How I Got Better Test Scores with Simple Stuff
Okay, let’s be real. Last semester? My test scores kinda sucked. I mean, averaging like 65%? Yeah, not great. I felt totally stuck staring at giant textbooks and messy notes. Something had to change, and fast. So I decided to try out some tools everyone talks about, but actually use them every day.
Throwing Stuff at the Wall to See What Stuck
First, I grabbed this stupid cheap timer my mom used for cooking. Seriously, looked like it cost 25 cents. Figured I’d try the “study for 25 minutes then break for 5” thing everyone swears by.
Total disaster at first! Kept forgetting to start the darn thing, or I’d just ignore it buzzing away. Felt super annoying. But after a week of forcing myself? Actually started to work. That 25 minutes? It tricked my brain into focusing ’cause I knew a break was coming.
Drowning in Highlighters to Finding One
Then I tried to deal with my messy notes. Had like eight different color pens and a rainbow of highlighters. Looked pretty, I guess? But it was chaos. Couldn’t find important stuff later.
- Took one single black pen only. No colors.
- Started writing super short summaries in the margins: “WHY does this matter?” “HOW is this different from the other thing?”. Forced me to think, not just write.
My notes looked uglier, but suddenly, finding the key points was way faster.
Flashcards: From Soggy Napkins to Index Cards
Tried using my phone for flashcards. Do not recommend. Kept getting texts, notifications buzzing… doom scrolling instead of studying. Total waste.
Ditched the phone. Went old-school: bought a stack of paper index cards and a chunky red marker.
- Question on the front in normal pen.
- ANSWER IN BIG RED MARKER on the back. Simple terms only.
Cramming them in my pocket, reviewing them standing in line for coffee, even while brushing my teeth. The physical cards were way harder to ignore than an app icon on my screen.
The Big Ugly Calendar
I used to keep deadlines in my head. Spoiler: my head is terrible at this. Missed deadlines, panic attacks the night before tests.
Solution? Went to the dollar store. Bought this giant, ugly monthly calendar with kittens on it (don’t judge). Stuck it right over my desk.
Forced myself to write:
- Every test date in thick black pen.
- Small chunks of stuff to review each day leading up to the test. No more “study everything” nonsense.
- Put a big, satisfying X when I actually did the thing.
Seeing the kittens every morning reminded me I couldn’t just wing it.
Putting It All Together (And Still Messing Up)
So here’s how a typical study chunk looked:
- Set that annoying little timer for 25 minutes.
- Look at my kitten calendar to see what small bit I needed to hit that day.
- Take ugly notes with my black pen, writing the “WHY” in the margin.
- Make one or two of those big red marker flashcards right then.
- Timer goes off? Walk away for 5 minutes. Stretch. Grab water. Maybe glare at the kitten calendar.
- Repeat.
Was it smooth? Heck no! Some days the timer felt like torture. Sometimes I wrote lazy “WHYs” on my notes. Forgot to put things on the calendar. Still forgot stuff.
What Actually Happened?
Slowly, boringly, things shifted. Pulling out those physical flashcards meant constant little reviews. That ugly calendar stopped the “oh god the test is tomorrow” panic. The forced pauses with the timer made study sessions less painful.
It wasn’t magic. It was just using simple physical stuff I already had in a deliberate way, even when I didn’t feel like it. My next test average? Jumped to a 78%. The one after that? 82%. Still not perfect, but honestly? Massive relief. Simple tools, actually used consistently? Works way better than perfect apps I never open.
