50+ Videos: Tips, Techniques, Resources for Academic Success in College

This resource list is a supplement to our earlier 50+ Free/Freemium Online and Mobile Research Tools: Collaboration, Brainstorming, Note-taking, Annotation, File Storage, which emphasized apps for notetaking. Another resource list, 45 Learning, Studying, Productivity and Other College-Centric Blogs, listed blogs that cover some of the same topics.

In this resource list, note-taking is also covered, but more in terms of tools, tips and techniques rather than apps. This list also covers note taking, studying, recall and general academic productivity.

Note that some of the videos linked here have preamble and that you may have to jump ahead to get to the actual tips.

Note-taking, Studying and Recall

• USING THE NEW IPAD 2018 FOR UNI/COLLEGE || organization and notes discusses some of the benefits of an iPad 2018 for college, a few of the apps the host uses, and some of her notetaking workflow.
• HOW I TAKE NOTES ON MY IPAD PRO 10.5 offers some insight into using an iPad Pro, its split screen feature, and the Goodnotes app for notetaking, using stylized headers for easier studying, importing digital textbook text and images, etc.
• How to Study Way More Effectively presents an overview of the Feynman Technique for effective studying, which is based on the research workflow of Nobel-Prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman.
• Study LESS Study SMART covers some ways on how to focus, to find your motivation to study effectively. (This is a preview to a much longer lecture, linked in the video details section.)
• TOP TEN ENGLISH STUDY HACKS | Lisa Tran gives you just that — tips on studying for an English course, with techniques that are applicable to other subjects, scientific or not.
• How To Engineering Study | Engineering Study Skills discusses how to apply rewards to study accomplishments, explains using the Pomodoro technique for filtering distractions, and provides other good study tips.
• A+ BIOLOGY HACKS | HOW TO STUDY BIOLOGY suggest techniques (drawing, concept maps, comparison tables), apps/ software and other resources for getting the most out of studying for biology courses.
• 11 DIY Study hacks for BACK TO SCHOOL! Study Tips to Get Better Grades!! covers memory hacks, study tips and project hacks for college students — including tips about repetition, distractions to avoid, eating “brain” foods and more.
• How To Get An A WITHOUT Studying! 17 NO Study Hacks To Get Straight A’s! is for those of you whose dog ate your notes so you “couldn’t” study. And how dark chocolate can helps memory recall.
• 20 ULTIMATE STUDY HACKS! High School, Middle School and College DIY LIFE HACKS offers some general tipa for studying, drawing boundaries with your family, using the Pomodoro method, study rewards, etc.
• How to study for exams – Evidence-based revision tips challenges the actual effectiveness of many of the most popular study tips — including those commonly mentioned in YouTube videos — and backs up his comments with references to relevant research papers.
• 21 School Hacks For Studying You Should Know! offers a variety of study tips related to music, caffeine, study breaks, ways to spark oxygen and blood flow, diagramming versus highlight, apps, etc.
• Study Less Study Smart – 10 College Studying Tips and Hacks covers suggestions such as splitting up study sessions, study breaks with treats, having dedicated study areas, etc.
• MY SCHOOL HOMEWORK ROUTINE! Study Hacks and Tips! highlights some of the typical study workflow distractions and how to defeat them.
• How To Take Notes | THE EASY WAY + STUDY HACKS has tips suited to students who don’t like to take notes (everyone?), including abbreviations, using an index, dictation, recording apps such as hippo, etc.
• 10 MUST-TRY HOMEWORK HACKS: How To Study Effectively! has study tips, suggestions for study breaks, how to focus, use reminders that can also chase away distractions, and using video to supplement notes.
• College Study Hacks presents fun tips such as eating chocolate, using Google Translate, applying a multi-pronged approach to notetaking, color-coding notes, etc.
• If you get lazy studying for topics you don’t like, DIY SCHOOL STUDY HACKS Every LAZY Student Should Know! might help you, with interesting tricks for math, speedreading, using flashcards and so on.
• 18 Study Hacks EVERY Student Should Know! is more unique than a lot of other videos, covering the effectiveness of eating apples for energy, drinking lemon water in the morning, chewing gum, using scents, rhyming, acronyms, replaying your recorded voice while you sleep, etc.
• DIY STUDY HACKS FOR SCHOOL: Organization and Homework Tips! offers up organization and time management tips to improve your approach to studying.
• How I Study and Ace Exams tells you how to plan studying and manage your time efficiently to get top marks.
• How to Study for ANY TEST! | Study Tips and Ultimate Study Guide covers planning for tests, when to start preparing, asking the professor the type of test — which dictates how to prepare.
• 11 Secrets to Memorize Things Quicker Than Others gives you tips and techniques like: repeating information after learning, followed by selectively spaced repetition; how to learn information you don’t understand; serial position; interference theory; and other special situations for memory recall.

Handwriting, Lettering, Sketchnoting, Bullet Journaling

• How to Bullet Journal is an introduction by the creator (Ryder Carroll) of the Bullet Journal, which provides an overview of the process/ workflow for managing your life and work with a structured approach.
• How to Make a Digital Planner | Digital Bullet Journal Tutorial gives you a video tutorial on how to setup the digital equivalent of a Bullet Journal.
• How I Start & Plan my Bullet Journal + Useful Beginners Tips! is a set of useful tips for beginners on how to setup a Bullet Journal, and suggestions on planning headlines and illustrations for a given month.
• Don’t want to fork over the cash for an official Bullet Journal? DIY Dollar Store Bullet Journals shows you how to take a dollar store journal, and hack it with stickers and other embellishments to affordably upgrade it to something nicer.
• Not happy with your handwriting? How to Improve Handwriting shows video of legible handwriting samples, and offers three tips around the 3:28 mark on how to improve yours.
• Using Graph Paper to Guide Your Writing and Drawing does what the title says — offers tips on improving your writing and drawing skills, which are ideal for the sketchnoting style of note taking.
• Improving Cornell Notes with Sketchnoting Techniques discusses how to integrate these two popular methods of note taking and studying.

Productivity and Focus

• The Shocking POWER of Waking Up Early discusses the health and productivity effects of waking early, and some of the negative effects of pulling all-nighters — info that can be useful to college students.
• Interested in becoming a morning person but don’t know how to reap the benefits mentioned in the previous video? BECOMING A MORNING PERSON offers some tips on slowly shifting from a late to an early schedule.
• HOW TO MAKE TIME FOR EVERYTHING YOU WANT | Part I offers you general productivity tips that apply to studying, including habit tracking, spreading out studies of similar information (e.g., two different languages), to-do lists, etc.
• 7 simple habits for a more productive life provides practical tips including: color-coding tasks lists to easily identify academic goals; having daily goals; listening to audiobooks during commutes (to both relax as well as learn something new); do brain training activities; etc.
• While The “Block Schedule” System covers general productivity and time management, the “block schedule” approach has benefits for college students.
• 10 Habits Of Successful College Students! How To Get Straight A’s is another set of tips loosely applying game theory to be a productive college student by planning each month ahead and understanding every test’s/ assignment’s priority.
• Whether you’re doing an online degree taking one course at a time, or a more traditional on-campus program with 3-6 courses simultaneously, plus labs, time management is critical to academic success — even more so if you’re a nontraditional student with existing time obligations. TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS gives you some useful guidelines that can be applied to college-related tasks, including an explanation of Goldilocks scheduling and Parkinson’s Law.
• 11 Ways To Study SMART & Study EFFECTIVELY – Do More in HALF the Time! covers several approaches in achieving a fourfold productivity in your studies.
• Watch 7 STUDY MOTIVATION HACKS FOR SCHOOL if you need suggestions on how to get motivated for studying.
• What do top students do differently? TED Talk gets to the heart of a major difference of top students in that the schedule studies around other activities and so usually have something enjoyable to do everyday — which balances work and play, makes them happier and usually results in more effective studying.

General

• While 5 Secrets of Straight A Students: Study Hacks and Tips!! is aimed at high school students, there are some valuable college-applicable tips that essentially amount to “game theory,” and can help you choose the most valuable sequence for completing multi-course assignments.
• HOW I GOT STRAIGHT A’S AT A TOP UNIVERSITY | HABITS OF 4.0 STUDENTS offers some great time management and other tips for academic success, including: avoiding friends who will hold you back; not wasting time in “cute” lounges; envisioning success; having a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset; and others.
• From FAILING STUDENT to ROCKET SCIENTIST interviews Olympia LePoint to find out how she found her motivation to study, overcame her fears, understood the power of our thoughts and decisions, and became an actual rocket scientist.
• Acing Multiple Choice Tests: Advanced Strategies is a video from a Yale medical student, focusing on achieving top scores on multiple-choice tests, including: being strategic with your time during a test; marking questions you’re unsure of using a notation, and returning to them; read questions before answering, especially “inverse” questions, calculation questions, etc.
• In The Secret to Straight A’s, a Harvard student reveals some of her secrets to achieving straight As, including “the Halo effect,” prioritizing what you want to achieve academically, etc., and even offers a free download of one of her top college essays.
• 5 Rules (and One Secret Weapon) for Acing Multiple Choice Tests covers Thomas Frank’s suggestions for top marks on multiple choice tests, including reading each question twice, and reading all questions before answering any.
• How To Get A’s In College | Tips to Get Straight A’s presents Brooke Miccio’s tips for top marks, including taking advantage of “office hours,” finding good study locations, handwriting your notes instead typing them, etc. It also has the benefit of a detailed response in the comments from an English professor.
• COLLEGE SURVIVAL GUIDE | STUDY HACKS primarily covers tips on studying and learning, as well as ways to save money on text books.
• My stationery essentials for note taking discusses some of the types of stationery and other physical tools that you may need for effective note-taking.
• STUDY HACKS: HOW TO GET A 4.0 GPA | How I Got Straight A’s offers some practical ways for effective learning, in order to get top marks.
• How To Get Straight A’s in School | 10 Study Hacks to Get Good Grades! suggests general tips such as reading out loud, spreading out studying for a subject across multiple days, teaching someone, etc.
• In How I Got Straight A’s my Entire Life, a straight-A student gives away some of the more esoteric tips you might need, including making the effort to avoid difficult professors.
• The 8 Habits of 4.0 Students reveals the benefits of projecting to your professor that you’re a diligent student, sitting in the front row, using flashcards, checklists, making sure you’ve collected all handouts and assignments, written down deadlines, etc.