Students at Harvard who have higher average grades recommend that you take breaks while studying (Harvard). Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, and Yale University also recommend taking breaks while studying. These four universities are four of the top universities in the United States, and they have admission rates of 5-10%. This shows that most, if not all, of their students are the top students in the United States. There are a number of other ways that can help students have higher grades in their classes, and although most people use different methods and techniques to study, there are still numerous study tips that may be able to help a majority of people. Effective ways to study well include: taking breaks while studying, not procrastinating, and planning ahead and sticking to your plan.

First of all, when studying, the majority of people work through all of their homework without taking breaks. However, people should take breaks. The brain can only absorb so much information at a time (Harvard). This means that if people study for a long duration of time without taking a break, it could lead to the brain not absorbing the information (MIT). This could lead to people not doing well on tests. Also, studies have shown that wakeful rest plays an important role in the practice of learning a new skill, so if a person take breaks, they will be more likely to remember the new information, and they will understand new information more than they would if they did not take breaks.

Second, procrastinating is not recommended (MIT). For some people, it might be tempting to do all of their assignments until the day they’re due. Procrastinating is not beneficial (Yale). It does not help with long term memory, and it won’t help people remember what they learned for a long period of time (Harvard). This could lead to not doing well on a test or a future assignment where you might not be able to use notes. Also, even if the person does well on the test, they might not be able to remember the information later on when they truly need it. This could lead to not doing well on standardized tests.

Finally, planning ahead can be beneficial. There are people who say that planning ahead is for people who don’t know what they’re doing. This is not the case. Columbia students, some of the top students in the United States or even the world, prefer to plan ahead. They say that it helps them get higher scores on tests because they are more prepared (Columbia). However, people have to follow the plan that they wrote. Some people may just write a schedule and not follow it, but this isn’t recommended (Yale). When a person misses a day on their plan, they should adapt the schedule so that they can still get the necessary work done.

Effective ways to study well include: taking breaks while studying, not procrastinating, and planning ahead and sticking to your plan. The brain can only absorb so much information, so people should take short breaks at specific intervals while studying. Procrastination is not recommended because it is not helpful with long term memory. Planning ahead can help people not have to leave all of their work up until the last day. There are a number of ways to get grades that are average or higher, and these good grades can help people in the future.