SUS survival guide

What is the most common mistake students make when it comes to rest and recovery?

A common mistake is to deprioritize rest and recovery when demands increase. Many students feel they need to finish all their assignments before they can take a break. To sustain your studies over time, rest and recovery need to be a natural part of everyday life rather than something you postpone until later.

How can you tell when you actually need to take a break and recover?

There are several signs for when your body and mind need time to recover. You may find it difficult to concentrate, feel unusually tired, become easily irritated or lose motivation. Stress can also affect your sleep, leading to difficulty sleeping or insomnia. If you find it difficult to wind down in the evening, struggle to fall asleep or still feel tired despite getting enough sleep, it may be a sign that you need more time for recovery.

What is a simple way to recharge, even during intense periods of studying?

Recovery does not have to be complicated or time-consuming. Taking small, regular breaks throughout the day can make a big difference. Going for a short walk, changing your surroundings or stretching can help your body and mind regain energy.

Another simple way to unwind is to practise being present in the moment. For example, you could focus on your breathing for a while, pay attention to your surroundings during a walk or eat a meal without using your phone at the same time. Pausing for just a few minutes can reduce stress and help you regain focus.

Does recovery always have to mean resting, or can it involve other activities?

No, recovery does not have to mean simply resting. It can also involve physical activity, spending time in nature, socialising or engaging in creative activities. What matters is that the activity gives you energy and helps you switch off from demands for a while.

Recovery is also highly individual. Try different activities and reflect on how you feel afterwards. Do you feel calmer, more energised or more focused? By learning what works for you, it becomes easier to find sustainable ways to recharge and recover.

An important part of recovery is also practising being present in whatever you are doing. Our thoughts often continue to revolve around everything that needs to be done, even when we are trying to rest. Instead, try to focus your attention on the activity you are doing right now, whether that is going for a walk, exercising, spending time with others or enjoying a hobby. Being present can help interrupt cycles of worry and give your mind a better opportunity to recover.

If you could give one piece of advice to a student who feels overwhelmed, what would it be?

Try to pause and focus on what is most important right now. Break larger tasks down into smaller, more manageable steps and take one thing at a time.

It can also be helpful to think about what is contributing to your stress and whether there is anything in your everyday life that you can change. Some periods of life and study are more demanding than others, and it can help to accept that things feel difficult right now. At the same time, it is important not to let stress take over your entire daily life. For example, stress can lead you to deprioritise sleep, meals, recovery and activities that give you energy, or cause your thoughts to constantly revolve around everything you need to do.

If you are unsure what your next step should be, it can be helpful to talk to someone you trust or contact Student Health Services for support and guidance.

What is the most common mistake students make when planning their studies?

Underestimating how much independent work university demands, and not spreading it out evenly. Full-time study is roughly a 40-hour week, but for many programmes most of that will be self-directed study time rather than class time. Weeks with few classes should not be treated as free time – they are intended for reading, writing tasks or group work. The students who struggle most tend to treat those quieter weeks as a break and then work intensively before deadlines. Research on learning is clear that study spread out over a course will be far more effective than the same hours crammed in at the end.

How can you study smarter rather than just studying longer?

Studying smarter isn't about avoiding effort. Deep learning is always effortful, and the strategies that feel easiest, like re-reading, highlighting, and copying quotes usually teach you the least. The trick is to make the effort where it pays off. Distractions and disorganisation result in unnecessary, additional effort so address them by, for example, silencing your phone, doing one thing at a time and tidying messy notes. Then choose harder-but-better revision strategies: test yourself instead of just re-reading notes, space revision across several days, and mix related topics in one session. That productive struggle feels slower, but the discomfort is the sign you're building understanding that lasts. Keep these ideas about effort in mind when using chatbots as a study aid. You can use chatbots to help break down complex topics or critically interrogate your ideas or understanding, but any use of a chatbot that bypasses productive effort is stopping you from learning as effectively.

What is a good way to get started when you feel stressed or have been procrastinating?

Make the first step so small that it's almost difficult not to get started. Set a timer for ten minutes and begin with the easiest part of the task. You can organise your notes, write a rough draft of a paragraph, read a page… Motivation often comes after you start, not before, so the goal is simply to get over that initial threshold. And don’t get caught up in worrying about the quality of your work: starting an imperfect, half-thought-out draft moves you closer to the finish line than not starting at all.  

How much should students actually plan their studies from week to week?

It’s useful to plan in two ways. First, sketch out an overview of the whole semester so you know when new courses start, course literature needs to be acquired and deadlines might be coming. Then plan in detail one week at a time, working in 1-hour blocks. Add blocks for specific tasks (reading specific texts, work on a specific part of an assignment, revision), and include time for meals, sleep and exercise. For many programmes, planning 5–7 self-study sessions of around three hours each will work well. Add some extra blocks of ”buffer" time so it’s easier to be flexible when needed. Keep in mind that all plans should be open to revision and don’t be disappointed if you can’t stick to your plan. Take a moment to review your plans each week – if you haven’t been able to work to your plans, ask yourself if you need to plan differently or if there is some other kind of obstacle you need to work around. 

What study tip do you wish all new students knew?

That reading is where much of your intellectual growth happens, so treat it as a skill to develop, not just a pile of pages to get through. University reading isn't about absorbing facts; it's about learning to interrogate a text (who wrote it, with what evidence, how it fits with other research), to weigh competing arguments, and to join a scholarly conversation. These habits are also discipline-specific – reading a physics paper isn't like reading a history monograph – so expect to feel like a beginner again in each new subject. Read actively: consider why you are reading the text, preview it first, question it as you go, and summarise it in your own words afterwards. Done this way, reading helps you to develop the critical thinking skills your degree depends on. Beware of using chatbots as a shortcut here. If you use AI summaries as a substitute for your own reading, you are missing out on a crucial part of your intellectual development. You might also be relying on information that isn’t relevant or correct. 

Do you have any specific tips for students who are studying and writing in a language that is not their native language?

Think of writing in a second or other language as a skill that you can develop with practice. Look for opportunities to write regularly outside of written assessments, for example by taking notes from reading and lectures and by writing short summaries of course literature. Feedback on written work is also invaluable. Grammar correction tools can help but you can also ask classmates to read your work or book writing consultations with the Academic Writing Service. As you read, pay attention to the language and structures used in your course literature and build your academic vocabulary deliberately. You can create your own word lists from your reading or use existing academic word lists and phrase banks. Word lists can also be imported into flashcard apps to revise with later.

What are the most important things for international students at Stockholm University to keep in mind when it comes to study techniques and effective learning?

Expect more independent study and critical engagement than you might be used to from previous study. Lecturers rarely want you to repeat what you've read – they want to see you analyse, question and connect ideas. Understand that there can be many different kinds of written and assessment tasks at the university, and don’t expect there to be one standard way to respond to them. Keep in mind the earlier advice about productive effort, and when using chatbots, use them in ways that lead to productive effort rather than shortcutting it. Build a small study community with classmates or other students at the university – SUS activities and activities at the Academic Writing Service, such as writing groups and Shut up and write! meetings, can be great ways to meet people to study with.