Study Habits

[freshnesschronic]

Mr. UT, have you ever considered a sub forum entitled "Education" or something like that. Just wondering. I'd post there a lot.

Anyway I was wondering what people view as good study/work habits for tasks, jobs and projects. Currently I am writing a 6-8 page research paper that I feel has been going pretty well. I have all my hard copies of research collected (periodicals, books, anything that physically exists) and can find Internet sources with the snap of a finger. The paper is due Tuesday (which is two days from this post) and I have about 3 pages done. Now I've been working on this for a little more than a week. But last week I had to get ready for the fashion show dance performance I was in (and posted about earlier) which was yesterday. I'm pretty happy about being half way there and I can now dedicate all my free time to the paper since there is no more practices, run-thrus or dress rehearsals. But I'm just wondering about my study habits. For a paper, I think (and/or research) and then type for about 5 minutes (maybe getting 3 or 4 sentences done). Then I take about a 7-10 minute break to check Yahoo! Sports, The Cellar, Facebook, email, blah blah blah, and then I return to the paper. I repeat the 5 minute work and the 7-10 minute break for about 4 hours or so. This is probably the routine I will use tonite, until I finish my paper I hope around 9:30 or 10ish? Which is in 3.5-4 hours from now.

For studying, I usually start studying a little over a week before the exam, reviewing notes and outlines. I go over an entire section, chapter, whatever, completely (no matter the time taken) and then take about an hour break to do whatever. I do this maybe twice for the early part of the study week but when it comes down a few days before I do this technique except I run through the entire material (instead of individual sections) in a whole day.

So...How do experienced dwellars utilize their work/study/research time and factor in the breaks in between? How would someone critique my study habits? My opinion based on the good grades I've been getting this first 3 semesters, is that it works and is satisfactory. But another part of me thinks these frequent breaks should be eliminated to maximize efficiency; I often hear of all nighters my friends pull and their stress because the have been studying for 4 hours straight. To contrast, I almost never feel stress from school. Almost, never. Hell, I plan on playing basketball tonite after it's done (or near done) even though its due in less than 48 hours. But I'm confused about my study techniques. Yet, my GPA tells me I'm doing fine.
Just wondering about it (I just used a 10 minute break to post this!).