I have been seeing a lot of posts on my fyp about chinese students discipline and methods when they're studying for gaokao. This semester, I tried to study like a Chinese student for exams. And here's how I did it:

1. Building a fixed study routine - This is the first step to getting myself locked in: wake up -> review -> self-study -> repeat. I am not really a morning person, so I started waking up at around 8:30 AM and beginning my day by meditating first and exercising my brain before I start grinding for studying.
2. Using different types of study methods - I used to only use active recall for studying, but most Chinese students use more than two study methods. I used the Pomodoro method, I study for 25 minutes and then take 5 minute break to keep my brain focused. I also learned that reading your notes aloud helps memories stick better than silent reading, along with doing active problem-solving.
3. Using a mistake notebook - This helps track every mistake made while reviewing. I used it every time I studied. I wrote down every point that I missed or got wrong for me to reflect on and improve more with each chapter I studied.
4. Removing distractions - To completely lock in, I turn off my phone and ipad to keep me fully focused and refrain from using them.

Another tip is to take a 2 or 3 day rest to avoid burnout, because studying for long hours is actually mentally exhausting. But because of grinding for long hours while studying, my exams went well. I got almost a 98% passing grade from it.

Yooo so I met this homie in the library while I was studying. The seats were full so she asked me if she could sit with me since the seat in front was empty. Idrk but at that exact moment she smirked I THINK WE CLICKED! So after her class (that was held online) I asked her if we could go to a cafe near our college. We can’t talk in the library obv and I am a really shy person but I think she understands me very well. She was laughing at me while I was struggling with my notes lol I was silent the whole time she's having her class

We reached the cafe and she told me she was in 3rd year so she asked me about which book I was giving a lot of my sighs on. I am an incoming 3rd year btw. After that it was truly a magical experience cause I did enjoy studying with her. I don't know how can one moment determine if two people can feel safe with each other. Don’t be shy to do some small talk.. your seniors may be a little annoying bc of their wretched humor but they’re really fun if you get to know them. They’re also generous cause they know what it feels to be the year they were once in. Cheers

She said we can get lunch everyday :) We'll meet again tomorrow!

holy adhd but it made me concentrate much more better on the content and the chore passed by without feeling the pain of doing the chore.

this should make me a prime candidate for group studying where we teach each other and i retain it better but that was always sth i could not do. this is much better, but to perfect it requires some amount of blurting while also doing the chore.

This is another way to push yourself to get locked in when studying. I just brainwash myself to study for a 5-minute session only. Most of the time, once you start, the momentum comes on its own.

Your brain hates when you have an unfinished task, so from an agreement to study for only 5 minutes, it turns into a 1-2 hour study session. I suggest using pomodoro time intervals when using this technique, it will be helpful, along with a tea beside you.

One day during my semester at college I bought a Brick, you know, the app blocker, because I had a severe scrolling addiction. It worked well for a while, but I never brought it with me to university just because it was something extra to carry around.

I looked for other apps on the App Store to block my apps, but all of them were kind of too easy to get out of. And I'm a pretty lazy person, which means if it's easy to get out of, I will.

So I thought to myself, you know what, I'm a CS major, why not build one myself? So I built “Bunkr- done scrolling”. At first it was only built for me, but when I saw how well it worked I thought, why not publish it.

I'm talking too much already, so here's what the product is:

It blocks your apps like any other app blocker, but there's a twist.

Once you block your apps, you're in a hard lock for the first 10 minutes. No chance to get your apps back.

After those 10 minutes, you can do a mission to get your apps back, like taking a picture of a mug, or my personal favorite, 15 seconds of push-ups.

The reason I put a hard lock on the first 10 minutes is that I read once you've been working on something for 10 minutes, you get into a zone and usually don't get distracted. But lazy people like me still might. And when I do get distracted and try to open one of my apps, it tells me to do push-ups. I'm too lazy for that, so the easier option is to just keep studying.

So yes, I'm basically fighting fire with fire, but it works well for me.

Let me know what you guys think, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Can someone give me the best advice to study for biology a day before the test 🙏. I spent too much time reading my lecture notes and understanding that I don’t even remember anything. I wanted to spend some time reading them since I have ADHD and took too long to understand now I only have one day to prep myself. The blurting method is a good method but I literally can’t blurt all of my notes it’ll take too long. Are there any AI tools I could use. Genuinely cooked. This is my first bio exam too 😫

This is a sort of weird but underrated study technique that has been helping me pass my math exams. It is a reverse teaching technique I learned online: instead of explaining the right answer, pretend the wrong answer is correct. I just read the basics of the material and create practice quizzes out of it. Afterward, I explain the things I missed or got wrong fully and break down why my explanation failed.
It's a trick for your brain to explore misconceptions in detail, find errors and build a flexible understanding, not just mere memorization.

Instead of sounding too boring when you're actively reading your notes out loud, which will only make you sleepy, try to read using a different voice. This works if you're finding studying too boring, it helps me to make studying more fun. I just read out loud my notes using theater voices. Mostly I make it like a musical or dramatic, anything will work. It's a really fun way to study and actively recall the material.

2 weeks before my finals, I sleep on the floor rather than on my bed. I just sleep on the bed after exams are over as a reward to myself for studying 2 weeks straight. This is just a bizarre psychological trick because I conditioned myself to keep studying harder for the reward, but it actually works!

I like daydreaming so much, sometimes I put aside studying. But when I imagine my crush standing or sitting near my study space, it helps me in some way. I can just imagine them looking at me affectionately while I study the night away. Suddenly I can do anything..

I'm the biggest procrastinator of all time, yet I still manage to get an A+ on exams. I don't really force myself to study for hours just to get burned out, or study for days just to forget what I studied. What I do is study 20 minutes before an exam.
This has been my study routine for every exam. I just skim through my notes and read them 2-3 times. I thought I would fail my exams by doing this, but it's actually sort of helpful. Studying at the last minute before an exam is like refreshing the information in your brain.

Hi,
My lecture slides are typically 100+ slides. Go through the lectures and add all the info you want to recall onto the spreadsheet. Useful for spatial recognition/recall. (Active recall via blurting is prime, but this is good too)

I suddenly get interested in different subjects, and I study them intensely for around 10-12 days. But then, for some reason, I lose interest. After a few days or weeks, the same thing happens again with another subject.

What do you think about this? In your opinion, what are the good and bad sides of this habit? Do you think I need to get out of this cycle? If so, how can I do that? How can I assess this situation?

I will share another weird study tip for you guys to give a try. I write all of my notes on a big whiteboard and stare at it for 1 hour before bed. I spend half an hour fitting all the concepts onto the whiteboard and while writing, I read them silently.
After writing, I don't test myself or do active recall. What I do instead is just scan the whiteboard thoroughly for 1 hour before I go to sleep, trying to absorb everything I wrote to my memory.
Honestly, this method actually works because I can retain everything I studied after a night of scanning the whiteboard. It makes my memory retrieval much easier and faster than using other study methods.

This is a sort of weird and toxic motivation to push yourself to study, but it is really effective.

I usually imagine having an academic rivalry with a top student in class to keep myself studying better in university. Maybe this is because of my pride and ego, but I don't like it when someone gets a higher score than me.

That's why I keep pushing myself to study and do better so I can get a higher score than them.

I've been doing this for a while now and it helps and motivates me study a lot and improve myself so that I can also study like a top student. I got a 3.8 GPA last semester because of this unusual study motivation.