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Taking online courses is now the norm for high school students in Canada. But whether students take classes online or in-person—or both—cultivating the right solitary study habits may empower each of them to do better in school.
These habits will also benefit students later in life when they enter the workforce. A student who learns how to study productively on their own will understand how to prepare for their presentation at an upcoming conference, for instance. Similarly, a student who learns how to study without procrastinating will understand how to prep for an interview.
Here are three solitary study habits that will benefit high school students now and in the future.
#1 Plan Your Studies
There are productive kinds of solitary studying, and unproductive kinds of solitary studying, and the former starts with planning.
It’s no coincidence that students who plan out and follow a study schedule tend to do better than students who don’t. This applies to students who study in-person in Canada as well as students who study at the best online high school in Ontario.
When you plan out your study schedule, studying becomes habitual, even natural, and you prep your brain to absorb more information than you would otherwise.
If you don’t already have a study schedule, that’s okay. You can start developing one by gradually changing your study habits.
If you tend to study whatever you want whenever you want, for instance, you can begin to develop a study schedule by setting aside twenty minutes for one subject at 4 pm and another twenty minutes for a different subject at 5 pm.
When you start a study session for one course by looking over your notes for that course, you refamiliarize yourself with the course material and prep your brain to absorb and retain more information
The trick is to change your study habits gradually, step-by-step, because habit formation takes time.
#2 Study the Difficult Subjects First
Studying for classes you find easy is not the same as studying for classes you don’t. The latter may be frustrating and more labour-intensive, and for this reason, you may avoid it at all costs.
But studying for the most challenging classes can be more important than studying for other classes, especially if you want to earn good grades across the board and raise your GPA.
Just as it’s prudent to eat your vegetables before eating your dessert, so too is it prudent to study the subjects you find difficult before the subjects you don’t.
Say you find chemistry more challenging than biology. Plan your studies so you study chemistry from 4 to 4:45 pm, then biology from 5 to 5:45 pm.
If you find it helpful, you can try setting aside more time to study chemistry than biology.
Eventually, you may no longer find chemistry so challenging—and, who knows, it might become your new favourite subject
#3 Begin Studying by Looking Over Your Notes
Not consulting their notes at the beginning of their study sessions is a mistake many students at all levels make.
When you start a study session for one course by looking over your notes for that course, you refamiliarize yourself with the course material and prep your brain to absorb and retain more information.
Looking over your notes takes only a few minutes but can make a world of difference.
The Bottom Line
Whether students in Canada take online or in-person high school classes, they’ll do better when they study on their own in the right kinds of ways, for instance by planning out their study schedule and beginning each study session by consulting their notes.
It may be difficult at first to alter your current solitary study habits or replace them with new ones entirely, but it’s very possible, and soon enough you’ll see the difference.
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