11 Bad Study Habits: If you want to get great grades, make sure you avoid these bad study habits!
All students learn effectively, but why do some students get better grades while others fail the test?
Do toppers have bright brains?
Definitely not!
It’s all about how the student studies. If you are getting bad grades and not doing better in your studies, then somewhere you are following bad study habits and bad learning methods.
Consciously and unconsciously, you follow many bad study habits that will never accelerate your learning. In today’s article, I will guide you through 11 bad study habits that you should stop following from now on.
In fact, following these study methods will never make you successful in college. And trust me, once you get rid of these bad study habits, your results will be remarkable and along with it, you will focus better on your studies.
Without further ado, let’s dive into these bad study habits…
1. Study without making a plan
study errors that students must not follow
I have seen many students who just start studying without making a plan of what they will learn, how much and how long they will learn. They sit, study and waste 10-20 minutes thinking about what should I study now.
If you are given only one assignment, you may not have any confusion about what to study, but when you have too many assignments and you have to study a lot, then in this case, studying without making a plan can make you less productive and waste your precious time . In addition, you may also forget some of your tasks.
So how do you create your study plan?
Well, if you can create a routine and stick to it, I highly recommend following a daily routine where you schedule study hours with other work. You have a clear idea of what to study today.
However, if you don’t stick to the routine, I have an alternative that you can easily follow:
Instead of a routine, plan your single day. Before going to bed or right after getting up, write down when you have to study tomorrow or today and what tasks you have to complete. And finally, stick to this note. This will give you a clear idea without immediately making a plan.
Sounds interesting, right?
2. Studying while doing other activities
Don’t use your phone while studying
Avoid using the phone while studying
This is again a bad study habit that I never recommend any student to follow.
Seeing TV, chatting with friends, or snacking while studying at the same time may seem normal to you, but this is what we call multitasking, and multitasking always reduces a person’s productivity.
Managing and paying attention to two things or more than two things at once does not allow you to focus on one thing properly.
Do you multitask?
If so, you need to get rid of this bad study habit from now on. Focus on one thing at a time. Either study first or use your phone.
If you feel that you will get bored while studying, you can listen to classical music while studying which will also improve your concentration and get you in the mood to study.
3. Take notes first without learning the material
study error: take notes after learning the material
When I was in 9th, I was always taking notes without understanding and learning. I thought that after taking notes, I could learn better with my notes. And this is the wrong way of studying that I followed.
Thanks to my professor who helped me understand how beneficial it can be to take notes in class after learning and understanding the material. This not only supports our understanding of the material but also improves our memory. With this, we also come to certain doubts when we take notes later.
On the other hand, if we take notes first, then our immense attention is focused on just writing things down and we lose the ability to think about what we are writing.
So if you are making this study mistake, then from now on, first understand the material deeply in class and by reading books and then take notes at home.
4. Learning in bed
BAD STUDY HABIT: STUDYING IN BED
Instead of a study table and chair, many students like to study lying down in bed. Studying in bed may seem normal to you, but it has many disadvantages.
First, when you study in bed, it gives you a very bad position to sit and study, which leads to neck and back pain. In short, studying in bed can be unhealthy.
It has even been found that doing homework or studying in bed can reduce concentration, as most people tend to associate their beds with comfort and sleep. While using a study table and chair will help you maintain better concentration while studying.
Yeah! It’s certainly true that lying or sitting upright doesn’t affect your brain function – your posture doesn’t matter. But you also realized that when you study in bed, you often feel sleepy and lazy and want to leave your studies as soon as possible.
5. Reading textbooks flawlessly and getting nothing
use reading comprehension techniques
We all read textbooks, but how much information do you successfully gain from just reading? I have seen many students who finish one chapter by reading but get nothing.
No! They don’t read for the sake of reading. But due to studying and reading in a wrong way, this happens. They start reading a topic or chapter flawlessly to finish it.
However, to understand the subject or any chapter, students need to use reading comprehension technique.
Reading comprehension techniques are great to help you read the chapter the right way and get most of the information just by reading.
SQ3R, PQ4R, PQRST, and THIEVES are reading comprehension techniques that work the same way. However, I will only explain the SQ3R study technique here.
What is SQ3R?
sq3r study technique
SQ3R technique
SQ3R is a 5 step technique that includes research, question, read, recite and review. Let’s discuss all the steps…
Exploration: Instead of just beginning to read, focus first on the chapter title, introduction, summary sections, headings and subheadings, graphics (such as graphs, maps, diagrams, etc.), boldface, italics, and highlighted sentences.
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Question: After completing the survey, now cycle through the chapter questions. Turn the headings of each section into as many questions as you think will be answered in that section.
Read: After you’ve sent out the questions, start reading the chapter section by section with your questions in mind, looking for answers to the questions you created in step two.
Recite: After reading one section, stop and try to recall the answer you found while reading that section. If you can’t remember, go back to this section and find your answer again.
Review: Once you’ve finished a chapter, review it now for a deeper understanding.
Practice the questions you have created and read some sections again if necessary.
Isn’t this reading strategy great?
Before we move on to the sixth bad way to study, can you tell me in the comments if you found this article useful or not?
6. Studying for long hours without breaks
Are you one of those students who can study for 10+ hours straight without breaks? Well, if you do, I wouldn’t credit you for it.
In fact, I would consider it a bad way to study. Whether you have exams or you are completely attached to your studies, studying without breaks will never help you.
You feel burnt out and it affects your health later on. Studying at high volume continuously depletes your body’s capacity for recovery and prevents it from sustaining. On the other hand, taking breaks during your studies refreshes your mind and prepares you for further studies.
So I would suggest you to follow the Pomodoro technique which works great with breaks so you can study for long hours.
Let me tell you what the Pomodoro Technique is…
Pomodoro is a time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo that allows you to study or work in small chunks while taking short breaks to stay refreshed. Using a timer, it divides your work or study into intervals of traditionally 25 minutes, separated by short breaks (5 minutes).
Each 25-minute study session is called a Pomodoro (the Italian word for tomato). If you complete four Pomodoros during breaks, then this technique allows you to take a longer break (20 minutes).
But you are not required to stick to 25 minutes study time, you can adjust this study hour according to your convenience like 1 hour with 10 minutes breaks or something. Make sure you don’t study for more than 2 hours at a stretch, take a 20 minute break and then continue studying.
This technique won’t burn you out if you want to study for long hours.
7. Capturing information but not retaining much
This happens to many students. They study and learn new information daily but don’t have enough time to retain it. And this is a big study mistake that they often make on purpose.
If you can’t retain it, there’s no point in you getting the information. Because in exams and interviews they will ask you about the concepts you have studied.
Let me tell you something: It is easier to learn and understand something that anyone can do, but retaining what you have learned is the hardest part that few students do. Most students often revisit and revise material as their exams approach and this leads to cramming.
Here are some tips to help you store information wisely:
Study the material in Spaced Practice
8. Cramming and Pulling-all-nighter
Cmming – is again a bad study habit that has been seen in many students during exam period. Cmming basically tries to cram a lot of information into your short term memory.
However, a lot of research has shown that cramming and pulling a full night’s sleep never works very well. It actually increases stress levels and can lead to panic and anxiety, making it much harder to take in information. Here you will find hundreds of articles that would only suggest that you should not stuff yourself.
So instead of cramming before exams just for good grades, focus on learning the material and study the entire lesson. A. believe it or not, students who study for a full session never try to cram.
9. Omission of boring or difficult subjects
Every student has some boring and interesting subjects, hard and easy subjects. It’s not this way? You must have too. Moreover, students often skip their boring and difficult subjects.
However, whether you like it or not, you have to study these subjects for the exam. So, rather than skipping, why don’t you try to make these subjects simple and interesting?
For example, if you find math boring and difficult, you should try to get better at it. But trying to skip math will never improve your math or make you better at it.
So give yourself enough time to learn your boring and difficult subject. If you don’t like your professor’s teaching style, find another teacher for the subject or you can watch different YouTube video lectures on the subject. These things will eventually make you better in your weak subject and also interesting.
10. Non-proliferation of knowledge
If you only study what your teacher or professor teaches you, then you are making a big study mistake somewhere.
Why?
Since in this case you do not expand your knowledge, you have no curiosity to learn and explore. Whatever your professor teaches you, without any reference, you believe that he is teaching everything correctly and that this is the only way to solve the question.
They may never give you wrong information but you should also expand your knowledge and find references in textbooks or blogs whether the teachings are valid and up to date or not. The ideal student is always coming up with new ideas, new questions and unique ways to solve a question.
11. Depending on the class to complete the subject or topic
I have seen many students who completely depend on their institute or teacher to complete a subject or topic.
I remember when I was in 11th grade, most of my classmates were afraid that what if our teacher doesn’t finish the whole syllabus and I tell them what they have completed, do you remember and retain everything?
I agree that it is the teacher’s responsibility to complete the entire syllabus, but you should not always depend on him to complete any particular topic or subject. There are many free online resources you can use to learn about the topic.
Learning and understanding the material on your own sharpens your brain and makes you an independent learner. Also, make sure you review it later whether you understand the material correctly or not. Follow: https://mymorningtea.in/
Now it’s your turn:
As I said at the beginning, you consciously and unconsciously follow many bad study habits that do not improve your learning or help you get better grades.
Therefore, in this article, I have listed 11 bad study habits that you must stop following from now on. And I hope you enjoyed this article.
Now I want to hear from you:
Which bad study habits from our list do you follow?
Let me know in a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
