more likely to remember more.

Associate and link

Drawing mindmaps has another advantage: by linking concepts and theories to each other, you will become better at associating these to the information you already know. This will enhance your comprehension of the course contents, which in turn will help with answering questions on the exam.

Mnemonics

A third strategy to memorize information is to use mnemonics, especially if you need to remember difficult concepts and differentiate between these. For instance, if you want to remember the meaning of ‘longitude’ and ‘latitude’, you could link the letter ‘n’ in longitude to ‘the north’, you will remember it’s vertical. Because the letter ‘n’ isn’t in the word latitude, you won’t mix the meanings of the two words up.

Other examples are spelling rules like ‘I before E, except after C’. Such a rule is easy to remember because it rhymes and helps you remember how to spell words like 'receive' and 'believe'. Or, if you want to learn that you Stay Healthy by Activity, Drinking water, and Eating, you can memorize this by remembering SHADE. Try to make your own mnemonic if you have to struggle to remember something.

Mind palace

Perhaps you know the mind palace from Sherlock Holmes, and it is an actual study method! The mind palace technique is a very good way to remember information. A ‘mind palace', also known as the Method of Loci, is a strategy to use familiar locations to store information. This is how it works: you visualize a location that is very familiar to you, for example, your parent's house or your school. Then, in your mind, walk through the place. You can place items, theories, and terms in the house. On your exam, walk through the house in search of the information that can help to answer the question.

Every student knows how to study: read your textbooks, follow the classes and lectures, prepare, etc. Nevertheless, to get through every semester in the best possible way and to be fully prepared for every exam, we listed a few study strategies for you. After reading this article, you will know how to study effectively and how to prepare well for your exams.

Read ahead

When you have class on Monday, make sure you have read all the chapters that will be discussed on Sunday. Reading chapters the day before will help you retain more information since you are training your memory by repeating the information. Also, reading ahead makes it easier to create links between concepts and understand your professor better. Still, reading ahead usually takes a lot of time and it may seem easier not to read the required chapters. Therefore, consider upping your reading game by learning how to read faster.

Go to your classes and lectures

It may be tempting to sleep in and don't go to class, especially when you overslept, because of a party the day before. Especially if your presence is not mandatory, it is easy to skip a lecture.. or two. However, if you actually go to your classes, you will retain more information. Plus, often the professor tells you which theory will be important for the exam and provide additional information that cannot be found on the presentation slides. If you only look at the 40 slides presentation at home, you never know which part the professor emphasized the most, which may be a disadvantage during the exam. So it is wise to go to class and listen to what the professor has to say about the particular subject. Lastly, consider the best way for you on how to take notes. You may prefer writing over typing or vice versa.

Write a summary or create a mindmap

When you write a summary or create a mindmap, you reflect on the subject of the course and repeat the information. If you do this every week, you will not have to learn all the information at once. To prepare for your exam, you only have to repeat the summaries and mind maps you’ve made, instead of reading all the text all over again. This will save you time during your exam preparation week and will help you retain more information. You could even make some money by selling your summaries.

Test yourself: use flashcards

Once you’ve learned the information from the textbook or reader and the important theories of your professor by using your summary or mindmap, it’s time to test yourself. You can do this by making flashcards. These are self-made questions and answers, each on a different card. You can practice these questions until you’ve got a 100% score. You can also find flashcards on Stuvia or sell your own.

Make old exams

The last step in order to prepare for your exam consists of practicing old exams. Especially exams from the same professor are useful, as teachers often have a unique style when questioning. Furthermore, it is a great way to test if you actually know enough to pass the exam and get a good grade!

Highlighting important parts of your textbook can be a great way to study or to make a summary. Still, there is always the risk that you end up with a textbook which is entirely highlighted. You can prevent this by using the right strategy when using markers. Especially because it does have benefits, but it is still handy to have a strategy in advance. Just as you would also have when reading a textbook.

Read first, before using the marker

Always start with reading the whole paragraph, before even highlighting a word. By reading the whole paragraph first, you will create structure and you will have an overview of the information in the text.

Don’t highlight too much

It can be quite tempting to highlight nearly everything, even though this is not the best strategy. Think about what sentences are telling you what you need to know for you exam. Keep in mind that it is harder to repeat a big piece of text than a few of the most important sentences. Therefore, make sure to only highlight the main topics of the text. Bonus tip: this is often the first and/or last sentence of the paragraph.

Make notes in the margins

Besides highlighting the text with a colored marker, you can also make use of colored pencils in a different way. Use them to draw small symbols in the corner of the page or next to the text, to draw your attention. Moreover, you can reflect on the pieces you read and add your own comments and thoughts. Think about the relationship between the different topics and for instance, draw a figure to clarify the text.

Rather use other methods?

Highlighting your textbook may seem efficient since highlighting takes less time than writing notes. However, there are people that state that it is not so effective as you would like. A study from the Kent University says that the marker will make you only focus on individual facts, which will lead to a lack of overview and not seeing the connections between the topics very clearly. Rather, you can use flashcards or quiz yourself about the study material. Using effective study tactics will help you retain the information more easily and will eventually save you time.

What is the best way to study?

Conclusion

We believe that highlighting the most important topics in a text really helps you to create an overview, but as Kent University states, besides using markers it is advisable to additionally use other study methods such as flashcards (afterward sell them at Stuvia!) and quiz yourself.

Check out this helpful video to learn how to highlight the most efficiently!

Besides theories, lists, and terms you sometimes also need to learn complicated formulas and memorize them by heart. This can be a tough challenge, but fortunately, there are several study tactics to learn formulas. This article will explain some study techniques for memorizing formulas and applying them when you are taking the exam.

Know your theory

Formulas are connected to the theory behind it. They are not just numbers and symbols but actually explain a concept or can calculate something in the real world. This will only become clear when you understand the context of the formula. You need to read the text belonging to the formula carefully, in order to really understand the context. This way you can apply the formula correctly and remember it better.

Practice

This is an obvious but important tip. We all know that sometimes it is hard to find the motivation and dedication to do your homework. However, practicing formulas is one of the key activities while studying effectively. Review all the exercises one more time and practice old exam questions.After all, your professor will probably ask you to make a calculation with the correct formula, rather than ask you to merely write down the formulas.

Create an overview

To create a good overview of all the formulas you need to study, it’s best to go through each chapter again and collect all the formulas. You can list these and type them out carefully in a neat overview. Do this in a way so you can understand. You can always clarify a formula with some text or concepts. Also, it is a good idea to create a list of symbols and their meaning.

Often, one theory or concept requires the use of more than one formula. Try to include in your overview when to use which formula and for what. This way, you won’t mix the formulas up when you want to use them to answer a question.

Keep repeating the formulas

When you have learned the formulas, you don’t want to forget them before you need to do the exam. That’s why it is important to keep repeating the formulas and keep practicing until you can write and use the formula without making any mistakes.

Good luck!

It almost sounds like magic: reading faster. When you are a student you will probably know the struggle of needing to read thousands of pages. It will save you a lot of time if you can read a bit faster. You can learn this by following a few easy steps! We have listed a few techniques to learn how to read faster, without missing any important information while studying.

Do not read out loud

How did you learn to read? Chances are that you learned by reading out loud. This is the reason why we often unconsciously read out loud or vocalize the words in our head. However, this may slow down our reading: we simply can’t read faster than we speak. Try to focus on your breathing while reading, this will help you to not read out loud (but in your head).

Use a pointer

Another technique to read faster is to use a pointer. The muscles of your eye are easily coordinated when you point at the words you need to read with a pen or pencil. Therefore, moving a pen along the sentences will aid you in reading faster. It is recommended to take breaks when using this technique because it requires concentration and a good focus.

You could also try to cover the rest of the text with an index card. This way, you won't get distracted by the rest of the text. Another way to practice this technique is by using an app. There are several brain game apps available on your mobile phone and online. These apps contain exercises that help you to progress on your reading speed and enhance your study techniques.

Don’t look back in the text

We tend to look back a few words while reading a text. This happens because you get the idea that you missed a word or a few sentences. Still, when you go back a few words it will probably cost you the additional time you need to re-read. Try to keep on reading so that you stay in the right flow. This way you will stay alert. If you notice that it happens a lot, consider taking a small break to regain your focus and concentration. This is a study tactic that will help you to study effectively since you save time by reading faster.

Try to read as much hard copy as possible

According to scientific studies, people tend to read around 30% faster when reading from paper rather than reading from a screen. This is probably because it is harder to keep track of the text, causing the reader to return to previous paragraphs to re-read. In addition, studying from paper allows you to make notes in the margins and highlight important sentences easier. It can thus be a good idea to print your summaries.

Set the goal to read faster

You can keep improving yourself to read faster, by setting a goal. Still, you should value quality over quantity, especially when reading textbooks for study purpose. Set a timer for one minute and try to read as many words as you can. After that, try to read 10 more in another minute. It is definitely hard to speed up your pace every time, so try to speed up in small steps to be sure that you still understand what you are reading.

A bunch of students are so busy with attending classes that they often think: why am I doing this exactly? Do you ever have the same feeling? You need to know that you are not the only one having these thoughts. This article states why it is so important to get yourself together and find the motivation to continue going to college and to study. After all, you need to pass all the exams in order to get your diploma!

Why your first year is crucial

The first year of college is decisive for your future. Often during or after this first year, you get an advice whether you can continue with your study program or whether it is best if you quit. You need to figure out if you find the study interesting enough to continue it for a few more years. Keep reading to find out what helped us to stay motivated!

Keep in mind why you want this

The final goal of every form of education is to receive a diploma. In most cases this piece of paper will get you into another university/ college / educational institution or it will get you a good job with a decent pay.

There a few things to keep in mind when studying, such as: what would you like to accomplish and what do you need that diploma for? Sure there are exceptions of people who became really successful without a diploma, but would you not rather follow the safe path? Getting a diploma makes life a bit easier.

Motivate yourself

In essence, the only thing that is really necessary to get your degree is perseverance. You need this to finish all assignments and study enough to pass all the exams. It is not enough to have this determination for a few weeks or even months, you need to be determined for a few years. Keep this in mind along the way to your final stop (your degree!). But also take the time to do things that make you happy besides going to college. Studying may seem hard, but alumni often say they realize it was the best time of their lives when looking back. Apart from studying, there is enough time for a side job, going to the gym or drinking beers with your mates. Make sure you plan enough activities besides studying to release some tension, or else these few years will feel like ages.

The consequences…

When you have lost your motivation, try to think about the bigger picture and what the consequences will be if you decide to quit. If you let your lack of motivation take the best of you, this will start influencing your grade and you will have a hard time finishing the semester. Furthermore, if you do not get a diploma, you might have to pay back a large amount of your student loan or you are forced to start a job that you don’t like doing.

Our final advice: always look at the bigger picture and your desired final destination. Stay determined to obtain that diploma! Even if you lack motivation now and then, just keep trying and do your ultimate best.

Reading a textbook of a few hundred pages is possible, but you need to understand what you have read and remember the information. That can be quite challenging! How to prevent staring for minutes at the pages, while your mind is blank, and you do not have a clue what you have just read. Study Psychologists created a term for the type of reading you apply when reading for instance study books that require concentration, it is called ‘intensive and active reading’. This means that you must immediately reflect on what you read. Before hitting the books, it is best to prepare. Use the following tips to make sure you memorize that enormous law-book by heart from now on!

Orientate before you begin

A textbook is divided by chapters, which are then divided by paragraphs. Most books also have an introduction and a brief summary per chapter. By preparing yourself on what you are going to read, you will be able to understand the structure of the book and separate major issues from side-issues. You know what to pay attention to. So always start by reading the beginning and the conclusion of a chapter.

Intensive and active reading

Textbooks are different texts to read than a novel during your summer holiday. It is likely you read slower and reflect on what you have read after every paragraph. Try to make connections between what you have read and what the author is trying to tell you. Wait with using marker pens, you will do this after the structure of the book is clear to you (read here how to use your markers in the best way).

Repeat

When you are done with the intensive reading, you are aware of the information discussed in the text and, hopefully, you can connect this with former and later discussed subjects. The repeating of what you have read can easily be done after each paragraph or page. It’s not necessary to wait until after the chapter to start repeating.

Reflect on what you read

Right now, it becomes clear that it is a big difference from reading a novel. What is the intention of the author with his/her piece of writing? Why is subject A connected to subject B and in what way? While reflecting, which happens often if you repeat reading the text, you can structure the information for yourself by highlighting words or write ideas next to the text. Another option is to make short summaries.

Check what you know

When you are at the exam and you realize you don’t know enough about subject X, it’s already too late. So, you need to check what you know and what information you have memorized after each chapter. You can do this by explaining all the highlighted terms to yourself, or even better, discuss the information with your classmates and practice old exams.

Remembering facts by heart

Sometimes you need to learn hard boring facts by heart. There is probably a reason you need to know these facts, so structure them well and know what they mean in the overall context. If you wouldn’t learn the context, you would just be programming yourself like a machine, which is not very useful for an exam.

Tips to memorize facts:

• Determine which facts are most important;
• Try to memorize the differences and similarities between terms and events;
• Don’t study too long on these facts in one moment, try to repeat them for a few minutes every day.

Useful links

Active reading strategies

Study Less Study Smart