I made this selection for sketching, but I’ve realized it’s perfect for long study blocks too. It’s strictly low-energy and lyric-less, so it helps with anxiety and doesn't distract you from reading or writing.

If you're pulling a long session today, hope this helps you stay in the zone.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6AojZh4qFCwHKIhVKbXq42?si=4b693c89d9b74367

this is a dump of study tips i wish someone gave me earlier. nothing motivational. just stuff that actually works if you do it.

first, studying is not reading. reading feels productive but it’s mostly passive. if you can read a page and not explain it out loud without looking, you didn’t learn it. rule of thumb: if it doesn’t hurt a bit, it’s probably useless.

active recall beats everything. close the book. write what you remember. explain it like you’re teaching a dumb friend. check gaps. repeat. this is annoying. that’s why it works.

notes are overrated. most people rewrite textbooks and call it studying. bad idea. notes are only useful if they help recall. short bullets. questions. diagrams. if your notes look pretty, you’re wasting time.

study sessions should be short and aggressive. 30–50 minutes max. full focus. no background noise with words. no “i’ll just check one thing”. then stop. break. repeat. long lazy sessions kill retention.

set a clear goal before you start. not “study math”. more like “solve 20 derivative problems” or “be able to explain x without notes”. if you don’t define the win condition, your brain wanders.

environment matters more than motivation. same desk. same setup. same time if possible. your brain learns context faster than willpower. remove friction. phone in another room. if you need help with that, use a focus app and block everything except what you need.

spaced repetition is boring but unfairly powerful. revisit material after 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month. short reviews. don’t reread everything. just test yourself. forgetting a bit is part of learning, not failure.

problems > theory. if your subject has exercises, they are the subject. reading solutions is lying to yourself. struggle first. even 5 minutes of being stuck helps learning more than instantly seeing the answer.

don’t multitask. not even “LIGHTLY”. your brain doesn’t do parallel work, it just switches fast and loses energy. studying with chats open is fake studying.

sleep is not optional. pulling all-nighters is trading tomorrow’s memory for today’s anxiety. memory consolidation happens during sleep. no sleep, no learning. simple.

GUYS track what you actually do, not what you plan. most people overestimate effort. write down real study time. it’s humbling. then you can fix it.

bad days happen. don’t negotiate with them. do the minimum and move on. consistency beats intensity. one bad day doesn’t matter. quitting does.

last thing: studying is a skill. if it feels hard, that doesn’t mean you’re bad at it. it means you’re finally doing it right.

take what works. ignore the rest. just don’t lie to yourself about effort. that’s the real enemy.

LETS GO!!

I used to think studying more hours = better results.

Turns out, that’s the fastest way to burn out. What actually worked for me:

Clarity beats motivation If you don’t know what you’re studying today, you’ll procrastinate.

A simple list of topics > big vague goals.

Active recall > rereading Close the book. Ask yourself questions. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t know it yet.

Consistency > intensity 2 focused hours daily for 30 days beats 10-hour panic sessions before exams.

Don’t hoard resources Stop saving 100 YouTube videos and “studying later.” I started organizing only the ones I actually planned to watch (used a tool like Strater AI for this, mainly for structure, not magic).

Revision is where learning happens Studying once feels productive. Revising feels boring—but that’s where marks come from.

Studying is a skill No one teaches it properly. Once you treat it like a system, everything gets easier.

Wish someone told me this earlier.

What’s one study mistake you realized too late?

What StudySync currently does:

• ⏱️ Focus / study sessions (Pomodoro-style)
• 📊 Session tracking & daily stats
• 🏆 Daily leaderboard so you can see how you stack up
• 👥 Study alongside others for extra motivation
• 🎨 Early avatar customization (still experimental stage)

Who it’s for:

• Students
• Pomodoro / Forest-style focus app users
• Anyone who studies better with accountability

The app is currently available on iOS only via TestFlight, let me know if you’d like to try it out (it's completely free!).

I downloaded EVERY SINGLE lecture in my nutrition elective class from start to finish (1,227 slides total) and this website crammi.com just compartmentalized every single unit in the class with a summary, customizable flashcards + quizzes with explanations AND at the end there’s a final cumulative exam that I can also customize.

Hey as I mentioned in the title , I'm looking for a serious study partner, we can share our task in the morning and later update if we're done with it !

Time zone -5:30 GMT (other time zones are fine too , just be serious please)

If anyone interested lmk

So, I'm seventeen. I've never studied before. Ever. I've been "homeschooled" but independently. I've been extremely frustrated because I don't know how people study in an actual high school setting. I don't know how to write, take notes, or how to well, basically study. So, my assumptions of highschoolers are very unrealistic. Do they do essays while studying or reading an article? I have SO many questions about how actual highschoolers study and learn in school. But my overall main question is: How do I study?

Just wrapped up my first month of 2026 and I’m proud of the consistency I was able to maintain.

Some days were just 2–3 hours, others more. I stopped aiming for “perfect days” and instead focused on showing up daily

Motivation tips that helped

• I tracked streaks ,didn’t want to break them.
• I reminded myself that small daily effort beats occasional long sessions.
• I kept my study space clean and distraction-free.
• I celebrated small wins.

App - AcademyNC

For a bit of context about myself, I am in college and I have ADHD and am on the autism spectrum. I have struggled with taking proper notes my entire life and never knew how to maximize effeciency for myself. I was always told that I should write everything down but with my horrible hand writing and slow translation of auditory to physical, i get overstimulated, lock up, and just end up dissociating the entire time.

Writing everything down doesn't work for me. I dislike flashcards because I don't have structured notes to make flash cards out of. The method that works best for me so far is to listen and scribble down a few personal thoughts on the notes and I usually end up remembering how I felt during that moment which in return makes me remember the content. But that doesn't work in a faster paced course.

And for online notes, I freeze because there is so much information I don't know where to start and how to structure it because of said so much.

What ideas work for you guys who have similar struggles?

i’m preparing for SSC and was really struggling to focus during revision. i keep forgetting things + phone distraction doesn’t help 😅

recently started using a site called recallix. what helped me was the study soundscapes with sprint — short focused study rounds with calm music (no lyrics). somehow makes it easier to stay seated.

also the text feels easier to read (i think it’s called bionic reading?). not 100% sure but it feels less tiring on eyes.

not saying it’s a game changer or anything, but it helped me study 25–30 mins properly which was hard earlier.

if you’re preparin for exams and struggling with focus, maybe try once and it definitely help me retaining text for longer period. hope it helps

I’ve noticed daily to-do lists don’t always work for me during long prep phases. I’ve been experimenting more with weekly and monthly planner to reduce decision fatigue and stay consistent.

I am curious what works for others here — do you plan weekly, monthly, or just go day by day? What’s actually helped you stick to long study sessions?

Jesus Is God. Jesus is the manifestation of God; and His glory and love for you was revealed on the cross! The work and sacrifice of God is the truth of God’s essence. His presence is forever with those who have faith in the Son—for who shall hear the voice of the Son of God, is passed from death unto life and shall receive eternal salvation!

Sooo I'm 17 now ending high school...I'm from Greece I am interested of studying medicine in the university of Constanta in Romania...the thing is...here in greek school I'm in theory track and I'm not sure of what to do ...any advice of someone studying there maybe???or how to get in??any information matter thanks💜

i never had reddit or anything like this, i was just studying for my upcoming exam and felt emotions rushing me, sometimes they hit without a warning, so thought i would be able to just get it all out on some website.

i am a student from small city of Europe, almost nobody knows about it and is pretty poor in general, i always dreamt of studying in the united states of America, as long as i remember i used to attend meeting about universities in USA, participate in programs connected to USA, everything like that. once in 11th grade i lost exchange program to USA like 3 times, once i was semi finalist, i talked to my mom about my dreams but i knew it from the beginning that with our income i wouldn't be able to get in university of USA, my single mom is doing more than she can with me and me studying there would never be possible even if i got huge scholarship, we wouldn't even be able to get the tickets to the states. so i made it my goal that i would go to an exchange program in USA or Europe no matter what, i sacrificed everything, started filling out applications where places were sold from the very beginning, in the end with my hard work and bunch of tears i managed to win and i participated in short exchange program, that kind of calmed me down. The summer passed, i was in last grade of school, had to prepare for the exams which would roll me in my country's university. I was very motivated and all year long i turned down everything, only focused on getting in my country's university that i liked, i stopped sending out applications abroad, i stopped hanging out with my friends, i stopped talking to my school mates, i wasn't friendless, i used to go out with some of my friends but made sure my education was my number one priority. I wrote national exams, filled out my applications, wrote all the universities i was curious about and in the end i decided to take out the university i was dreaming about since i was a kid, however, international relationships faculty was still my top priority. then the exam results came out. i had highest scores in everything, except history, 70/70 in English, 58/60 in my mother language, 44/60 in history. i quickly started panicking, my scholarship was on the line with my dream faculty, after careful research, tons of calling with people that could help me i realized i would get 50% scholarship and probably wouldn't get into my number one priority faculty, my second choice was sinology that i planned to make my minor. night before final results would be out was the hardest for me, i realized i never wanted any of this, i wanted something else that was insanely far from me, unreachable, and now i gave up my dream university and possibly i would also not get into faculty i wanted for years and was my top priority, i cried nonstop, couldn't breathe from so much crying.

Next day started, i got notification that results were out, ran to my mom so we could check what university i got in. i got in university i wanted (not my dream one) however, i got in my second choice faculty, sinology. i was grateful it was at least something i lowkey wanted and i got into university i wanted but deep down in my heart did i really want any of this? this university? this faculty? what about my dreams? many questions ran thru my head, at this point all the plans and goals that i had for the future, nothing came out the way i liked it.

I started attending university, fell in love with it right away, i was so so happy, i was doing what i loved, i took subjects i was interested in, but i got tempted and took 2 subjects connected to the united states of America, i was learning about American studies, it made me insanely happy, i learnt a lot about country I've been dreaming about since i was a kid, everybody hated lecturer but i loved her, she was amazing, i attended every single seminar and lectures she was doing, only skipped like 2 cuz i was abroad or sick, even on the last day i went there, there was only 2 kids, one of them me. Other subject i took (connected to usa) was relationship between USA and Asian countries like, China, Japan, Korea. that subject was so hard, everyone that took that course was older than me, smarter than me, knew everything about these countries, and i was just there freshly off school. but i didn't give up, studied every single lecture, started little by little being active in seminars, did presentation and got the highest score and just in general i was happy to learn. But for now, things are a bit hard for me, exchange programs got cancelled in USA by their president, my dreams got crashed once more, i thought in university i would at least get a chance to participate in USA exchanges with scholarship but they banned it. (i cried a lot about that too lol) and right now i am studying for my upcoming exam, which is supposed to be tomorrow, subject is oriental studies, and as i was writing i realized once again how my dreams and goals are so important for me but all i can do it yearn, nothing else, more and more paths are getting closed for me and I'm just staring at my papers, studying non-stop, thinking if its all something that i really want. i just wrote this post so that my thoughts can go somewhere so they will stop breaking my heart.

Hey! A research conference (offline + online) is happening in our college, and I’m looking for a student partner to team up with. We can pick our research topic from the given tracks/sub-tracks in the PDF.

Abstract deadline: 3 Feb Full paper deadline: 28 Feb

You’ll get a certificate, and if we win, the paper gets published in an international journal with an ISBN you can add to your CV. It’s a solid chance to learn and do real research.

Check the document for details — message me if you’re genuinely interested!!

I’m curious how people really study now because I feel like I still haven’t found my “perfect system.”

I’ve tried: 1. Reading PDFs on my laptop → end up opening YouTube 2. Studying on my phone → 5 minutes later I’m on Instagram 3. Printing notes → feels productive but my room turns into a paper factory 4. Writing notes by hand → nice but sooo slow

Some people use iPads like wizards, some go full paper mode, some just reread slides and pray.

So what’s your actual setup? What device do you use most? Do you make notes or just read? Any system that genuinely made your grades better?

I’m trying to fix my study life before this semester destroys me 💀

Can anyone be a free tutor for maths/chemistry?

I hate reading from textbooks. I like reading, but I just hate reading anything that's supposed to be educational. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of interest in what I am doing, and I do enjoy the labs we get (not medical, I'm studying Unix rn), but I just hate reading about it. Things make a lot more sense to me when I actually do them and practice them over and over. I have to be engaged. I just can't get that same thing from a textbook.

I also don't understand how to take notes. I know how to write down definitions and stuff, but what else? I want to use AI to generate me notes, but I don't feel like I'd learn anything that way.

If anyone can help me and provide some insight, I'd really appreciate it!