Getting ahead of the game: Start your study early

By Eimear Dinneen - 3 minute read

This one is for all of you who are keen to get ahead of the game. Starting early is one of the best things you can do to make life easy for future you. Read on to see how you can kickstart the best study path for the year ahead and why it will help.

Why it's smart to start early

1. Time moves fast

It might seem pointless to start now because exams still seem so far away. As someone who's been through the system already, trust me: time FLIES! Ask anyone who has been through exams, and they'll all tell you that time creeps up on you and before you know it the exams are just a few weeks away and you feel helpless. Start now and save yourself the stress later on.

2. A little goes a long way

The impact of doing small study tasks now might not seem huge, but what you're essentially doing is revising something now to make sure that you don't have to spend as much time revising it later on. You don't have to start off with a huge workload, just do one or two extra revision tasks after your homework. Starting with easier tasks will incentivise your brain to do more and set up a good routine for you. You'll get into a rhythm of doing this daily which will make your life so much easier to keep up a good flow throughout the year!

3. Because your future self will thank you

It's always hard to have the foresight to know what's good for future you, which is why we're here to tell you instead! Most JC and LC students will say they wish they'd started earlier: take their advice and reap the rewards come exam time. You'll be calm and collected, knowing you've put in the work since day one.

How to kickstart your study

Make a study plan

The first thing you need to do in order to get the most out of your study is make a plan. Making a study plan lets you visualise what you need to get done, will put your mind in organisation and focus mode, and allows you to set goals, targets and study outcomes.

Lucky for you, we've already made a study plan template for you here on Studyclix and you can view it and print it off. Once you've done that, fill it in and start studying the most important and vital topics/subjects for you. Start small and just fill in some quick and easy study tasks like making flashcards of the topics you covered today in class or organising your folders: You can add more ambitious tasks like essay writing or tougher revision of tricky topics later on.

Set up your own revision books & go over what you did each day

This is a really easy way to feel productive. You might think that there's nothing to do in the first couple of weeks of school other than homework. However, you're covering new things every day in your classes and you can condense this information into your notes to revise later.

For example, if you've had a French class today and learned 5 new words: get a notebook that's dedicated to French vocab and write those words in along with their translation. Or if you've been doing English and learned some new insights about a poet, a theme, or a question, write that into a notebook or create some flashcards for it: there is always something that you can be doing to keep your brain moving!

Stay organised

Being organised is the key to staying calm & collected throughout the school year. Stress and anxiety around exams often come from the feeling of being unprepared. If you can organise yourself and your study plans early on in the year, you'll have much less to worry about come exam time because you'll know that you've kept on top of the work for the last few months and you're well-able for whatever comes your way.

Pushing yourself to make a plan as often as you can and keeping well-managed folders & notes will make you feel accomplished, help you study more effectively, and help you stay on top of things: This will give you the headspace to do efficient work and give you time off to relax too!

Commit and focus

It's easy to get caught up in the fresh-start feeling of being back in school and feeling like you're going to make a great effort this year. Everyone in the world shares this feeling each year when New Year comes along: it feels great and you really think you can keep up with this new resolution. However, for most people, after a couple of weeks, they've forgotten to stick with the new resolution and everything goes back to how it was.

Sounds grim, I know! It doesn't have to be this way though; the cause of this is often a lack of focus and commitment. It takes about 21 days to make a habit and 90 for it to really stick. So if you want to be a really efficient student come Christmas time, you need to be diligent with yourself and make sure you're forcing yourself through a couple of annoying study sessions for the first couple of weeks. It will be a bit gruelling but will definitely pay off.

Finally...

I've spent a long time now telling you how to keep working hard, but it's important to not overdo it either! Yes it's a great idea to take little steps now and slowly build up your study habits, but you don't need to go wild either: appreciate and enjoy the lighter workload and remember to keep joyful and fun things in your day too.

I hope this blog helps! Don’t hesitate to send us a message if you have any questions.

Best of luck with the study!