Does anyone have any homework/studying tips?

[MercyWalk]

Learn to understand concepts while studying rather than just remembering/doing answers

Be confident in telling people to not interrupt you if you enjoy studying alone, I know I do.

Do it, and force yourself to until it's just a part of your routine.

[Wist]

Some good strategies and ideas have already been brought up. So I'm going to post something unorthodox instead. You'll know best if this might work for you, but it works for me.

I suffer from wanderlust and use to jump around between projects without getting far in any of them. Anyone who's talked with me on IRC about game completion knows this about me. This reinforced a habit of procrastinating on pretty much everything, including things I enjoyed. So I exploited this.

When I was studying Japanese, I replaced my standard guilty pleasures (don't think this is the correct term but I can't think of a better one) with Japanese related tasks. If I got bored reading a Japanese book, I'd watch anime or find some recipes on cookpad. If I was getting frustrated with a game, I'd give my Anki flashcard deck a go for a few minutes. Oftentimes I'd end up going through the whole deck then returning to the game. I had turned procrastination into a tool for keeping myself working towards a grander aim.

Right now I'm teaching myself mathematics, algorithms, electrical engineering, and programming. These subjects are closely related. By working on any one of these topics I know I'm making progress towards a more general goal of deepening my understanding of computer science.

This is not the most efficient strategy, but it's not a bad one. I've found it doesn't take much effort to switch how I procrastinate, certainly much less than setting rules and timetables for myself. It works well if you can gamify your assignments as well.

If you have multiple projects you need to work on, make doing a little homework what you do when you procrastinate instead of what you normally do (read news? go on Serenes Forest? play games?). Make it into a game with micro-goals. Decide to write a paragraph, regardless of whether it's rubbish. If you get into the flow of it set another micro-goal. Otherwise let yourself procrastinate, but do so by reading a textbook or researching something about what you're studying, setting another gamey goal (finish in ten minutes, or three lines of notes). You can then keep flipping around tasks you need to do to procrastinate on what you're working on at any given time.

Again, this isn't an efficient method for getting everything done. But if you typically wait until the night before something's due to plough through it, this strategy will help immensely. The others mentioned in the thread will too, of course, but I find this one easy because I can still feel like I'm not actually setting out to work on something I don't want to do.

Sorry this post is disorganized. I challenged myself to writing one post but I want to get back to what I was doing now. ~_~ If what I said is confusing, let me know and I'll tighten it up.

[Defeatist Elitist]

If you have multiple projects you need to work on, make doing a little homework what you do when you procrastinate instead of what you normally do (read news? go on Serenes Forest? play games?). Make it into a game with micro-goals. Decide to write a paragraph, regardless of whether it's rubbish. If you get into the flow of it set another micro-goal. Otherwise let yourself procrastinate, but do so by reading a textbook or researching something about what you're studying, setting another gamey goal (finish in ten minutes, or three lines of notes). You can then keep flipping around tasks you need to do to procrastinate on what you're working on at any given time.

Holy hell, this. I have major issues with motivation and completion sometimes, even with things I really like, but this helps so goddamn much. It's like having a superpower. Sometimes, when I have to read a book or something, I just say "Okay, I'm going to read a third of the book each day and not let myself stop until I've done it", and then BAM, you've read the book in three days.

[Knight]

I want to say thank you to everyone on this thread, this advice was really helpful.

[ViewtifulBo]

Basically just don't get distracted. That's my advice lol. And if you need motivation just call up your folks or talk with your girlfriend/boyfriend or whoever, it gives you a nice moral boost. Also when I'm left wondering why I'm doing this in the first place I often go to my local hospital. That's why I do it. Coffee is a MAJOR help too. ;)

[intergalacticoh]

The fact that you made this post is a good start, because it shows that you care.

Develop good study habits in high school!!! That's the key to doing well. High school work is good practice for what you'll experience in college. I personally like to make to-do lists and keep a calendar at eye-level near my desk so that I can see exactly when things are due. In high school, I only took honors physics, and AP music theory and stats. The rest were standard-level, because I didn't want to put in the effort for college credits, and honors classes are, in all honesty, a waste of everyone's time. So, I developed pretty piss poor study habits. I'm actually supposed to be studying for an exam right now.

Force yourself to do some good work in the first ten or so minutes, and get yourself in the zone. It's not bad from there. Good luck man!

EDIT: I forgot, studying with friends is a huge help!! They can answer your questions and also help to keep you focused (the good ones at least)

Edited April 28, 2014 by intergalacticoh

[Makaze]

Mix things up when studying. Change locations, walk around, listen to different music. Humans retain information better if they can associate each concept with different stimuli.

[Xator Nova]

- stay off the interwebz

- Make sure your room is clean. It is impossible to learn adequately in an unorganized place.

- Use a calender and write down the important days. Learn your stuff days or even weeks before the exam, many times. I remember I had to prepare myself for a month for my finals.

- Write notes about the stuff you're learning, or even a summary. If you've to write a composition for a exam, that's particularly useful because you already know which sentences you can use.

- Try to do a presentation about the stuff you're learning in front of a mirror.

- Don't try to study right after lunch or dinner. You won't concentrate yourself.

- Don't try to study if you feel tired. It won't work.

- If you have friends have the possibility to study with your friends, it is generally a good idea.

As for homework...

JUST DO IT. Sit down and make sure you finish everything without any sort of distraction.

[Azura]

A friend of mine once delivered this gem, which I have found to apply to most subjects that isn't science or maths

And then you just open the sluice which says 'bs', and let it come out thick and fast, and then you close the sluice, and then, voila, you have written your essay.