Jinna Yoon

My freshman year was defined by trial and error, discovering what I liked and what priorities I wanted to uphold. I came in with a lot of confidence from taking multiple APs thinking that those Collegeboard courses provided an accurate description of what my future college courses would look like. But my approach to those classes failed when I encountered my first college math course. Despite succeeding in all of my math high school courses, I found myself lost and struggling to keep up with the material. I quickly learned that each course has its own structure and would need different levels of time and effort to succeed. Here are the study tips, academic resources, and productivity tools that I used to navigate my way through it all.

Study Tips

1. Set a designated environment and time . A lot of people might struggle because it’s radio silent or there’s too much noise. Some people prefer to listen to music without words. Some people need a nice desk setup, or a sweet treat sitting on the corner of the table. Sometimes their brain works the best at night. Whatever works for you, designating a certain time and comfortable conditions to work is the best way to rewire your brain to study. It builds routine and discipline versus relying on motivation and spontaneous bursts of energy. I’m the type of person who needs to get into a fl ow state for things to really start going. Personally, I like working extremely late at night (8pm-3am) with no noise and comfy pajamas in my apartment. I need to listen to upbeat pop or songs with a deep bass. This allows me to keep going and have a steady concentration in the most optimal environment that can help with working for longer periods of time.
   
2. Plan ahead. Sometimes you won’t have the time or the most optimal conditions to work. I typically have morning classes everyday, so working late isn’t always an option for me. There’s a lot of time in college where you have breaks between classes and you don’t know what to do. This is very different from high school because you’re so used to having 10 minute breaks between back to back 8 period blocks. I personally really liked this adjustment and change in my schedule because it allowed me time to decompress and have more freedom in what I did with my time. However, with great freedom comes greatly needed decision making skills. College gets busy and tiring because you’re an adult. You’re in control of your life. It’s really hard to balance your physiological, mental/emotional, spiritual needs as well as your academic and social life. I often feel as though 24 hrs is not enough in a day. But I then realized it’s how you make those 24 hrs work. What you do in that free time matters. One hour doesn’t seem a lot, but working for one hour does – right? A little bit of effort goes a long way! I would definitely recommend for you to work whenever you have the time so that you can truly enjoy your evenings and stay afloat all your coursework, RSO demands, and hangout with friends.
   
3. Make a mindmap or study guide. The content for midterms, and especially cumulative fi nal exams can be a lot to remember. Making your own review guides for each module can help refresh your memory and familiarize yourself with what topic needs more review. It can take a lot of time to do this, so I end up doing this for my statistics/math classes that are more demanding.

Academic Resources

1. Go to office hours. As a freshman, I never went to office hours because I was afraid that others would think I’m inadequate. In my head, I couldn’t help but think “I’m supposed to be good at my major”. But it’s more infuriating to be stuck on a homework problem for hours on something that could be done in a few minutes if you just went to office hours. It’s better to get clarification and growth by allowing yourself to shed that fear, rather than to stay stuck from inhibiting yourself from getting the help you need. STAT, CS, and MATH classes can be challenging. The faculty in the STATS department are one of the nicest and friendliest people I’ve met in this school. They’re there for you and have a desire to help! They’re oftentimes fellow students like you, so they understand exactly how you feel.
   
2. Writer’s Workshop. As people who chose STAT or STEM in general, we probably chose those majors because we don’t like to write. Unfortunately, some people may have not gotten RHET 105 credit, and everyone has to take one advanced composition course. Plus, I’ve noticed that I’ve had to write many reports in my data analytics/science courses that need proper grammar and concise language. In research, you’ll often have to read comprehensive scientific journals and even write one yourself in the future if you plan to publish your research. To polish those skills, you can get help with reviewing all sorts of materials from professionals and qualified student tutors at the Writer’s Workshop. The Writer’s Workshop is conveniently located at multiple locations across campus for easy access. Zoom is even an option for those who can’t make it in person. The link https://writersworkshop.illinois.edu/about-the-workshop/locations/ has more details on drop-in advising and appointment hours.

Productive Tools

1. Study apps. Something that I miss greatly is studying with my friends that are off in different colleges. UIUC’s campus is pretty big and sometimes you just can’t make the study session planned out. Websites and apps like Cuckoo and StudyTogether allow for others to join an online session where you can put music, pomodoro timer, and breaks. It brings refreshness.
   
2. Taking notes with an iPad. This tool isn’t necessary. I prefer and still take notes with (very thick) paper notebooks. However, I noticed that the convenience of using an iPad trumps physical notes. You can color-code, erase, move notes, and store them very easily.
   
3. Noise cancelling headphones. This is also an unnecessary tool, but I find myself investing in them. Even though libraries and many study spaces have “no-noise” policies, people tend to whisper. There’s also many people coming and going, chair scraping, and even loud cars that zoom by outside the buildings. If you’re someone like me and hates noisy areas to study in, investing in noise cancelling headphones might be a consideration!

These are all specific tips, resources, and tools I’ve noticed have helped me and many of my peers around me. Just a reminder, one shoe does not fi t all! Learn to experiment, gain knowledge from mistakes, and ask around. Everyone is experiencing different difficulties. Keep going and know you’re not alone in your struggle. 🙂