Having a good study routine can help you level up your marks and reduce your stress at varsity, but many students aren’t sure where to begin. Can you relate? Here’s some advice for you.

Start with your timetable

Your weekly timetable is the best place to start when creating your study routine. Having a look at your weekly schedule will show you where you have time available to study, and which days are more or less busy than others. In this way, you can set your study time properly, so that it doesn’t overlap with your lectures or other activities.

Make it work for you

A study routine is only good for you, if it works for you specifically. It’s important to consider your personality, habits and preferences in order for your routine to be realistic and doable. Ask yourself the following questions when creating your routine:

“At what time of the day am I most productive and focused?" “What’s my study style?” “What are my study goals and are they SMART?”

Know what to avoid

Take a look at your lifestyle and how it may be affecting your productivity in a negative way. For example, spending lots of time on social media can be distracting and waste a lot of time during your day. Or, perhaps your sleeping patterns are out of whack, causing you to overload on caffeine or snooze during your lectures. Knowing which unhealthy habits are getting in your way helps you know what to avoid, and making even a few small changes can have an amazing impact.

Keep it balanced

If you create a study routine that fills up every free space without any breathing room, you’ll quickly burn yourself out. To avoid this, it’s important to keep your routine balanced, making sure to allow yourself free time to relax, socialise with friends and practice self-care. Adding these things in makes it much easier and more enjoyable to stick to your routine.

Write it down

Once you feel confident that you’ve found a schedule that makes sense for you, it’s time to write it down into a calendar which you can stick on your wall, and be reminded of every day. Writing down your schedule is important for staying on track, and using a diary to help with this is also recommended.

There you have it- follow these steps and you’ll have a study routine that’s perfect for you. Don’t forget to check out our other Varsity articles, which are full of resources and advice to help you improve your marks and reach your potential. Good luck!