Very few people would list studying as their favourite way to spend an afternoon. At some point, the hard yards still need to happen. The good news is that studying doesn’t have to mean sitting at a desk with a textbook for hours on end.
There are plenty of ways to learn that are more engaging. Some get you out of the house, and a few barely feel like study at all once you’re into them. Here are our top 10 ways to study that aren’t boring.
Join homework clubs or study groups
Motivation doesn’t show up on demand. Some days it’s genuinely hard to sit down and study alone. Joining a homework club or study group solves part of that problem simply by putting you in a room with other people working toward the same goal, with a set time and place and a bit of friendly accountability that’s harder to find on your own.
Study groups also work well because hearing how someone else has approached a topic, or where they got stuck, often highlights gaps in your own understanding. It’s a different kind of learning to sitting with your own notes, and for a lot of people, it’s more enjoyable too.
If your school doesn’t already run one for your subject, ask a teacher whether they’d support setting one up, or put the idea to a few classmates who seem to be in the same boat. Even an informal weekly catch-up at a library or someone’s kitchen table can work just as well as a structured program, as long as everyone shows up ready to work.
Watch documentaries
If a good documentary is already your idea of a night in, there’s no reason that can’t double as study time. Searching out documentaries related to your subjects builds real-world context around what you’re learning, and it tends to stick better than a page of notes because you’re watching events unfold rather than reading a summary of them.
Fictional films can work just as well:
- A novel you’re studying in English Literature might have a film adaptation
- A historical event you’re covering might have been dramatised on screen
- A concept in science or geography, like climate systems or space exploration, might be the subject of a well-made documentary
Each of these can bring the material to life in a way that’s hard to get from a textbook alone. The one thing to watch for is being honest with yourself about what actually counts. Sitting through any random show and calling it study won’t hold up, so stick to content that’s relevant and reliable.
Deep dive online
According to eSafety Commissioner research, Australian teens spend an average of 14.4 hours online each week. That’s a significant chunk of time, and at least some of it could be redirected toward something useful, including:
- Video explainers on topics you’re studying
- Practice exam questions
- Subject-specific forums where other students have worked through similar problems
- Recorded lectures or walkthroughs from other schools or open courses
Any of these can make a concept click faster than working through it alone. The obvious catch is staying on track. Scrolling social media or messaging your mates might happen on the same device, but it’s not the same thing as productive study time. Setting a specific goal before you open the laptop, like finding three practice questions on a topic, can help keep the session focused.
Do projects or presentations
Putting together a project or presentation teaches you more than just the content you’re researching. Along the way, you’re also building creativity, analytical thinking, problem-solving, and communication, plus teamwork if it’s a group task. All of these carry well beyond the subject you’re studying.
If these kinds of tasks motivate you more than straight revision, there’s no reason to wait for a school assignment to do one. You could write a blog, film a short video, draft a letter to a local politician or council, or design an infographic. Competitions can add an extra layer of challenge too, giving you a concrete goal to work toward and sometimes a prize at the end of it.
Go places
Not all learning happens in a classroom. Museums, libraries, galleries, and theatres are all designed with learning in mind, and educational talks or career events can offer a different angle on a subject than a textbook ever could.
If politics interests you, a tour of a government building or Parliament House puts the theory into a real setting. If law is more your area, sitting in on a public court hearing shows you how it actually plays out in practice. Experiencing something first-hand tends to make it stick in a way that reading about it doesn’t.
Sign up for things that interest you
Workshops, clubs, camps, short courses, microcredentials, and holiday programs are all worth looking into if a topic genuinely interests you. Some come with a cost, but plenty are free, and the return in terms of what you learn and who you meet can be well worth the time.
Finding them usually just takes a bit of digging:
- Council websites
- Social media
- Event platforms like Eventbrite or Humanitix
- Your teachers and parents
- The local paper or noticeboards at your nearest shopping centre
Our own events calendar is worth a look too, if you’d rather not search around for opportunities yourself.
Make it a game
Plenty of apps now exist purely to make learning feel more like a game, turning flashcards and quizzes into something closer to a challenge with levels and streaks than a study task. With so many free options available, there’s little reason not to try a few and see what sticks.
If you’d rather step away from a screen altogether, board games and card games can do a similar job. Strategy games call on planning and logical thinking, while word and trivia games build recall and general knowledge without ever feeling like revision. Depending on what you choose, games can sharpen memory, focus, and reasoning, build confidence, and improve how quickly you process new information, all while giving you a legitimate reason to spend time with family or friends rather than studying alone.
Work smarter
Studying for hours in one sitting after a full day at school isn’t appealing to most people, and it isn’t always the most effective approach either. Spreading study out into smaller sessions can add up over a week without ever feeling like a big chunk of your day has disappeared. Time on the bus, a free period at school, or a few spare minutes while waiting for an appointment can all work.
Short, regular sessions spaced out over several days also tend to help information stick better than one long cram, since you’re revisiting the material instead of only seeing it once. The upside isn’t just efficiency either. Studying in shorter bursts usually leaves more of your day free for the things you’d rather be doing, whether that’s sport, time with friends, or simply switching off.
Teach others
If you’ve got a solid handle on a subject, tutoring other students is a way to earn some pocket money while reinforcing everything you already know. Explaining a concept to someone else forces you to organise your thinking clearly, and it’s often the fastest way to find out where your own understanding has gaps.
Formal tutoring isn’t the only option either. Sitting a parent, sibling, or friend down and talking them through something you’ve learned works just as well, and it costs nothing to try.
Gain skills
If a test is close, your time is probably better spent revising for it directly. But if you’ve got a bit of room to move, even just 10 minutes a day, picking up a new skill on the side can be worthwhile:
- Touch typing pays off well beyond school, since almost every subject and job eventually involves typing something up
- Coding, a new language, or learning to cook are all reasonable places to start
- None of them require a big time commitment to begin seeing progress
Picking up something new outside your usual subjects can be a welcome change of pace from exam-focused study.
Looking for more ideas?
If none of these quite fit the way you like to study, we’ve got plenty more ideas on our study tips page to help you find something that works.
