Hi @PSYC_G4L 🤗
It's so nice to have you here on the ReachOut forums, welcome! It sounds like you’ve got a really nice study routine happening 🤩 It’s motivating me to get an early start on my upcoming Uni term next week!
I agree that making short-answer questions is such a useful way to revise. I started implementing this technique a few years ago and found it so much more useful than simply reading my notes and using multiple-choice questions!
When note-taking, I’ve also found that making my notes more visual, like using colours to colour-code or highlight, and using tables/diagrams/flowcharts/mindmaps like you mentioned, has really helped to make my notes more succinct and readable!
Another thing I tend to do (typically before exams) is ‘blurting’ which is where you write/type literally everything you know about a particular topic/concept down as quickly as possible, without using any notes. Then, you compare what you’ve written down with your study notes. This really helps me clarify what areas I still need to work on learning/remembering (plus also makes me feel accomplished when I see that I’ve gotten stuff correct)! I think it’s pretty similar to answering short-answer questions because it requires you to actively recall information! I like to repeat the process of blurting and studying any missing/incorrect info multiple times until I find myself being able to recall most of the topic with few mistakes.
When I lose motivation, I also like to make studying more exciting than it really is! For me, doing ‘extra’ things like buying something to drink while studying at a café/library, dressing up in nice (but still comfy) clothes if I’m just staying at home to study, and making my notes look nice makes me more motivated to study even if it takes a bit more time/effort out of my day.
I hope these might be useful to you and anyone else looking for some tips/motivation to study! And good luck with the rest of your Uni semester 🤞📖 You've got this!
