How to Create Study Guides

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams. Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University.

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Study guides are tools that can help reduce the stress of a test. If you’re covering a lot of material, it may seem intimidating to consolidate all of the information into one helpful guide. However, with a few tricks for sorting information and finding a design that works for you, you can ace your next test and prepare for any exam in the future!

Formatting Your Study Guide

• If you're a visual learner, consider using color-coded sections in your study guides or using idea mapping to draw out the information and make it more quickly-accessible.
• If you've got a linear mind, organize the information chronologically, or alphabetically, so you can make learn one thing in a series, and then move on to the next.
• If you need to connect to information emotionally to understand it, organize your notes into narrative form to study it better. Translate concepts from math into a story that you can connect to, then organize your study-guide like a short-story you can recite to remember the application of the formulas.
• If you can memorize information quickly, use a format that will help you memorize efficiently, whether it be recording yourself reciting vocab words and definitions, then listening back on your iPod throughout the day, or by creating flash cards and testing yourself regularly.

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Draw concept maps to connect main ideas and prioritize information. Concept maps involve writing each main idea into a separate box, which is connected according to their chronology or importance. Then, connect branches of associated information stemming from the main ideas. [2] X Research source This study guide method provides a good visual of how subject material fits together to make a whole concept.

• An example of a concept map for a history chapter on space flight might involve "The Space Race" as the main heading, which would branch off into separate categories for The United States and the Soviet Union, with trailing data about specific missions, projects, successes, and failures.
• A formal outline, as you're sometimes expected to write for an essay assignment, is an example of a concept map. If outlining works for you and organizes information in a way you find useful, outline the info to study. Formal outlines can make excellent study guides, but only if you find them easy to write out. If it would be stressful to make one, find another solution.
• Diagrams of technical information can help to visually represent processes or procedures that take place by way of a series of defined steps. These start with a main concept and are organized from left to right in a way that highlights important key factors in the order in which they must happen.
• Timelines are good for outlining a series of chronological events, most often used for subjects like history, politics, and biology.
• When you're studying, it can be helpful to prioritize studying broad facts, formulas, and concepts, and the relationships between them. Then, it will be easier to remember things like historical dates, names, and other details. [3] X Expert Source