Study tips

Exam time can be very challenging. There’s so much material and content to master! But don’t be discouraged, because there are many study strategies that can help you succeed.

The following tips will help you prepare for your next important exam session, as well as for any tests that come up over the course of the year.

1. Identify your priorities. Consult your exam schedule to determine what’s urgent and what isn’t. To be as efficient as possible, you should spend more time on the subjects you struggle with and less on the subjects you find easier.
2. Plan ahead and break up large chunks of content into smaller parts. The material will seem less daunting that way. You should also create a study schedule, as this will allow you to better organize your time.
3. Study every night (about 30 minutes at a time) and give yourself breaks between each study interval to oxygenate your brain. Go for a quick walk, have a healthy snack, listen to music, etc. Set a time limit for your breaks and don’t do anything that could eat up too much time or keep you from wanting to get back to studying.
4. Diversify your memorization techniques: read, make flashcards (notes that can be used for a final review the day before the exam), or summarize material out loud, in your own words, as if you were teaching it to someone else, etc.

For someone with ADD (with or without hyperactivity), studying can be extremely challenging. Fortunately, a few simple tips can help you hone your work methods and address the aspects of time management and organization you have trouble with. Of course, these tips are also useful for students without ADD!

Don’t worry—with the right guidance and the discipline to follow it, you’ll feel at ease with this unique part of who you are.

1. Keep a calendar in your room and use it to write down important assignments, tests, and exams. Put it someplace where you can see it, since you’ll need to consult it often. 
2. Make time management a visual exercise. Keep a short list of urgent and important things that need to be done during the week and update it every Sunday. Your calendar will come in handy for this.
3. Prioritize and agree to activities accordingly. Even if you want to do something else now and then, like see your friends, make sure to put study time first so you don’t fall behind. It’s wise to give yourself time to think before accepting a commitment or invitation.
4. Identify activities that eat up a lot of your time (watching TV, being on your computer, etc.). Avoid engaging in your favourite hobbies right before studying. Instead, use these activities to reward yourself for hard work. This will ensure that you don’t neglect what’s most important.
5. Allow yourself short breaks between study sessions, setting a time limit for each break in advance. Your study sessions should last no longer than 30 minutes.
6. Keep your binders well organized. File your class notes in clearly marked binders and tidy them up regularly. You’ll find it easier to plan your study schedule if all the concepts are in order.
7. To avoid forgetting anything, pack your school bag the night before with your agenda open so you can clearly see your schedule for the next day.
8. Start working on big assignments and studying for exams well in advance, and plan how you’ll spend your time. Break up large tasks into smaller ones.
9. To help you remember concepts, make summaries of material and take notes when you read. Keep your brain active. Change up the way you study (e.g., read, write, talk, pretend that you’re the teacher). This will make the process less monotonous and the content easier to remember.

Choose in a quiet place to study, away from distractions. Leave your phone in another room and close the door to get some peace and quiet.

Study in a place where you feel comfortable. Go to the library if that’s where you find it easiest to focus.

Ambient noise and music with lyrics have been shown to impair concentration, since the brain attempts to decode both the words you’re listening to and the text you’re reading at the same time. However, you can listen to classical music without it being a distraction.

It’s easier to study in a place where everything is well organized and where you have easy access to various reference works (dictionaries, textbooks, grammar books, etc.) and supplies (pencils, calculators, paper or notebooks for making summaries, etc.).

When it comes to studying, it’s important to be in the right shape both mentally and physically.

1. Eating well helps you concentrate. Eat as little junk food as possible (especially during the week).
2. Move every day! Getting 30 minutes of exercise a day is great for keeping your brain focused.
3. Get plenty of rest (a minimum of 8 hours per night). Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Lack of sleep affects concentration.
4. Manage your stress. Project positivity (anticipate the best). Stress is a normal physical reaction, but it shouldn’t become overwhelming. Anytime you start to feel very anxious, take some deep breaths and move around. Remind yourself that time invested in studying is never wasted.

La répétition est le mécanisme de base de la mémoire. Elle facilite la connexion (par les neurotransmetteurs) et la communication entre les neurones. Toutefois, il faut savoir que pour retenir des concepts, il faudra peut-être des dizaines, voire des centaines de répétitions. Pour sauver du temps, on peut varier les contextes d’apprentissage (lire ses notes de cours, consulter nos fiches pédagogiques, écouter une de nos vidéos, faire une MiniRécup, un exercice en ligne, etc.) ou se donner des trucs mnémotechniques.

It’s also important to give your brain a rest periodically so that it can store information in your long-term memory. This means that, rather than studying for a long stretch in a single day (such as the day before the exam), you should study the same material over several days and take one or more breaks during study sessions. It’s easier to concentrate during 30-minute intervals than it is to focus for hours at a time.