I've recently returned to the academic world after a four year break from college. Currently I am attending a different school and studying a new major (Psychology).

I have always had a difficult time keeping up with school. However, since I started classes this semester I feel at a loss. It's been a long time since I've studied for a test and read textbooks & whatnot that I get really anxious about trying to prepare and often just put it off.

Does anyone have advice for study skills? I've got my first test coming up on Tuesday and the professor posted a study guide but I'm still very nervous about everything.

How did your exam go?

I study a pretty intense degree and I find the best thing for me is to do practice questions. I don't have time to do any study as we're expected to be at placement full-time, and have 20 hours worth of online lectures per week to listen to (I also work part time and never study on weekends because I like to maintain a social life).

So I make questions out of the lecture material we get and do them as my "study". I find it's more engaging than reading stuff and trying to get it to stay in your head. :) I do about 1 hour of these per day (I like to do them in the morning before my day starts and the whole house is quiet) and by the time exam day rolls around most of the content is memorised.

I hope that was helpful, and good luck! Psychology is super interesting and applicable to life... I'm envious that you're studying such a cool degree!

I think what helped me was looking at other people's study guides online. Also checking out videos on the subjects on youtube. Try something not so traditional in studying and see what works for you. :)

Looks like you've had some good advice so far!

The other thing that I've found helpful was setting myself goals, both daily and weekly (BUT YOU GOTTA WRITE 'EM DOWN!) I give myself little baby daily goals (e.g. do x reading, get references for essay, write bibliography,) and then bigger weekly goals (e.g. be up to date on all readings, have essay outlined, have essay first draft started, etc.) and I find it keeps me accountable, and gives me a really good feeling of being productive.

If you outline these goals for what YOU NEED TO HAVE DONE by the end of the week, and break those bigger goals into smaller daily goals, you should be able to stay on track to have achieved what you wanted by the end of each week! If you miss a couple you play catch up on the weekend with your week goals. :)

find a time in the day when you concentrate better. for me this is the morning. set up a study frame - say 45 min with 10-15 minutes break. set up the alarm. in the break you do anything else - bathroom break, drink water, make tea/coffee.. during the study-frame you don't do anything else but study - reading the material.

i noticed i can concentrate better if i play music designed for concentration. youtube has plenty ;) also read everything once again right before bed-time ;) try and study your notes/the books/course material at the end of the day, right after the teacher spoke about them.. (during the semester. you have higher chances of memorizing that way, rather than trying to cram everything in the brain 1 week before exams)

maybe the exams are over now, but i hope my tips will be useful for next time. I hope you did at least OK.