Study Tips for Grad School

Happy belated Hump Day!  I'm slowly emerging from the dark caverns of paper-writing.  I've had 6 papers due within the last week, one of which was a 20-page research paper worth 35% of our grade.  As of now, I have written and submitted 4 of the 6 (including the research paper) so I'm feeling a little better. After this week's struggles, I decided to make this blog post about grad school study tips.  I don't consider myself an expert in this area by any means, but I have decent study habits and I worked at the tutoring center at my undergrad so this was something that we taught the students.  I will say that grad school study habits are very different from undergrad, the biggest difference being that in grad school, procrastination is a luxury that is to be enjoyed with much caution.

Study Tip #1:  Look at your syllabuses (syllabi?) as soon as you receive them and make a calendar of your assignments.  Sometimes professors change due dates, but at least you can plan ahead.  That way during the weeks where 6 assignments are due, you can start some of them during weeks when your workload is lighter. 

Study Tip #2:  Don't pull all-nighters!  Maybe I'm just a baby, but I cannot function after getting no sleep.  In undergrad it may have been possible to do this before a big exam or paper and then sleep all day, but with my GA and other classes, I can't afford to be groggy any day of the week.  Regardless of your schedule, all-nighters in grad school are not a good idea.  None of us are 18 years old anymore and can get by on 2 hours of sleeping on a library table followed by chugging sugar-free Red Bull (I never could do this, but props to those who can).  

Study Tip #3:  Plan out your writing and set page goals for each day.  Again, this might be a personal thing, but I cannot sit down and write 20 pages in one day.  I'd drive myself insane and the pages would all contain terrible writing, with a mini-panic attack occurring between pages 10 and 12.  Especially for long papers, it's much less stressful to start earlier and write a few pages each day.  Ideally, I like to reserve the night before for proofreading and no additional writing, but that's not always possible.

That's all I've got!  I know that all of us have different schedules, lifestyles, and preferences, but these tips really help me.  Now I'll get back to work...I have a short paper due tomorrow and then a midterm for my law class due at the end of the weekend.