Where To Study

Hey friends!

I touched on this in the last post on how I took practice tests, but I think it applies to most of the studying process in general and deserved its own separate post.

When I studied, especially while taking practice tests but also in general, I made a point to study in different places. I studied in different libraries on campus, in restaurants and food courts, in Starbucks and Coffee Bean, at my boyfriend's house, and in my apartment. I really studied everywhere!

I did this for a few reasons, some scientific and some psychological. First, being a psychobiology student, I learned early on in my psych courses that students retain information better when they alternate their study spots. This is because, without getting too detailed, the brain forms associations based on your surroundings. So, if you study in different environments, you are giving your brain more chances to make subtle associations and retain the information you're studying better. All this is saying basically is you're more likely to remember the biochem chapter you were reading when you were at that Starbucks last week one time compared to the person who spends every single day studying in the same corner of the library with straight monotony (and if you don't believe me, look it up! It's quite an interesting topic--here's one site that talks about psychological research on the topic by a UCLA professor http://blog.icm.education/study-tip/study-tip-of-the-week-keep-your-study-environment-varied/).

The other reason I switched study spots frequently was for psychological reasons, or for what I would call "mastering the intangibles." You never know what kind of environment you are going to get on test day. I've taken three different standardized tests in Prometric Centers (2 MCATs and one for the National EMT exam). My first time it was blazing hot, with all the students in the room taking different tests and starting at different times, so there was lots of movement, noise from keyboards and proctors, and it was uncomfortably hot. The second time I brought a sweatshirt but left it in my locker, only to find that my seat was right under the AC vent, and I was shivering in my seat counting down the seconds until my break when I could get my sweatshirt.

The point is you never know what test day is going to throw at you. What you can do is prepare for the worst by studying and taking practice tests in perhaps less than ideal environments. Wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants on a hot day for one test. Wear a tanktop and shorts on another one. Study in a quiet coffeehouse to mimic the possible moving bodies and low noise you might expect. By doing this, you are preparing yourself for most possible scenarios and giving yourself the psychological boost in knowing that whatever test day might throw at you, you're going be ready for it.


~Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm~