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If you go straight from school to studying, you may feel burnt out and struggle to concentrate. Taking half an hour to prepare your mind and body for a study session can help you study more effectively.  Go for a short walk before beginning to study. Stretching by walking can help your body loosen up and clear your mind in preparation of studying.  If you're hungry, eat before studying but stick to a light snack or a small meal. Eating a heavy meal before studying can result in sleepiness. This can make it difficult to concentrate on studying. The mindset you have going into studying can affect the effectiveness of your study session. Work on fostering a positive mindset going into each study session.  Think positively when you study. Remind yourself that you are building new skills and abilities. Do not get discouraged if you struggle with something. Remind yourself you're studying because you need to improve so it's okay if you don't understand some material.  Do not engage in catastrophic or absolute thinking. Catastrophic thoughts include things like, "If I don't get this now, I never will." Absolute thoughts are things like, "I always do poorly on these exams." Instead, try to be realistic. Think to yourself, "I'm struggling with this information at the moment, but if I'm persistent I'm sure it will come to me."  Do not compare yourself to others. You're focused on doing well on this assignment for yourself. Other people's success or failure should not matter. Memory games, always known as mnemonic devices, are a means of remembering information by creating associations. They can be extremely helpful when it comes to smart studying.  Many people remember subjects by stringing words together to form sentences, the first letter of each word signifying part of a topic that requires memorization. For example, the sentence "Kings play cards on fat green stools" can be used to help remember the taxonomy ranking for animals: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.  Make sure you use mnemonic devices that are easy to remember. If you're creating your own mnemonic device, pick words and sentences that have personal meaning to you and that you will easily remember later. If you have notes, rewrite them. Rewriting the notes you have, changing the wording slightly, helps you actively engage with the material. You're not just repeating information but trying to explain it over and over again. This can help you process information and more easily remember it later on. Don't just copy out the material over and over again. Instead, try to condense it to the most basic points. Then, try to condense it again, until you have gotten to the most essential points.
Prepare your body and mind before studying. Study with the right mindset. Use memory games. Rewrite your notes.