The Study Tips I Wish I Had Known in College
I’ve definitely seen and heard my share of college (and general) study tips: start studying as early as
you can, try to get as many senses and learning styles as possible involved, use the Pomodoro time
management method, etc. There are a few study tips I had never heard of or read anywhere that I will
list here. These tips will promote efficiency, which is badly needed for today’s college (and sometimes
high school or language-learning) workloads. Oddly enough, mechanics that carry out all of the following
tips were built into TinyCards, an app I used to study a lot of college and foreign language material
before it was discontinued, so even though I didn’t really “know” these tips in college, I was using them
often until TinyCards was discontinued.
Each tip comes with a “My Experience” section and a “How to Use the Tip” section, so if you aren’t
interested in the less-than-optimal methods I used to study after I lost the ability to create decks in
TinyCards, you can use the headings to skip them. Also, some of this article’s paragraphs are from my
other StudyLib articles, so if you have been reading those and notice that a paragraph looks familiar, you
can skip it.
These tips are for use with terms that can be put on flashcards: formulas (the formula’s name on one
side and the formula on the other), vocabulary, verb conjugations, etc. If you need tips for studying
math, there is a Quizlet article (that I did not write) with some.
You may find that you’ll gain unexpected free time from these tips. You earned it, so enjoy it!

Tip 1: If the test is more than three days after the first day you study for the test, you don’t
have to study every single term every day.
My Experience:
Whenever I would study for a test after TinyCards was discontinued, I would (at least attempt to) study
all the terms on Quizlet every single day (after and in addition to studying all the terms that StudyLib’s
Spaced Learning Mode would prompt me with) if I had one test or every other day (alternating the days
between studying the different subjects) if I had multiple tests. I sometimes started studying as early as
two weeks before the test, so it turns out I had studied very excessively.
The best way to determine when to study terms is through a model based on Ebbinghaus’ forgetting
curve. Every spaced-repetition system’s memory algorithm is based on Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve, but
TinyCards’ memory algorithm was superior because it was designed to keeps memories strong rather
than just existent: it started earlier on the curve so it brought terms back for review when the memory
could first get shaky rather than only when the term could almost be forgotten.
A Relevant Observation:
The crazy thing about these algorithms is that the difference between the smooth memory algorithm
and the shaky memory algorithm is just one study session. This review session occurs before the shaky
memory algorithm’s first review session; after it, the review spacing seems very similar. The first review
session that the superior memory algorithm recommends would become available seven hours and
twenty minutes after the initial learning session. If the users only studied the terms once per day at
around the same time, they would study the first three days in a row using the superior memory
algorithm versus the first two under the currently common memory algorithm but would take the same
three-day break after studying the terms for the continuous days.
See how to apply this observation to reviewing through StudyLib’s Spaced Learning Mode in the section:
How to Use the Tip Efficiently with StudyLib’s Spaced Learning Mode.
How to Use the Tip:
The way the studying would work would require StudyLib’s fast-learning mode or something similar to
the mastery feature from Quizlet’s previous Learn Mode. The initial learning session would work like
Learn Mode with mastery. The review sessions would act like Test mode for terms the user gets right,
but like Learn Mode with mastery for terms the user misses. In other words, the terms the user gets
right in the review session will be removed from the study pool while the terms the user misses will be
cycled through Learn-Mode-style until the user gets each right twice in a row.
Here are specific instructions for the initial session if you use Quizlet:
Step 1: Learn all the terms through Learn Mode.
Step 2: Take the terms into Test mode.
Step 3: Take the test.
Step 4: Unstar the terms you got correct on the test.
Step 5: Take the rest of the terms back into Learn Mode.
Step 6: Select “Continue Studying” if you are presented with the screen with that option, otherwise, skip
to Step 7.
Step 7: Go into the settings and select “Restart Learn Mode.”
Step 8: Repeat steps 1-7 until there are no terms left. If you end up with only one term left, be sure to
get it right twice in a row to finish the session.
When reviewing terms you have already learned, take the terms into Test Mode instead of Quizlet’s
Learn Mode or StudyLib’s fast-learning mode, then follow the above list’s Steps 4-8.
Here are figures for when you should review your terms for the main study sessions. Main study
sessions are the sessions in which you review all terms. There will be a section on how to handle missed
terms further below.
Exact accuracy: I made this version of the study by finding the exact time a user would have to study the
terms if said terms were always reviewed immediately when TinyCards’ algorithm indicated they should
be studied:
0. Initial Learning Session
1. Seven hours and twenty minutes after the Initial Learning Session
2. Twenty-three hours and fifty minutes (1 day- 10 minutes) after study session 1
3. Sixty-eight hours and fifty minutes (almost three days; specifically 3 days – 3 hours – 10 minutes) after
study session 2
4. 184 hours and 5 minutes (almost eight days; specifically 7 days + 16 hours+ 5 minutes) after study
session 3
5. 19 days, 8 hours, and 30 minutes after study session 4
6. Roughly around 53 days after the previous study session (definitely more than 50 days after the
previous study session)*
*This exact time has not been determined, hence the word “roughly.”
I realized that many may only study once-per-day, (an example reason why is if the term list is so long
that it would be impossible to study the entire thing early in the day and again seven hours and twenty
minutes later) so I started a dedicated once-every-twenty-four hours TinyCards study that would show
which days the users would need to study if they only studied once per day at the same time every day
and always got every term right.
Once-per-day: This version runs in Day Numbers rather than time distances, but I will also include those
here.
0. Day 1
1. Day 2 (Gap: 1 Day)
2. Day 3 (Gap: 1 Day)
3. Day 6 (Gap: 3 Days)
4. Day 14 (Gap: 8 Days)
5. Day 32 (Gap: 18 Days)
6. Day 74 (Gap: 42 Days)
7. Day 116 (Gap: 42 Days)
8. Day 158 (Gap: 42 Days)
9. Day 200 (Gap: 42 Days)
10. Day 242 (Gap: 42 Days)
An interesting note here is that Review Sessions 6 onwards’ time gap on the Once-per-day method is
the same, implying that review times have a maximum similarly to how a falling object has a maximum
velocity. I tested these times daily until my new job’s work schedule caused me to miss an important
timestamp. It seems safe to say that after Review 5, all time gaps are the same.
Here’s a graph that shows how this study tip can streamline studying for a student studying for two
tests, each announced two weeks in advance (using the Once-per-day study method):
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Key:
Underlined Dates: Date when a test is announced
Yellow Cells: Main study sessions for Subject 1’s test.
Blue Cells: Main study sessions for Subject 2’s test.
Yellow text highlight: Subject 1’s test date.
Blue text highlight: Subject 2’s test date.
White Cells: Days that can be used to write papers, study only the missed terms (if the algorithm
recommends them), or relax, etc.
How to Set Review Times for Missed Terms
Unfortunately I could not determine the exact TinyCards-generated times for these, but the following
method has worked well for me:
Step 1: Write (or type) the missed terms on a separate list from the main tracking list.
Step 2: Take those terms into Quizlet’s Test mode the next day or at least seven hours and twenty
minutes later. Give each term a mark based on whether you got it right on the test: give the term a +1
tally mark if you got it right on the test, a -1 tally mark if you got it wrong, or a +0 if it took you a while to
think of the right answer or if you thought of a wrong answer and the right answer.
Add more tally marks (and/or zeroes) as you review the missed terms again and add the marks and
zeros to form the terms’ scores.
If a term’s score is less than +2, review that term again the next day or at least seven hours and twenty
minutes later. If the term’s score is +2, review it in at least twenty-three hours and fifty minutes; if the
term’s score is +3, review it in at least sixty-eight hours and fifty minutes, and so on according to the
times listed in the figuring sections. When a term’s score is one less than the number of times you’ve
studied all the terms in the main study sessions, cross the term off the missed terms to review list and
only study the term with the rest of the terms when you do the main study sessions (versus with the
missed terms to review).
My Experience with This Missed Term Review Time Method:
This missed term review time method has greatly increased my study sessions’ quality; previously, I
had only set up review times for all terms based on the times from the figuring sections (in other words,
I didn’t set aside missed terms for extra review sessions), and although I always re-mastered the terms
that I missed, I noticed I would miss those same terms every time I reviewed my terms.
How to Use Tip1 Efficiently with StudyLib’s Spaced Learning Mode:
Step 1: Do not use Spaced Learning Mode for your initial learning session. Instead, use Fast-Learning
mode (or Quizlet’s Learn and Test Modes as instructed earlier under Step 1) for your initial learning
session, then wait until the next day or at least seven hours and twenty minutes later to start using
Spaced Learning Mode. This should correct the problem with StudyLib’s algorithm.
You will now be using StudyLib with the superior memory algorithm.
Step 2: Use Spaced Learning Mode as StudyLib allows, taking a screenshot every time you miss a term
(when the screen pauses and color-codes the answers) and when you get a term you missed earlier in
the session correct.
Step 3: Review your screenshots after your session is over, noting which terms were missed and if you
got a missed answer correct twice in a row.
Step 4: If StudyLib ended the Spaced Learning Mode before you could get a missed term correct two
times in a row, take any of such missed terms into Quizlet, star them, and master them (following the
steps for the initial session on Quizlet above (under the first paragraph below the header “How to Use
the Tip” for Tip 1.)
Step 5: Repeat steps 2-4 once per subsequent day as needed.

Tip 2: Break your terms into 3-7 term groups when studying them; this will drastically increase
your efficiency.
My Experience:
TinyCards would automatically group every five terms together in chronological order. This technique
may seem simple or unnecessary, but once I started using it for studying my supply chain terms (this was
after TinyCards was discontinued), I found that I could finish studying them all more quickly. That made
me realize one aspect I was missing from TinyCards that I hadn’t thought of before: the “bite-size
lessons” the app would occasionally mention. This is the only one of these tips I figured out before I
graduated college (and I wish I had figured it out sooner; I badly needed that efficiency boost).
How to Use the Tip:
Currently the ability to group words is available on Quizlet (using the starring feature) but not
StudyLib, so the only way to use this tip on StudyLib is to create a series of small sets 3-7 terms long for
one test instead of one set with all the terms. (I imagine you could also do it with paper flashcards
though.) In most cases I would suggest using groups of five, but if a term is very long (say, more than
three lines on a flashcard), I would suggest grouping it with four short terms (rather than whatever the
next term was) or if there are no more short terms I would suggest studying the remaining terms in
groups of three. There is also a situation in which I would suggest grouping more than five terms
together or using a different non-five number when grouping terms: when studying related foreign
language verb conjugations. When studying verb conjugations, I would suggest grouping every term
with the same base verb and tense (for example, all of hacer’s present tense forms would form a group
of six).

Tip 3: Once you get a term right twice in a row while learning it or reviewing it if it was missed
during a review, you can stop studying it for a while (depending on how many times you’ve
studied the term). You also don’t have to study a term additional times if you get it right when
reviewing it for the first time in a session.
My Experience:
When I studied for my college tests after TinyCards was discontinued, I used a method that I would
now call “studying the terms to death” and would not recommend to anyone. I would first study the
terms through StudyLib’s Spaced Learning Mode. After I finished that or if StudyLib had already locked
me out, I would then study the terms through a second digital flashcard service called Kartka (eventually
it got discontinued, though). If I finished both of the above, I would then study every single term on
Quizlet’s Learn Mode. This was drastically overdoing it, especially the Quizlet part. I didn’t realize it back
then, but the only terms I needed to study repeatedly in one day were the ones I had missed every time
during the Studylib session.
How to Use the Tip:
This may seem like a repeat of a certain part of Tip 1’s explanation, but just in case it wasn’t clear
enough there (as it certainly wasn’t to me when I was studying in college post-TinyCardsdiscontinuation), I’ll state it clearly here: Once you master a term or get it right in your review session’s
initial Test mode use, do not study the term again during that session. Check the term’s score (it will be
the number of main study sessions if it’s not on the missed terms list) and use the time distance
according to the lists under Tip 1 to determine when to study the term again.
Conclusion: I hope you find these practical, obscure, and efficiency-boosting study tips useful and will
share them with other college students or other types of studiers who could use them. (Please feel free
to share the link to my StudyLib profile with other students and even on forums or social media if you
like (but I wouldn’t recommend sharing the link to a specific article because if I update the article, the
link will break).)
Link: https://studylib.net/profile/240198