Development of certain study habits helps you go a really long way. In fact, it is the best investment of your time to achieve something fruitful. You might not be good in these practices right from your childhood, but you need to mould yourself with time to embrace these habits. In fact, you can efficiently prepare for college by following a few standard principles of time management, and organization.

Here are some basic study habits to help you prepare for college as well as improve your overall GPA:

• Fix a particular study place and time-frame:
  You should have a set place and time to study. It surely makes a difference. Selecting a suitable study-place helps you get into the right mood to initiate your day’s coursework. It reduces your tendency to get distracted. Studying at different places might deviate your focus or reduce your learning pace. It might get you more stressed about homework and studying. Also, having a set time-frame helps you to get mentally programmed to “only” study at that time.

• Effective Time-management
  You might feel like you have a full day to yourself. But, how productive you make a day depends on your time-management skills. Before starting with your study-session, you need to be skilled in managing your time. Get started with the more difficult tasks and material, gradually moving towards less stressful tasks as the day comes to an end. This is a very healthy learning habit. You might tend to get worked out by the midday itself depending on the level of the tasks you handle in the beginning. So, in such cases, it is easier to work upon easier topics rather than tough ones.

• Analyze your learning pattern
  No matter how many tips you follow or how many pieces of advice you take from your elders, ultimately you need to listen to yourself. After all, you know what works for you the best. For some of you, solving math problems gets easier while listening to soft music. Or it might work better for you if you take some snacks before starting a new topic. Maybe you grasp things better in the early afternoon, or late at night.  Just remember you need to be optimized for learning at the specific time frame. So, accept your learning style and work it out accordingly, rather than following other experts blindly.

• Try being ahead of your schedule
  When you have a good understanding of a material before the instructor explains you the topic, you are more likely to grasp better.  Making notes of new topics becomes more systematic and easier. Follow the same trend when you are enrolled in an online course.  Just do not sit idle just because you have managed to finish your daily schedule. Start with the next day’s schedule if you still feel fresh and try being ahead. It helps you to finish your schedule early and thus boost up your confidence. Also, you can get time to revise and practice more during your free time.

• Research more
  Remember a wholesome learning always goes a long way. Do not even think of studying a topic just for the sake of it. You literally need to digest each topic if you want to master it and ultimately score well. Try digging deeper, especially when you have doubts pertaining to a specific topic. More research leads to more questions, and more questions lead to deeper knowledge if answered properly.

• Actively participate is discussions or debates
  In case of online learning, you shall not gain anything being a passive spectator! You need to participate in discussion boards, collaborative projects, group discussions and other such activities if you truly want to shine. In case you are too much of an introvert, take the help of your parents to teachers to break your own barriers.

• Get into the right study group
  Many a times, you might find you are lagging behind in certain topics. While you can study in an isolated environment, you can actually find it useful to join virtual study groups to discuss your concerns and stay ahead of your course. However, make sure to make friends with the meaningful people. It also helps you to stay motivated.

• Get help whenever required
  You might run into a course that is struggling or taxing.  The math might be too advanced; the topic might be too high-level etc. Do not dwell upon frustrating thoughts, anger or fear of failure.  Rather, be systematic and make a note of all the doubts have in a specific topic. Make sure to address those doubts to you online teacher at the end of the day or at least by the end of the week. Ask for one-on-one time from your teacher. You need to initiate conversation with your online teacher in such cases and be completely transparent.

• Set your priorities straight
  When you are sorted out in your mind as to what is your number one priority, it shall be easier for you to make adjustments accordingly. You might not experience a smooth personal life throughout. But, you need to make sure that your coursework is smooth at any cost, unless there is some really severe issue.

• Do not over-stress yourself before examination
  There might be cases when you may have to stay awake till late night to finish a paper or working on a project to maintain the deadline. To be honest, avoid such situations. The only solution to prevent such situations is to diligently follow your schedule no matter what. Daily work keeps you safe from any unwanted pending work or last minute submissions. Especially, last minute preparations can be terrifying and mostly with a bad outcome. So, a bit of everyday stress is better than last minute of extreme stress.

The Ogburn Online School offers many special advanced courses for high-school students to get prepared for college-level work. Taking such courses, you need to make sure you follow the above tips!