Student Resource Hub

You already know how to read, but college reading is a different challenge. Successful college students don't read everything the same way. They use different strategies depending on what they're reading and why they're reading it. The ideas below will help you make the most of your reading time by staying engaged and remembering more of what you read. 

Use this Textbook Reading Planner Worksheet (Google Sheet) to break your reading into chunks, track your focus, and build a one-page study guide from memory within 24 hours of finishing a chapter.

At healthy levels, stress is a normal and even desirable feeling called eustress, which allows you to focus and perform to your highest ability. However, too much stress can quickly become distress that prevents you from focusing and makes you feel anxious.

Use this Test Anxiety Reduction Tips from the ASC (Google Sheet) to write down your worries, reframe negative thoughts, and practice physical tension-release exercises to calm your body and mind before a test.

Simply rereading your notes as a primary study strategy may give you false confidence in your knowledge and create an illusion of learning. Instead, prepare by doing sample problems without looking at an answer guide, drawing concepts from memory, and revisiting the material a day, three days, and a week after class.

Use this Exam Preparation Tips from the ASC (Google Sheet) to schedule your study sessions over time and track which concepts you can successfully draw, explain, or solve from memory without checking your notes or the textbook.

Big projects and multiple deadlines can push your stress so high that it becomes hard to learn, remember information, and do your best work. You can lower your stress before a study session by taking a brisk walk, interacting with water to relax your brain, doing repetitive movements, or practicing specific breathing techniques.

Use this Ten Ways to Lower Academic Stress Before You Study (Google Sheet) to identify how stress shows up in your body and select quick exercises—like progressive muscle relaxation or writing out what you can and cannot control—to calm your mind before you study.

Sometimes the best strategy is working with an expert. UMD offers dedicated spaces and academic courses to help you build these skills permanently.

Visit the Tutoring Center on the second floor of the library for peer support.

Enroll in the 1-credit, 5-week course SSP 1001 Reading Hacks for College.

Enroll in the 1-credit, 5- or 7-week course SSP 1004 Studying, Note & Test Taking.

Enroll in the 1-credit, 5- or 7-week course SSP 1005 Managing Time.

Enroll in the 1-credit, 5- or 7-week course SSP 1002 Managing Stress.