8 Study Tips For Students In High School, University, or College

by Helena Nikitopoulos ​for The 44 North

Youth Editor & Contributing Writer

Contributing Writer Helena Nikitopoulos is currently writing a novel titled, "Guide to Being Single in Your Twenties," where she addresses all the things people can do to fully embrace their 20s when single. Stay tuned for more information at her Instagram @helenanikitop or @wordsbyhelena.

A student studying in a library

"Teachers are there to help you, they are there to make sure you feel comfortable with the study material. If you feel embarrassed asking your teacher or professor questions, remember that many other students might have the same questions as you. It shows bravery and initiative to ask questions."

As someone who has a learning disability, studying did not always come easy to me. I often struggled knowing where to start, especially if I had an upcoming test or quiz to study for. Over the years, however, I learned how to organize myself in a way that made studying less overwhelming and more enjoyable. Whether that was finding a café to work in or an accountability partner, studying gradually turned into a moment (or several moments) of satisfaction and productivity. If you also struggle with knowing where or how to start studying, try the eight study tips listed below. 

1. Find a fun study playlist. My personal favourites are: Mood Booster or Epic Drops. If you can’t focus when there are words in the song, try Classical Piano Music. If you like upbeat music with no words, try Work Focus - EDM. If white noise or people talking in the background helps you, try Coffee Shop Background Noise for Studying. 
   

2. Try switching up your study space. If you are constantly in your room studying, your room no longer becomes your safe haven from school, but it constantly reminds you that Karl Marx was a communist or that y= mx+b (or whatever they teach you in math these days). Instead, study on campus or if you don’t have a campus to study on, study at a local café or a library and use the busy background noise as white noise for your studying.
   

3. Work with other people around you! If your friend(s) is busy, go to a semi-busy space by yourself. If there are other people working or studying just like you, it may motivate you to get things done. I always think: if they can do it so can I. 
   

4. Make sure your notes are easily accessible: try to number off your pages to keep them in order. You can also try colour coding your notes so that they align with each unit or each subject. If there are 4 units you need to study for, make every unit a different colour. If there are terms that you need to review more, write or underline them in red so you can come back to them. Use sticky notes as bookmarks to section off your notes. You will never want to return to your notes if they are difficult to understand so if typing out your notes will make it easier to read, go for it. At the end of the day, everyone organizes themselves differently. What matters most is that you can understand and access your notes easily. 
   

5. Always plan out your study schedule. If your test is on four units and starts November 12, start studying for it October 28 so you can dedicate October 30 - November 1 to unit one, November 2-4 to unit two, November 5-7 to unit three, November 8-10 to unit four, and use November 10-11 as a review session for all of the units. Suddenly four units becomes four chunks, each block dedicated to one unit. Thus, when you space and plan things out, studying becomes less overbearing and more doable.
   

6. Prioritize. If unit 3 is the hardest unit, start with reviewing that unit and then move on to the others. This goes for social activities as well. For example, if there is a huge party coming up on the weekend, decide if studying for your unit test will benefit you more in the long run. Perhaps you can use going to the party as your reward for getting units one and two done that week. Always choose what will make you less stressed in the long run. In addition, set a timer for 30 minutes. Focus for those 30 minutes and then when the timer goes off, give yourself a break (e.g., watch a video of a cute animal or listen to a talk show like Family Feud). 
   

7. Always ask questions and seek help. Teachers are there to help you, they are there to make sure you feel comfortable with the study material. If you feel embarrassed asking your teacher or professor questions, remember that many other students might have the same questions as you. It shows bravery and initiative to ask questions (while also preparing you for your upcoming test). Moreover, studies have shown, such as Samoza, Sugay, Arellano, and Custodio’s study, An Evaluation of the Effect of Various Voice Qualities on Memory Retention, that students are more likely to recall class material by remembering their professor’s voice on the test. Thus, by paying attention in class and visiting office hours, on one time with your professor will help you remember critical information for your test.  
   

8. If you are a visual learner (or even if you aren’t), watch a YouTube or Khan Academy video explaining concepts that you struggle with. Lessons are often taught using a white board or a visual form of some kind. In addition, there are badges or awards you can win that will help motivate you to complete more lessons!

The Dangers of Hustle Culture

by Hailey Hechtman, ​for The 44 North

Contributing Writer

Hailey Hechtman is a social impact leader and mental health advocate. She is passionate about inspiring positive change through community collaboration, constant learning and self-reflection. Watch her interview on 'Life Outside the Box' here. X: @HaileyHechtman IG: @hailey.hechtman

A busy city landscape with blurry shadows of people rushing on the streets

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are feeling frazzled, overwhelmed, a little stunned by the mountain of tasks in front of you and then turned to face those around you to see an ocean of calm faces? What happens next? Do you begin to question yourself, your capacity, your abilities, your resilience? Do you assume that you are the only one who is roughing it through the grind of the day-to-day? This instantaneous response that we have to the perception of how others feel can be incredibly isolating. To sit in a room, whether IRL or on Zoom and have this sentiment that we stand on our own in feeling overpowered by our to-do list can lead us down a road of insecurity and ultimately derail us from asking for the support that we may need to feel confident once more. All this said, I have a secret to break to you, listen carefully… you are not the only one. 

Amongst the many competing draws for our attention, in a world that still heavily glorifies hustle culture and encourages “I’ve been really busy” as a standard response, most of us are being ground down to some extent by the constant demands on our time. Whether it be uncomplimentary priorities like needing to do a lot of deep work and planning while simultaneously reacting to the emerging issues that pop up without warning, our brains are in an ongoing state of hypervigilance. If we then add to this those who are already going through mental health challenges, it can be a lot to respond to. 

What is our ultimate tactic in addressing this? Well, it tends to be one of two for the majority who haven’t reached a point of clear boundaries or unshakeable balance. 1) We either double down on thinking that everyone else is handling work seamlessly and sink deeper into that feeling of inadequacy or 2) we remind ourselves that everyone is up against the very real invisible busyness monster succumbing to stress and therefore we shouldn’t ask for any extras because this is a universal experience. 

Neither of these strategies is particularly helpful in encouraging us to meet our mental health needs especially when you factor in our second option, we are not accounting for the layered environmental stressors faced by marginalized employees. On top of our collective cortisol rollercoaster, we also face another game of perception… comparison. ​

"If we play the very un-fun game of comparison, we can get lost in the fact that we are all playing. That everyone that steps up to the plate has someone that they are looking to ahead of them."

​For many of us, our breaks during the day consist of checking our social media feeds and scrolling through countless examples of how our colleagues and complete strangers are rocking it. The professional world has even gotten in on this with LinkedIn showcasing the award nominations, rising star promotions and new job bonanza of our networks. 

When we spend our workday playing catch up through the never-ending list of accomplishments to be had and deadlines to be met and then sneak away over our lunch break to gaze at those who appear to be effortlessly rising, that too can have an impact on our understanding of the world around us and of ourselves. We can begin to see our successes as inconsequential in comparison to our friend who is one of the city’s “40 under 40”. We can look down on our educational pursuit when a co-worker gets accepted into a prestigious master’s program. This side-by-side image of us vs. them can lead us to think that we are not moving quickly enough, that we are not excelling or growing at the speed that we are meant to. Yet, I will once again divulge a little tidbit…. That person that you are looking to and saying “wow, look at them, look at me… I’m so far behind”, they are doing the exact same thing to someone else. 

If we play the very unfun game of comparison, we can get lost in the fact that we are all playing. That everyone that steps up to the plate has someone that they are looking to ahead of them. Whether this is your first day on the job or you have 20 years under your belt, if you sign up to be a part of the great chain of comparison, you will always have someone to up to.

So now that we have unpacked that we all have a flood of obligations weighing us down and we all fall into the trap of looking to others to determine where we should be or what we should have done already, what can we do about it? What can we implement to preserve our mental health, battle away from the spiral of self-judgment, to eliminate the persistent dissection of our goals vs. their achievements? 

First, with the busyness barrage, talk to your co-workers or fellow students if you are still in school. Get a sense of how they are handling the workload, if the deadlines keep them up too and if it all feels like a lot. This may give you clearer insights into what is happening outside of your desk and allow you to collaboratively problem solve any areas that are mutually challenging. With this too, take some time to reflect on your own stress management strategies. Can you take breaks throughout your day, even 5 minutes every hour or two to take a few deep breaths? Can you time-block your day to focus on specific topics rather than everything at once? Can you go for a walk on your lunch break to get some time away, a little movement and fresh air? 

This all said, if the stressors that you are dealing with are impacting or having a snowball effect on your mental health, please reach out for support. Talk to a supervisor, school counsellor, professor or HR rep. This can feel vulnerable and can sometimes feel like you are asking for extra, but it is actually benefiting everyone. In you saying something about your mental health at work, you are encouraging a culture that takes time to check in with the team, by becoming more inclusive, we create better conditions for all. 

Not sure where to start with this conversation? Perhaps consider using the four components of nonviolent communication: (https://www.cnvc.org/online-learning/nvc-instruction-guide/nvc-instruction-guide) --- first speak to what you have been observing “I have been noticing that the deadlines have started to become more last minute over the past few months” then a feeling “this is making me feel overwhelmed and frazzled” than a need “this is making it hard for me to meet my need of feeling on top of things” and lastly, a request “If I could get more advanced notice for project deadlines like this so that I have time to get organized, that would be greatly appreciated.” 

Back to our comparison game, how do we walk away from this? For starters, let’s take time to recognize that we never know someone else’s full story. Social media is a highlight reel and therefore we are never fully observing the behind-the-scenes that may have gone into someone getting that new role or that recognition. We also need to take a moment to acknowledge that we may be at a very different point from someone else. Perhaps we have been in our new job for 6 months and they have been grinding along for this opportunity for the past three years. Taking the time to understand that our step one cannot look like someone else’s step ten can be a relief as we are just at different points along the continuum. Further to this, there are a lot of different points of power and privilege that may play into where someone ends up--- maybe there is a family connection, maybe there have been societal advantages that someone has received that has propelled them more quickly. Although we are often encouraged to see the world as a meritocracy, there are many instances of inequity that mean opportunities go to some and not others.

All that said, the best guidepost for assessing yourself is you. Take a moment to reflect on all that you have accomplished in life. The human that you used to be is not the same person that you are now. You may have graduated school, you may have started a new job, you may have overcome barriers, you may have adapted to new contexts, or navigated through change. 

Looking back on your own milestones is the best way to fight back comparison. By remembering that the only person worth taking a deep dive search into is yourself, can be liberating. Sometimes we set goals and once we achieve them, we take out a pen, check off the box and set a new one. Instead of rushing towards the next, let it sink in what you have done, what you have been through;  you are still here on this planet, you have been through global upheaval, you have fought through your darkest moments, you have brought people joy, you have learned everything that you have learned up until this moment. The strengths within you are boundless and it is in the time taken to be with ourselves in stillness that we can let go of the expectations created by our view of others and instead appreciate the magnitude of who we are in this world. 

The Path to Financial Wellness that Youth are Carving: The Trail is Blazing

by Mikaela Brewer

Senior Editor

Mikaela Brewer is a multidisciplinary writer, poet, speaker, researcher, and mental health advocate & activist.

A protester holding up a sign that reads "No justice, no peace"

Maria Popova recently wrote that “[The cicada’s] body is the oldest unchanged musical instrument on Earth: a tiny mandolin silent for most of its existence, then sonorous with a fleeting symphony of life before the final silence.”

By early June every 13 or 17 years, from beneath the earth, more cicadas than humans who have ever lived emerge, singing for a mate with no vocal chords or lungs—seemingly no voice. For the first time since 1803, we will see a dual emergence of cicadas in the spring (over one trillion) in the U.S.

It will be an acoustic chorus “approaching the decibel level of a jet engine.”

We’re also seeing this type of synchronized song globally, singing for a different lifelong mate: liberation.

“Cicadas sing the way humans do: with their whole body.”

Nearly all young people are facing financial challenges right now, acutely experiencing unemployment, unliveable wages, inflation, debt (particularly student debt and loans), rising food costs/insecurity, inaccessible postsecondary education, housing and utility bills, healthcare costs, and low ‘financial literacy’ of literature that is laden with complicated language and jargon, just to itch the surface.

Of course, these don’t exist in a vacuum.

Young people, especially students (and their allies), have always been at the frontier of fighting for values-based economic stability. But right now, they’re inviting everyone to peel back the carpet and unlatch the secret door that says: we must climb deeper, beneath the floor of clear economic markers and logistics. There is more.

Globally, students have verbalized, posted, and embodied the recognition that our emotional, mental, physiological, and spiritual response to what’s happening around us—from the above financial burdens to multiple genocides to climate change—is healthy, appropriate, and human, rather than a personal failure or inability to navigate crises. Feeling outrage, anger, exhaustion, heartbreak, depression, anxiety, etc., are not only appropriate but necessary for change, and mean that your ‘soul switch’ is on. The sheer amount of soul switches clicked on is illuminating an unprecedented path. 

We’ve seen the “great resignation” alongside a struggle to find, maintain, and hold jobs. This is further compounded by the agonizing cycle of needing to work to generate income to afford living, while being too depressed, burned out, lonely, and/or anxious to work consistently. The 2023 Toronto Vital Signs Report statistics around loneliness, worry, income, depression, limited close relationships, burnout, inability to meet nutrition needs, discrimination, and much more are heartbreaking. Yet, young people have led us in branching beyond the Medical Industrial Complex (of which the Mental Health Care System is a part) for mental health support, such as work by Dr. Jen Mullan, Dr. Raquel Martin, Kim Saira, and Cassandra Lam that focus on holistic, somatic, political, ancestral, and community-based decolonial health and healing. 

Among these and many other components, there’s a profound feeling that, in a philosophical sense, financial resilience and wellness may not exist in the world as it operates right now. There is a saying that people will always “sacrifice their values in service of survival” but young people are challenging this, rooted in the value-centred belief that the world as it operates forces many people to prove their lives matter while questioning if their life is worth surviving for. This is perhaps one reason we’ve seen suicide rates continue to rise, and the catalyst for one of if not the largest global mass mobilizations for decolonization in our lifetime (in other words, sacrificing survival/safety in service of values). 

Understanding where our money comes from and how we’ve been complicit in spending it in places that give back to harmful and exploitative people, leadership, policies, and practices (that we used to trust or were taught to trust), we’re able to see it as an energy, essence, or being that we either do or don’t welcome into our space/home. Protests erupt when the pillars of the pathways, structures, and systems for our lives—that we’ve long subscribed to without questioning—completely crumble, right down to the sand that built our cities and the land they stand on.

The idea that “curiosity is not neutral” has led to and allowed global access to people, research, work, digital and in-person art (novels, poems, books, poems, documentaries, music, paintings, and more), footage, photos, resources, and educational material that dethrones and unravels the central messaging and ideologies of the systems we live in—especially financial ones offering protection and safety at the cost of people and the planet, censored and hidden from us via strategies like media blackouts—enabling much deeper unpackings and questionings of the status quo. 

Further, 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, were viewed via the news—mostly through legacy media (ex. CTV, CBC, Fox, CNN). Now, we’re witnessing horror directly from the people experiencing it. Social media has allowed people to share and broadcast their experiences with us in real-time; we hear their voices and see their faces.

Another stark example is the knowledge that a percentage of our tax dollars are funding Israel’s actions in Palestine, but there is a version of this exchange with everything we buy and spend. To always be thinking of this—often unable to do anything about it that doesn’t involve sacrificing safety, well-being, or needs—can be gut-wrenching and overwhelming. 

Young people are fighting back anyway. They are sacrificing their safety anyway.

Students are non-violently protesting genocide in Gaza across the globe (here are a few slides on how to support students protesting if you’re able). But they aren’t just demanding a free, unoccupied Palestine. They’re asking for a world divested from violent, manipulative, and exploitative policies, practices, and relationships. 

For example, via @Toronto4Palestine (The People’s Circle for Palestine at UofT St. George Campus), these requests could be a blueprint for everyone and everything (including individuals) beyond universities:

1. “Disclose all investments held in endowments, short-term working capital assets, and other financial holdings of the university hereafter.” 

2. “Divest the university’s endowment, capital assets, and other financial holdings from all direct and indirect investments that sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine.”

3. “Terminate all partnerships with the Israeli occupation’s academic institutions that operate in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and/or support or sustain the apartheid policies of the zionist state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.” 

Given successful protests related to Vietnam, South Africa, Sudan, fossil fuels, tobacco, private prisons, assault weapons, and more, this process is absolutely possible but with more hurdles than it seems, appearing to need time that Gaza (and Sudan and the Congo and many others) doesn’t have. Though there is likely some truth here, it is also fair to question how intentional this dynamic is, given the U.S. legislation that protects Israel from boycotts and divestment by making it illegal.  

The spirit of resistance and activism among young people—a desire for systemic change; government and institutional transparency; protection of human rights; and demands for justice—is ever present through generations, echoing global economic parallels in the early 1970s.

Financial stability and our values shouldn't be things we have to choose between. 

But no matter the best economic model balancing and combining business, market dynamics, and sustainability, social justice and human rights focused change requires thorough uprootings, and this movement has been a huge uprooting for many of us personally. It continues to gather strength and momentum because young people are not only more connected by the social media uses mentioned above, but have found and founded global community imaginings of the world as it could be while surviving what it is—spaces and connectivity through technology and social media. Some wonderful examples include:

• The Slow Factory

• On Canada Project

• Decolonizing Therapy

• Rest in Crisis & Change Workshop 

• Financing your academic journey

• Lover Letter to First-Gen Students  

  
  

Here, we might include a call to action for older generations: where are those who fought fervently decades ago, such as for Vietnam, South Africa, and Sudan? Why are so many older adults viewing protests with such disdain? 

Perhaps, in the demonization of technology and resistance to using social media as a viable news/information source, the only influx of information older generations receive is mainstream media (the legacy media mentioned above or strongly influenced by it). Of course, this is not true of every member of older generations, just like ‘young people’ is not a monolith. 

Yet, we ask: please remember your (and other’s) humanity. Remember the idealism of your youth. 

We often speak about the mountains we need to scale, and although they are difficult to climb, they’re also hard to see in the first place when surrounded by thick rocks and deep canyons. In the past, protests, public opposition, military and political pressure, and boycotts, didn’t magically move these mountains into view. But they did create the powerful wind currents that carved them into sharper contrast, shaping the path of momentum and awareness that led everyone up the peaks. Social media is a bolstering tool that has allowed us to expedite this process, webbing together billions of voices into one force for change all at once.

Right now, young people are forced to choose between their values (frequently newfound ones) and financial stability (for example, needing to keep a job that doesn't align with these values to make ends meet). And when it comes to the global circulation of money, which includes their financial safety, they’re choosing to embody the difference between peace and liberation.

As stated by Kwame Ture (please watch this 45-second clip), “There's a difference between peace and liberation, is there not? you can have injustice and have peace. You can have peace and be enslaved. So peace isn't the answer—liberation is the answer.”

Financial stability and our values shouldn't be things we have to choose between. 

Young people are not only walking this tightrope but doing it with unparalleled bravery, integrity, depth, intentionality, unrelenting love, and solidarity. They’re asking for change that undeniably risks their financial security—present and future—because both the change needed and the process of fighting for it will disrupt the status quo of how money flows.

I don’t have an answer, of course, but I see them. I’m with them. And they’re not alone. Here is a poem (with an audio episode included) I wrote at the end of March that I hope offers a bit of comfort. 

The cicadas will all be dead by the end of July. This is grave to consider and hold alongside this article’s context, but as the cicadas amplify our song at a critical moment in history, they’re also pleading: we are running out of time and something must change very, very soon. 

Even so, it’s crucial to remember that the cicadas will emerge again. There is an old Latin phrase, “Media vita in morte sumus,” which translates to “In the midst of life we are in death” in English (a Gregorian chant dated back to a religious service on New Year’s Eve in the 1300s, re-stated and published by many poets, lyricists, and writers, since). The reverse of this statement is also true: in the midst of death, we are in life—specifically that which we truly believe in.  

As Bishop T.D. Jakes has often said in some form, “Faith doesn’t ask you to know. It asks you to believe.”

I have faith because I believe in us.