Study Habits
This study method involves looking over your notes again and again, but it is often less effective than active methods
What is rereading
A planner, calendar, or to-do list helps with this important study skill.
What is organization?
Getting enough of this each night helps improve focus, memory, and learning.
What is sleep?
These are useful because they help you practice the format and timing of a real test.
What are practice tests?
These are the times your professor or TA sets aside specifically for students to ask questions about class material.
What are office hours?
This is the process of testing yourself without looking at your notes
What is active recall
This time-management method often uses 25 minutes of work followed by a short break.
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
This healthy habit can improve energy and concentration, even if it is just a short walk.
What is exercise?
Before a test, reviewing this can help you focus on the most important material.
What is the study guide or syllabus?
This UMD program offers free, regularly scheduled group review sessions for historically difficult courses.
What is Guided Study Sessions, or GSS?
This study habit means breaking large assignments into smaller, manageable tasks.
What is chunking
This means deciding which assignments or topics are most important to do first.
What is prioritizing?
Drinking enough of this helps prevent fatigue and difficulty concentrating.
What is water?
This is the reason doing practice problems is usually better than only reading examples.
What is that it forces you to apply the material yourself?
This UMD resource helps undergraduate students with essays, reports, brainstorming, and revisions.
What is the Writing Center?
This is the mistake of waiting until the night before a test to begin studying.
What is cramming?
This common distraction can waste study time if you keep checking texts, apps, or notifications.
What is your phone?
Taking short breaks during study sessions helps reduce this mental state caused by overworking.
What is burnout or mental fatigue?
This test-taking strategy involves not spending too long stuck on one question.
What is pacing yourself?
This UMD support option gives students free help in many math and math-based courses
What is drop-in math coaching or Math Success
This evidence-based strategy means reviewing material over multiple days instead of all at once.
What is spaced repetition?
This strategy involves scheduling specific times to study instead of just hoping you will “find time later.”
What is time blocking?
This is why pulling an all-nighter is usually a bad study strategy, even if it gives you more time with the material.
What is that lack of sleep hurts memory, focus, and test performance?
This is the benefit of simulating real test conditions when studying.
What is building confidence, timing, and familiarity with the exam format?
This is the best study advice for a UMD student who is struggling: use office hours, join GSS or tutoring early, and do not wait until right before the exam.
What is getting help early and using campus resources?