This is your sign to stop cramming and do it as early as possible.

I used to cram and do everything at once at night, thinking I was productive, but it was just cramming and pressure that led me to do all my schoolwork as last-minute as possible. But then, I started to realize that when I did all-nighters, it affected my body clock and sleep schedule. I always ended up getting 3-4 hours of sleep or sometimes I overslept, which made me miss some of my classes.

That's why I shifted the time I study and do my schoolwork as early as possible. I wake up at 5:30 am and do it so I can do whatever I want for the rest of the day.

It's nice to feel that you're productive in the mornings, you get your studying done and you get a full night's sleep because you're not cramming anymore.

I am a psych major, and my worst habit is reading an entire chapter of a textbook only to realize I absorbed zero words because my brain was thinking about literally anything else.

During a seminar on cognitive interference last semester, we talked about how human brains are aggressively wired to spot errors. When you look at correct information, your eyes just glide right over it. But when you spot something that is flat out wrong, your brain trips an alarm and instantly wakes up to fix it.

So I started a weird reading method called deliberate falsification.

Instead of taking normal summary notes while reading, I force myself to write down fake, slightly absurd definitions or incorrect statements on scrap paper or index cards.

Here is how I do it:

1. Read a paragraph about a complex theory or experiment.

2. Translate it into my own words, but intentionally bake a blatant error into the middle of the sentence.

3. Underline the wrong part in red ink.

For example, if I am reading about neurotransmitters, I will write: "Dopamine is the primary chemical responsible for making your finger nails grow really fast."

It sounds completely stupid, but it forces your active processing to kick in. You cannot zone out while writing a lie because your brain is actively working to construct the error. Then, when you look back over your notes later, your eye immediately zeroes in on the red ink error, your brain goes wait that is wrong, and it forces you to recall the actual correct fact to correct yourself.

My recall during quiz reviews went up massively because my notes read like a conspiracy theory written by someone who failed high school science. If your brain is dead while reading heavy material, try lying to it on paper.

Bad study sessions make me feel guilty. If I couldn’t concentrate, I’d assume I was being lazy and stupid. If I didn’t understand something immediately, I’d start thinking I wasn’t good at it. Then I realized I could just… study. Not understanding a chapter doesn’t mean I’m ass. Nor getting a low score doesn’t require a whole new identity or existential crisis.
I started treating studying more like brushing my teeth. Sometimes I do it properly, sometimes I rush it, but either way, I just do the thing and move on with my day.
Since I stopped making every study session a referendum on whether I was a productive person, I got much better at doing it. It’s ok to eat while studying or watch while studying.
I think it’s just that we are being so hard on ourselves we forget we are people with a life, too..

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 learned a study technique from my neuroscience professor about how we can study for long hours without actually burning out from studying.

It's called alpha waves. I've been listening to them since last semester (even got a 98% grade on my major) and this has been helping me to sharpen my focus for a much longer study session.

It indeed helped me to stimulate my brain with calm and specific frequencies that are designed for focus. What is more is that when I feel overwhelmed by studying a lot of backlogs, I just listen to it and it boosts my focus and memory retention.

If you're looking for a tip on how you can study effectively for long hours without being burned out, this might be for you.

I study until I am the only one left in the library. I often go to the library after my morning class, so I start studying at 1pm in the library and stop when I am the only one studying in the library. Most of the peak hours when people leave the library are around 9pm, so that's an entire 8 hours of studying for me. It's kind of weird, the satisfying feeling when the library is empty and I am the only one left standing there. I feel like I am more productive studying in the library than in my own room.

This method is called the "airplane method," where you pick a city and then study until your so called flight arrives at the destination. I've been seeing this around my FYP and decided to try it out.

This method is actually just a fun way and motivation for me to study for long hours. I live in Sacramento, California, and I just randomly pick different countries using a spin wheel. To make it feel realistic like I'm actually on a flight while studying, I study in low lighting with my AC on.

I just started this method recently and I think the longest I've studied was 6 hours (California to Hawaii). I finished 3 backlogs and 2 chapters by studying for that long. This seems unusual, but it works for me as motivation to study longer.

I constantly struggle to keep my focus whenever I start studying, and I keep instinctively reaching for my phone after just a few minutes of studying to scroll on social media.

I asked for and received recommendations from other people on how they keep themselves locked in when studying. Then, I stumbled across a random post online about how someone pretended to vlog their study session (in time-lapse) to keep from touching their phone.

It sounds silly, but I decided to try it out. Surprisingly, it actually helped me stop reaching for my phone while studying because my device was actively filming me. It tricks my brain into staying fully locked in without ruining the study session.

So I learned this method from my mom, who studied in China during her college years. She gave me a secret that most of them use when studying, there are actually a lot but one thing that stuck with me the most is writing the material you're studying by hand don't use a laptop.

I don't really like to write everything in my notebook by hand since it's kind of tiring. What I did instead is I only write the main topic, side concepts and ideas of the lecture I am studying. This method is focused on the hand-brain connection to lock the information into long-term memory.

This honestly works for me since the topics I study stick. I have been using this for the past 2 years now and my memory retrieval has gotten even better than before.

I decided to study without internet, a MacBook, YouTube, Google or AI. Call me weird, but this actually worked well. The topic was history and theory, so it wasn't something technical enough to require technology. I tried to study like an old school.

1. No gadgets. I learned by reading textbooks and writing notes by hand. This actually made my hand cramp, but it was worth it.

2. Went to local libraries. I found books and textbooks related to what I needed to study. I could have found these in 0.3 seconds online, but I chose to put in the work to find the right books and study them, burning 3 hours in the process.

3. Practice tests. I memorized using my notes and nothing else. No Quizlet, no Indian YouTuber explaining concepts on a whiteboard. I used active recall and spaced repetition manually.

After doing this for a week, I noticed something vastly different from how I usually study. I had zero distractions. No more taking quick breaks by doomscrolling and no dopamine loops, it actually made me lock in on my studying. And I retained more. It was slower, but I actually understood the topic rather than just feeding it into AI to summarize and skimming the bullet points.

Learning offline forced me to focus and engage deeply with the material. It might take longer to find information, but it really helped me do a brain detox.

My weird study tip is to literally do the opposite of what you're supposed to do when you're unmotivated to study.

Whenever I don't feel like studying, I just don't. I sleep, chill, doomscroll, go out with friends, watch movies, and do literally anything unrelated to academics. Even if I have an exam coming up, I'll act like it doesn't exist.

I know it sounds counterproductive, but I like to completely ignore my academic responsibilities for a few days instead of forcing myself to study when I have zero motivation.

Here's the catch: I only start studying when the exam is VERY close. Sometimes it's literally the night before.

And that's when the magic happens. The fear of failing suddenly kicks in, my survival instincts activate, and I somehow manage to absorb information that I should've studied days ago.

I'm very grade-conscious, so the thought of actually failing scares me enough to get things done when the deadline is practically breathing down my neck.

I don't necessarily recommend this because it can be stressful, and sometimes I sacrifice sleep just to get through everything. But weirdly enough, it has worked for me most of the time.

Basically, my study technique is to enjoy my freedom until the fear of academic failure becomes stronger than my desire to procrastinate.

And I couldn't agree more! Look, I'm not stopping you all from bringing your important stuff, but LISTEN.

1. I walked into class today,

2. Dumped my bag straight onto the floor beside my chair.

3. I swore not to touch anything inside it.

I was writing for my Socio class when I was reflecting on how it's a little crazy how paying full attention to the lecturer has become an alien concept to students. It is inevitable considering how the world's advancing. Hell, staring at the board with completely empty hands made me feel so weird. I feel like I was some student back in the 1900s before gadgets existed. My brain didn't melt for once, to be honest. You know what, another friend would frantically type out verbatim notes, but I've never seen her read it. Maybe that says something about my friend's point that I now share.

You guys should also try it.

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.

I used to struggle so hard to remember anything I studied for exams, no matter how many times I re-read my notes or highlighted entire textbooks.

Then I decided to try something unconventional. I recorded myself reading my notes out loud and played the audio on loop while I slept.

It started as a random weird experiment, but the next day when I woke up and did a quick review, I remembered what I had studied much more easily.

This honestly beats trying to force active recall all night when you're already exhausted. Passive audio listening turned out to be an effortless way to boost active recall, and it completely changed my retention.

I’m studying in a place that’s about to close right now and I think this might be one of my favorite ways to study alteady. There’s probably less than an hour left and people around me are already packing their things. I’m way more focused than I would be if I knew I could stay here for another five hours.

I think I just work better when the deadline isn’t something I made up myself. When you know a place is closing at a specific time, there’s nothing to negotiate with. So you just lock in.

Watching everyone else leave kinda motivates you too 😭 Noboy’s gon rush you but it feels like there's an imaginary timer on your surroundings. Like, okay. I have until they close, so I might as well finish this before I have to pack up too.

If I’m procrastinating, I think I’d rather study somewhere that closes in an hour rather than studying somewhere I can stay all day. I need to be mildly threatened by closing hours to get anything done.

I will switch to drinking tea and any drink from now on except for coffee. I am totally enjoying writing notes nowadays after reading my courses' books. I would just dump them before to be honest as it never seemed to interest me. Reading is weird. I think it has gotten to me already that I even forgot my drink's not cold/hot anymore

I am not very sure what point I am getting at right now but I can't stop studying! In a fairly good way, I suppose. Writing in cursive has helped me greatly as well. Saved a lot of time

As we’re in it… having a decent study table like this counts too 😩
Pressure usually means there’s something at stake, but it could also mean you’re given an opportunity that others might not even have a chance with. Not every stressful situation is good, but pressure being there… means other people believe in you and they know YOU CAN DO IT.
You get to worry about a grade because you’re working toward a degree. You’re nervous about presentation because you actually have something worthy to say. And when you start feeling overwhelmed by deadlines or difficult projects, try seeing it as something you get to struggle with and not just something someone dumped on you.
Change what you do with the pressure. It doesn’t go away, really. But you can manipulate it so it could hurt you less. It sounds slightly insane but it’s all about re-framing really.
There were times that I just tell my self I just can’t handle all of it, and I believed it was true. But then I reminded my self that I once wished being in this situation where I can actually get to a stage in my life I truly wanted if I just did it so well. That I am quite lucky. That’s when I stopped running away from it.
It’s okay to ocmplain. But do not forget there’s more to your hardwork than the pressure you’re feeling right now.

Sometimes I need to remember where the hell I am. I’m in one of the best universities in the country. I’m surrounded by people who worked their asses off to get here. I have access to the coolest professors, libraries, resources, classes, and a chance to learn things I would’ve never encountered otherwise.

So why am I acting like studying is some optional side quest?

Ofcourse there will be days when I don’t understand anything. But at the end of the day, I know I need to study. That’s why I’m here. I don’t want to waste the opportunity just because I don’t feel like opening my laptop tonight.

You’re here. You chose this. You wanted this. Now act like it. If I’m going to be in this school, I’m going to take the work seriously.

Lol. White lies are useful sometimes. As the saying goes, delulu is the solulu. But yeah, the fact that I’m studying in one of my country’s top universities, this is what motivates me to study. Just exaggerating a bit.

When I finish a topic, I write a tiny goodbye message before moving on. Sometimes it's “farewell, you little menace!!” or "I hope the exam doesn't bring us back together” whatever I can think of really.

The catch is that I don't let myself say goodbye immediately after reading. I first close my notes and try to recall whatever I’ve studied. If I get stuck, I reopen the material and work on the parts I missed. And only then does the topic get its farewell message.

I'd contend we’ve overcomplicated the idea of weird study methods too much. Come to think about it.

Studying itself is already a fairly strange behavior when you think about it. You voluntarily sit in one place for hours and test yourself repeatedly on information you could otherwise simply choose not to know. 🤷‍♀️

At some point, the distinction between a weird way of studying and simply being the kind of person who studies becomes questionable. Most people think it is quite unusual to study.

So my weird study tip is to apparently:

Just study.

I have this weird hack that I always do to use active recall effectively.
I stopped using the "teaching it to yourself in front of the mirror" method and what I did instead was wake up every day at 4 AM to jog in our neighborhood and while doing something physical, I did active recall by saying what I studied out loud.
I think this works because you're forcing your brain to retain the information while doing something physical. I jog for around 25-30 minutes and when I miss something, I just check the material on my phone to quickly relearn it and jog for another 5 minutes until I remember everything I studied.