With the start of a new school year, everyone says to themselves “this year I will work harder” or “I will be more on top of my assignments”, but nobody knows how to efficiently improve their study habits. Here is a list of useful study techniques and habits to develop for the upcoming school year.

Use a planner – Having a planner can be extremely helpful in staying organized, and designating a time and day to complete assignments. When the assignment is completed, it is rewarding to be able to cross it off of the list.

Hills Junior, Ava Kelly, said that “having a planner is something that has helped … [her] stay organized throughout the year, and it has been something that has helped me since freshman year.”

Create a routine – Creating a study routine weekly can be extremely beneficial and efficient because having time built into a schedule to study will ensure there is always an opportunity to study and complete assignments. Being disciplined about when to study can lead to productive, useful study times.

Use the weekend to review – Although it is the weekend and time off from school, it is beneficial to take as little time as 10 minutes over the weekend to review notes from the previous week. The smallest amount of study time can make a huge difference on test scores.

Hills Junior, Emily Sailer, said “Having the weekend to review my notes from the previous week has been extremely helpful with retaining the information from the week before.”

Study without distractions – To make the most of a study session, it is important to study without any distractions. When studying with distractions it is difficult to retain information studied during that session. Focusing on something other than the task at hand will limit the amount of information able to be obtained.

Do not cram or procrastinate – Studying and reviewing notes a little everyday will help to retain the information better and actually learn and understand the material. Studying a little everyday is much more beneficial than memorizing it the night before a test and forgetting it right after the test. Spreading the information out overtime will keep the understanding of information for a long period of time.

Wanting to receive good grades is a goal for all students, but being able to reach that goal may be hard. These tips will make good grades not far out of reach for any student!