PC : Amit Shibu
To say that the first-ever survey released by The Page was a success would be an understatement. With over 100 responses, we at The Page have compiled all the ways students in Rajagiri study. The tips and tricks, the highs and lows, the slumps and surges towards achieving desirable grades. Whether it’s to get a high CGPA or if it’s just to pass that annoying subject that you really don’t want to write again, we present to you the different study methods used by students in Rajagiri (with the statistics to back it up).
Further encouraging the stereotype that fourth year students have a lot of time on their hands: our main responders were the wonderful students of S7. They made up about 52.8% of our responses. There was tight competition between third-year intakes and second-year intakes but in the end, the third years won with a margin of 0.8%. About 22.8% of the responders were third years while 22% were second-years.
We’ve all heard of different study methods: Feynman’s Technique, mind mapping, blurting, active recall, SQ3R and many more. The majority of the students have heard of popular techniques like active recall (75.6%) and mind mapping (74%). More detailed methods like Mnemonics (52.8%), SQ3R (44.7%), Feynman Technique (43.1%), Blurting (40.7%) and Memory palaces (30.9%) are less well-known than the others but still relevant in this day and age.
Studying is a habit encouraged (and sometimes, enforced on us) by our elders since the very age that we can read. We’ve all had a roster of study techniques throughout our life. The roster being: Handwritten notes, highlighting, blurting, mind mapping and pomodoro. The most popular study method is stated to be watching YouTube (78.9%). From the fun, animated, and informational children’s cartoons to the sweat-inducing, gruelling 74 minute video on quantum mechanics: Youtube has had our back through thick and thin.
The second most popular study method is teaching someone, at 74%. It’s also the most preferred study method, at 56.1%. Whether it’s teaching your mom or that empty wall that you’ve been passionately making eye contact with for the past 14 minutes: we don’t judge. This study method is scientifically labeled as The Protege Effect. To teach someone, one must know the topic like the back of their hand. When you teach someone something, you tend to avoid giving out incorrect information. This method highlights the gaps in your knowledge and vastly improves and smoothens the learning process.
Another popular vote was Group study (69.9% have used it and 26% prefer it). Group study boosts morale and mood almost instantly. To be surrounded by the people you trust and love while going through the toughest battles known to mankind (that one chapter that is just pure theory) is the true beauty of humankind. Discussing concepts and clarifying questions improves comprehension of the topic. Another powerful kicker in Group study is the fear of being left out: seeing that one friend (who has probably never touched a book in their life) studying will make you realise the gravity of your situation and finally get you to simmer down and study.
There are other study techniques that require a lot more dedication and consistency. Study methods like spaced repetition (preferred by 21.1%), rewriting notes (39%) and studying the portions given on that very day (19.5%) are grueling but very handy. Once a pattern has already been established, it’s hard to break. Studying becomes a second nature rather than a chore to overcome. It helps in taking off the huge load before exams and also helps in understanding ongoing classes. A main advantage that most people look past is the boost in confidence that comes with studying everyday.
Pomodoro ranks 4th in the preference list with 18.7%, while a total of 43.1% have used it in their lives at some point. Pomodoro is specifically designed to optimise focus, prevent burnout, get over procrastination and handle time management. It’s based on the idea that our brains work best in short focused time intervals immediately followed by brief breaks. A study posted by Harvard Health Publishing states that working in small chunks of time with rest periods optimises focus. Research says it’s 20-45 minutes, which is why the starting goal of every pomodoro timer is 20 minutes with 5 minutes of break time. As the tasks finish, the focus time increases from 20 minutes to 30 to 45. Respectively, the break times increase with each increasing focus time.
Another popular study method adopted by almost everyone universally was the fear of failure. More specifically, the hassle of writing a supply in case they fail. To quote that one responder who answered the “Which study method worked the best for you personally?” question with, “Seeing that I got 3 modules and 12 hours left”.
For some people (like me) fear is an obstacle but to many others, it is a weaponised tool. The fear of failure was the second most popular study method, at 52%, and there’s a reason for it. In a society that wants nothing but perfection and a job market that sees you as nothing more than a number in a statistic, it’s hard not to let the pressure get to you. To take that pressure and to twist it in a way that benefits you entirely is a skill in and of itself.
There’s a thin line between not wanting to disappoint our loved ones over our personal interest and fearing their disappointment and disapproval. That fear, though unfortunate, is the main driving force behind many students’ relentless pursuit. The only downside being, with the inevitable disappointment that comes from never being enough, their motivation and morale crumbles too.
For many people, their main source of motivation isn’t a thought or an object but rather a person. To have someone believe in you and see the good that lies within, even when you can’t see it for yourself. To see them relentlessly believe in your potential even with the failures that have obstructed your view—for many, that’s their main drive. Whether it’s a nagging parent or a friend who has never left your side since the dawn of college, we all have someone who loves us and counts on us to be the best versions of ourselves.
Gaslighting myself into believing that I am capable of absorbing HUGE amounts of data. Genuine delusion. It does work somehow, I think it has to do with placebo lol. – What is the weirdest studying habit you’ve adopted?
When it comes to study methods that work the least though, the one that takes the cake is Group study with a poll of 47.2%. The main complaint being that people always end up talking off-topic and don’t finish any of the portions needed. Second one being highlighting (39.8%) as people just ended up highlighting the entire text. Third is pomodoro with 35%—the breaks turned into naps.
The biggest distraction that everyone agrees on is their phone (74.8%). So if you hurl your phone out the nearest window, your problem will be over right? Wrong. The second biggest distraction is your own thoughts (64.2%). That’s fine, we can just scoot over and be with people to drown the sound of our own thoughts. Except, the third biggest distraction are your friends (19.5%). It seems that the only right answer is accepting the fact that anything and everything is a distraction (33.3%).
Phones are the bane of our existence. Students opt to use it until it has run out of charge, lock away their phone, deactivate their social media during exams, use block apps, turn on airplane mode, keep their phone in another room or give it to their friends and tell them to hide it until they’re finished with their work. When that doesn’t work, most students start self therapising. For some a quick “What am I doing right now?” works, while for others they start begging themselves to study. If all those don’t work, they bring out the big guns: they think about open house, supply, unemployment, and a life full of chores.
When asked what people can’t study without: The most popular answer was notes (65.9%). Whether it’s handwritten ones or the ones that were hastily sent in the class group chat 10 minutes before an exam: Notes tend to come in clutch. When it comes to studying for exams, every single note is accepted with open arms—from the wonderfully colour coordinated notes to the messy incomprehensible scribbles that you doodled while you were half asleep in an afternoon session.
The second thing people voted for was music (22%). In a 2013 study, music was found to elevate people’s mood and reduce their stress. Music is more than just a relaxing tool. According to a 2014 study published by PubMed Central: Classical music, in specific, helps the brain absorb and interpret new information easily.
24.4% of our responders prefer Lo-fi or soft music, 17.1% prefer white noise and 15.4% prefer background chatter. Most people need absolute silence while studying (54.5%) but there are a select few who work the best in loud environments like listening to a fast paced orchestra or being stuck in an unfortunate situation with a roommate who is, and I quote, “a certified yapper”.
A close competitor was snacks, at 21.3%. Unlike 8.1% of our responders that don’t snack while they study, 16.3% find it an absolute must to snack on something in order to concentrate. Most of our responders only drink water (39.8%) while the rest stock up when they know it’s time to pull a deadly all-nighter (35.8%). A common snack that everyone chooses is nuts, and for good reasons! Nuts are multi nutritional and are packed with minerals that help us in many ways. Dark chocolate and other cocoa products help improve brain performance and relieve mental fatigue—perfectly tailored for that one all-nighter you’re going to pull for that subject you severely underestimated. Sour treats like berries and citrus fruits help replenish your hunger and attention at once, all while feeding your body the nutrients that it needs. Egg yolks are the one part of the egg commonly ignored and hastily thrown away due to certain dietary complaints—yet they promote short-term learning, memory scores and attention span in students.
Reading your answers was certainly enjoyable, some answered with a serious tone, while others were seriously unserious. Your responses were a true testament to what we have in common—being engineering students. They all had the same unhinged, burnt-out, barely hanging on for dear life trying to juggle everything (records, assignments, seminars, exams, and the like) sort of vibe to it, making it clear that we’re all on the same boat, regardless of our branches. Outsiders may assume that none of us study if they read your responses. Surprise surprise—a solid 52.2% of us have a CGPA more than 8. Whatever study methods you are using, whether it be teaching someone else, talking to walls as if they’re students, or even the revered Pomodoro technique, is working. If that’s not the definition of engineering student resilience, I don’t know what is.
