Study Hacks for Students Who Work Part-Time

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With the spring semester in full swing, finding time to study on top of working, on or off campus, can be difficult. With all the time management in the world, it is still an uphill battle to immerse yourself in the work and retain it enough to still ace your quizzes, tests, and in-class essays. But there are plenty of study hacks that can help you reduce your study time and maximize your retention to keep you from pulling all-nighters to study before your midterms.

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This list is broken down into 5 sections: Time Management & Planning, Active Studying Techniques, Productivity & Optimization, Self Care & Sustainability, and Extra Tips.

Time Management & Planning

Without time management & planning, there will be no solid foundation to upgrade your study skills in the long run. Planning gives you ample time to space out assignments, days to study, and coordinate your work schedules so they won’t interfere with your studies as much. This doesn’t mean you have to become Type A with planning if you’re an ADHD’er like myself, but there are some building blocks you can follow to get you on the right track.

• Time-Blocking: The same way you block out times for classes and work, you do the same for studying. Dedicating specific time blocks for learning makes it easier to remember, and you can outline them based on the assignments you have. When I made mine, I often created events on my phone, such as “Start Studying for Midterm” or “Start Essay 1 for ENG 303,” to give myself ample time to work.
• Prioritize Tasks: Managing 4+ classes on top of a job can be tough, but rearranging my tasks from the closest to furthest due date was an excellent way for me to keep my sanity instead of spreading myself too thin to get all of my assignments done. It also worked with my ADHD since I often work better under tighter deadlines. On the day, I would keep my tasks to a max of 3 high-priority ones to avoid burnout.
• Utilize Small Gaps: While it can feel like there’s never enough time to study, there are perfect moments where you can review without having to go to a library. When commuting to school or work, listening to recorded lectures is great because it reduces interference.

Active Studying Techniques

One of the best ways to maximize your studying isn’t through rereading presentation slides or lecture notes. It’s through active recall. Active recall is a learning method in which you rely more on your memory to recall information without looking at your notes. This is especially important to build upon when working towards your midterms and finals, as passive study methods such as rereading and highlighting can only take you so far. The more you practice active recall, the stronger your long-term retention becomes. Below are additional examples and tips to improve your active recall skills.

• Active Recall: A method in which you can test yourself using flashcards or answering practice questions to boost your long-term retention.
  • Example: Let’s say you’re working on an English midterm that requires you to recall key information from a Jane Austen unit. While rereading your slides can be a good starting point to refresh your memory if it was from early on in your class, the best way to recall the answer is to ask yourself simple questions. Ask yourself: “When was Persuasion written?” “Who is the titular character in Pride & Prejudice?” and see how fast you can recall those answers while building upon them with complex questions.
• The Feynman Technique: A method in which you learn through teaching. The more you break down complex concepts as if you were teaching someone else, the more you learn in the long run.
  • Example: Say you’re working on a chemistry final and you’re identifying your weak areas, such as chemical bonding. Instead of rereading your notes and hoping for the best, you would take the time to identify any gaps in your learning, such as the differences between ionic, covalent, and metallic bonds. Fill in the gaps with additional research, then refine it into a lesson in your own words. Ask yourself how you would break down the differences between the three bonds and their interactions. What words would you switch out that would be too hard for a new student to understand? How would you apply this to the real world? Once you’re done, use active recall to test your knowledge.
• Group Study/Study Buddies: Create study groups to share notes, test each other, and fill in any gaps in each other’s learning. For fellow ADHD students, body doubling, a method where another person is with you while you work, fits this tip.

Productivity & Optimization

While time management is key to studying, specific methods under the optimization umbrella are essential for students. Even with all the time management in the world, optimizing your time blocks will make them more valuable. Below are the following methods/advice.

• The Pomodoro Technique: A more popular method, and one of my favorites to work with my ADHD. You work in 25-minute intervals, with a 5-minute break in between, helping you manage fatigue and burnout.
• The 52/17 Rule: Similar to the former, but with longer intervals if you’re becoming more disciplined. You work for 52 minutes, then take a 17-minute break.
• Minimize Distractions: I’m guilty of having my room be a distraction paradise. I fixed it by turning off unnecessary devices, repurposing others, and changing my location as needed. For a study session, I would put my phone on “Do Not Disturb,” allowing only emergency contacts to reach me. On tough days, I would put down time on my phone to force myself to focus. If I studied in my room, I would put Lo-Fi on my TV to keep me from watching shorts or cartoons. If I needed a change of scenery, I would study in the library, a park, or a café to calm my mind.

Self-Care & Sustainability

While studying is essential to survive college, the most crucial part of your academic journey is self-care. If you don’t take care of yourself, you will burn out faster than you realize. Below are some tips to take care of yourself.

• Sleep: Granted, working and going to school make it nearly impossible to get sleep, but I will always champion sleep above all. It doesn’t matter if it’s a catnap or a full nine hours. Always get your sleep in, as you won’t realize how quickly a nap will boost your energy until you do it once.
• Avoid All-Nighters: While this can be a slightly unpopular take, I’ll explain why. In relation to the former, all-nighters will not help you boost your retention. Your brain will be on overload trying to perform without its proper energy. More than likely, you will also be too tired while working on your test and risk failure because your brain will not function at its top capability. If anything, get the sleep in and wake up earlier to study, as your brain will thank you later.
• Take Scheduled Breaks: Whether you’re taking breaks at school, at work, or while you’re studying, your breaks should only be about giving your system time to reboot. Remember, short, regular breaks prevent burnout and boost memory retention.
• Protect Your Energy: While we all need the money, you can’t spread yourself too thinly working long hours, going to school, and getting in peak study time without factoring in self-care and your personal life. Be honest with yourself about how sustainable your work and school schedules are, so you can have enough time for the rest of your life and not be burnt out from how your life revolves only around productivity.
• Reward Yourself: Use small, immediate rewards to keep motivation high. I like to reward myself with candy, a chance to doomscroll for a bit, or a quick game to keep my mind alert.

Extra Tips

While you’re just about ready to take on the world through studying, here are some tips I want to leave you with to stay grounded while in school.

1.  Accept that studying isn’t your entire life, as you are more than that.
2.  Calm down and manage stress first to create solid foundations.
3.  Build habits around solutions to maintain long-term success.
4.  Customize your studying approach to maximize your success.
5.  Keep learning through failures, not just successes.

Learning is a gift, and you should treat it as such without it costing you. Wishing you the best of luck in your academic and post-academic careers!

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