Elise Pham

5 study habits that are KILLING your brain🧠

Most students think they’re “bad at studying” when in reality… they were just taught the wrong habits. Let’s break these down 👇 1. Staying up past 11pm I know it feels productive. But after ~11pm, your brain is biologically worse at encoding new information. You’re rereading, zoning out, and stealing from tomorrow’s memory by sacrificing sleep. If you don’t remember it the next day, this is why. 2. Rereading the textbook This is the biggest illusion. Familiarity feels like understanding, but recognition ≠ recall. Your brain gets good at seeing the words, not pulling the ideas out on its own during an exam. 3. Highlighting notes Highlighting feels organized, not effective. It’s a passive task, which means your brain isn’t being forced to retrieve, struggle, or decide what actually matters. Pretty notes don’t create strong memory pathways. 4. Studying with your phone nearby Whether your phone is face-up or on silent, your brain is still allocating attention to the possibility of a notification. That constant background distraction lowers focus and slows learning way more than people realize. 5. Watching YouTube videos Videos make things feel clear while you’re watching. But clarity from someone else explaining ≠ you being able to explain it yourself. If you haven’t paused and tried to recall or solve it alone, you won’t remember most of it. Study tips that ACTUALLY work incorporate both active recall and metacognition, such as the 20-70-10 Review System and The 3-Layer Build that I explained in past videos… If you want the exact study strategies I use at Harvard to remember more in less time, DM me STUDY to my Instagram @UltimateIvyLeagueGuide and I’ll send them to you 🧠 #UltimateIvyLeagueGuide #UltimateMentor #UILG