Key takeaways
- I'm wrapping up my 8-month co-op as a Software Developer in Test at Shift, heading into my last two terms of Computer Science at UVic.
- Going back this year feels different, more bittersweet than the neutral feeling I've had in past years.
- The most effective study techniques are practice testing and spaced-out studying, not rereading or highlighting, and I built two Shift AI Skills around exactly that.
- Constant tab and app switching has a real, measured cost on focus, part of why I rebuilt my whole Shift setup before the semester got busy.
- Working at Shift changed how I think about productivity: it's not about cramming more in, it's about making room for what matters.
Heading back to school and wrapping up my co-op
I'm writing this in my last week as a Software Developer in Test Co-op at Shift, which still feels a little unreal to say. My co-op has been a mix of remote and in-office days spent testing new Shift releases before they ship, building out test automation so we catch fewer things by hand over time, chasing down bugs, and helping our Customer Support team reproduce issues our community runs into. It's the kind of work that teaches you a lot without ever really announcing that it's teaching you anything.
Next week I'm back at UVic for my fourth year of Computer Science, my last two terms before I graduate. I'll be honest, I feel both excited and bittersweet, which is new for me. Most years I've felt pretty neutral about heading back, but this year comes with a "we're almost there" feeling, plus the adjustment of going from applying what I know at work back to being tested on paper again. I'm also looking forward to TAing a Python course for the first time, and staying involved in my university clubs.
Overall, it's a lot like starting the final season of a show. You want to know how it ends, but you're also not quite ready for the credits to roll.
My most effective study techniques, backed by real research
Cognitive scientists have actually studied this. A widely cited 2013 review by psychologist John Dunlosky and colleagues, published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, ranked common study strategies by how much they actually improve learning, not by how popular they are (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Two techniques came out on top:
- Practice testing, quizzing yourself instead of just rereading.
- Distributed practice, spacing study sessions out instead of cramming.
The techniques most students default to, rereading, highlighting, and mnemonic devices, ranked lowest. Knowing that is one thing but actually building a semester around it is another. So here's what practice testing and distributed practice look like once they leave the research paper and become habits:
- Use office hours before you need them. Explaining what you don't understand out loud is its own kind of practice testing, and most professors are far more welcoming about it than first-years expect.
- Check your expected grad date once in a while. It's a small way of zooming out, the same instinct behind spacing your studying over weeks instead of cramming the night before.
- Make real time for the people in your life. Distributed practice only works if you're not burning yourself out to get there. School will take up as much time as you let it, so I plan my week to leave room for both.
- Join a co-op program. It's the most real practice test there is, actually applying what you're learning instead of just being quizzed on it, and it's what helped me figure out what I actually want after graduation.
- Don't let Rate My Professor make the decision for you. Those scores aren't always accurate, and skipping a class or professor over a low rating can cost you more than it saves. Test it yourself before you take a stranger's word for it.
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Here's what's actually different: I'm separating the parts of my life digitally instead of letting everything blend together.
Part of that is just practical, but part of it comes down to real cost, psychologist David Meyer, in research cited by the American Psychological Association, found that shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time. Here's what I'm doing about it:
- A separate Space for my TA work, with tab groups for lab hours, grading, and communication.
- A student Space with a tab group per course, so I only see what one class needs at a time.
- Bringing whatever I'm looking at straight into Shift AI, instead of copying it, switching tabs, pasting, explaining what I need, and switching back.
I'm setting this up before the semester gets busy, not after. It's doing some of the organizational heavy lifting so my brain doesn't have to remember where everything lives.
A few things people keep asking me
What are the most effective study techniques for college students? Practice testing and distributed practice, spacing study sessions out instead of cramming, have the strongest research support. Rereading, highlighting, and mnemonic devices are far more popular but far less effective.
Is there a secret to studying more effectively? Not really. The closest thing to a secret is that the techniques most students default to are the ones research rates lowest, while quizzing yourself and spacing out your study sessions actually work.
What's one productivity hack that actually works for students? Build your study schedule out of your syllabus the day you get it, not the week before midterms. I created a Shift AI Skill for this, /deadline-planner, that turns a syllabus into a spaced-out schedule automatically, plus /explain-university, which quizzes me on a topic instead of letting me just reread it.
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Read MoreWhat eight months at Shift actually taught me
My biggest highlight was working on Shift AI while it was still brand new, testing it by hand first, then creating test cases and automating them. I came in nervous about testing and left genuinely enjoying it.
My team made the experience what it was, my manager's guidance, my colleagues' mentorship, and their patience reviewing my work. One thing my manager told me, "work smarter, not harder," landed at the exact moment it applied and genuinely humbled me in the most hilariously grounding way. Mentoring another co-op halfway through my work term is where I noticed how much I'd actually learned, and I made a great friend out of it too. What I'll remember most is how welcoming the team was, and how comfortable I always felt asking questions, something I want to bring into TAing this fall.
It also changed how I think about productivity: not how much I get done, but using my time well and making more room for what actually matters: good work, learning something new, and time with people.
What first-year me would think of this
If first-year me could see me now, I think she'd be pretty surprised, and probably relieved. I'm going into my last two terms with a better idea of what I enjoy, a little more confidence, and some genuinely great people in my corner. Now I just need to remember how to study for a midterm, let alone a final.
If you want a head start on your own setup, all students get Shift Advanced free for a year, and can enter for a chance to win the ultimate back-to-school Apple bundle while you're at it.
Sources
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.
- American Psychological Association: Multitasking: Switching costs (citing psychologist David Meyer's research on task-switching costs)
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