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Do you prefer a quiet place when you study, or does background music help you focus? When it comes to new ways on how to study, do you use apps or follow any trends to help make exam preparation more effective? Ultimately, the best way to study comes down to individual preference, but it’s always good to explore and sample new approaches. According to a McGraw-Hill Education study, 81% of students say digital tools have helped improve their grades, and 82% say laptops, tablets and apps have encouraged them to spend more time studying. A leader in innovative education, Raritan Valley Community College has released its list of top study techniques among students. Read below to see if your study skills made the list and feel free to adopt some or share with friends.

RVCC’s Top 6 Study Tips

1. Location, Location, Location is Key!

If you take a stroll throughout RVCC’s campus, you will likely see students studying all over campus, including by the Welcome Center, in the lounge areas of the College Center, West Building and Science Building. Ultimately, the ideal location is a personal preference. Try a variety of options and evaluate where you are most productive.

2. Consider Collaborative Learning.

If you don’t know already, RVCC’s Evelyn S. Field Library offers several study rooms where you can study as a group. Located upstairs, the study rooms can be reserved in advance. To learn more, click here.  Another useful tip for social learning is to use the GoConqr app, which can help you collaborate with classmates.

3. Use Flashcards—Low-Tech or High-Tech.

Flashcard apps such as Chegg, Evernote or StudyBlue are designed to help you learn things more quickly and ace your toughest classes. If you choose to use paper flashcards, you can organize the cards with harder concepts toward the front of the stack and the cards that have easier-to-grasp information toward the back. This method, called the Leitner System, allows you to learn through repetition. The cards toward the front are studied most frequently, forcing you to review the information that you may not know as well over and over again.

4. Connect the Dots!

Instead of simply memorizing your material, try to make connections between the concepts presented. Known as contextual learning, this technique revolves around the idea that new concepts are more likely to “sink in” when they are placed in your own frame of reference such as a personal experience. For instance, if you are reading about an important date in history, you can relate it back to your own life or the storyline of a movie that you watched, making it easier to remember because it is more personal.

5. Pretend that You’re the Professor.

Speaking out loud, walk through your material step-by-step just as a professor would in front of his or her students. You can even jazz it up a bit by using a British accent or another of your choice.

6. Play to Learn?

As a child, you learned by playing. A bit of that still might be true if you utilize fun learning techniques. For instance, you can create a trivia game so that you and your classmates can quiz each other before that next big exam. Another fun study tip is to draw pictures that represent key ideas, making it easier to remember. Sketch-Notes is an app that can help you with this. For instance, if you need to know several steps in a process, each step could be represented by an image.

Raritan Valley Community College is devoted to providing students with the tools they need to thrive and excel in the workforce. Faculty and staff work tirelessly to explore innovative and exciting ways for students to learn, create and thrive.

About RVCC

RVCC has been ranked the #1 community college in NJ by BestColleges.com, WalletHub.com and Niche.com, and Zippia.com has ranked RVCC as the best community college in NJ for getting a job. As a leading state college in New Jersey, RVCC serves students locally from Somerset County and Hunterdon County, across the country, and around the world, offering top degree programs and the best local career training. For information, visit www.raritanval.edu.