Not all flashcards deserve equal attention. This 4-Box Review System, based on a 50-year-old spaced repetition method, helps you spend more time on the cards you actually don't know and less time re-reviewing what you've already mastered

Think studying only counts if you're sitting with a textbook the night before an exam? Reviewing notes, doing homework, and quizzing yourself all count too. Here's a simple 3-column trick to figure out what you actually know versus what just feels familiar.

English 15 is an introductory writing course required for all Penn State students. Though it may seem easy on paper, it’s important to take it as seriously as all your other courses. We’ve compiled some tips from current Penn State English 15 instructors and previous students to help you succeed in the class!

Your notes do more than record what your professor said, they're an active part of how you learn. Here's the psychology behind why notes matter and a simple 3-step method (Record, Revise, Review) to make your studying more efficient and less stressful.

Planning is one of the most important academic skills a student can develop! A robust and well-created study plan reduces stress, increases your chances of success, and helps you feel more in control of your life. 

In college, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by a constant flow of small assignments—quizzes, problem sets, discussion posts, and homework. Especially in STEM courses, these tasks are designed to help you build foundational knowledge. But many students fall into the trap of doing them just to earn points and check off a box. The real problem? When you focus solely on points, you miss the chance to turn these assignments into powerful learning tools.

If you’re preparing for an upcoming exam, practice exams are a powerful tool—if you use them correctly. Many students, however, make the mistake of simply looking up answers or relying on shortcuts, which leads to poor performance on the actual exam. In this blog post, we’ll break down how to best use practice exams, why they should be a part of a larger study strategy, and how this fits into the deliberate practice method for mastering your material.

College is the perfect place to begin to understand who you are as a student--how you learn, your style of working, communication, peer connections and more. Once you step foot on campus, you may find that the student you were in high school and the styles it took for you to earn the good (or poor) grades might not be well-suited for what you face in college.

Self-study is the cornerstone of learning. It's where you explore new concepts at your own pace, develop critical thinking skills, and build a personal connection with the material. When students engage actively with the subject matter, they're better equipped to ask insightful questions and grasp the nuances of the topic.

Exam wrappers are a powerful tool that can help students improve their learning and performance in exams. By reflecting on their exam-taking strategies and identifying areas of strength and weakness, students can gain valuable insights that enable them to make more effective study plans, address knowledge gaps, and approach future exams with greater confidence. In this blog post, we explore the benefits of exam wrappers and provide practical tips on how to use them effectively. Whether you're a student, teacher, or lifelong learner, exam wrappers offer a simple yet powerful way to enhance your exam preparation and achieve your academic goals.

Now that New Year's celebrations have ended and the new semester is in full swing, it's time to maximize your study habits to ace your exams. But how? Perhaps by now, you've heard different ways to study effectively, such as studying right before sleeping, spraying peppermint oil on your clothes, using multi-colored pens— the list goes on. What if the solution to your study needs is much simpler than cramming in as much information as possible before bedtime?