Study Tips for Staying Focused
With Spring Break ending, we’re also coming to the end of Midterm season, thank goodness. Good news, your workload will hopefully lighten up a little for a while! Bad news, more tests and papers are on the horizon. And it’s super important to not let the next couple of quieter weeks become an excuse to procrastinate!
So here are some ways to keep yourself on track while studying in order to get the most out of it.
1. Make a Schedule
Especially when you have more than one major thing coming up, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How can you focus on your presentation when you have a lab report to write and readings to catch up on? By looking at your week and allotting time for each thing, you can stop yourself from those nagging worries. If you know that on Wednesday you’ll spend three hours reading, then you can just focus on that essay on Tuesday! Plan ahead and stick to the plan. Bonus fun fact, if you need to pull an all-nighter, do it two nights before the test. Why? Studies show that if you do the all-nighter the penultimate night, the night before the test you catch up on some sweet REM sleep that solidifies everything you studied and voila, you’re ready to go.
2. Know Yourself
If you’re going to stay on task, you need to know what type of environment works the best for you. Is coffee a must? Do you prefer sitting at a desk or on a comfy couch? This can totally be different for different people, too. There’s no one size fits all. For example, I love studying with music or background noise – for whatever reason, the added noise keeps me even more focused on what I’m working on. But I have friends who can only study in absolute silence. Figure out what environment you like the best, and make sure that’s where you do the bulk of your work.
3. Use Your Resources
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all your work, first don’t worry because it happens to the best of us. But take a deep breath and find help wherever you can. Head to office hours to ask your professor for clarification! Use an app like Quizlet that sets study schedules for the best memorization results! Have a friend proofread an essay! You’re not expected to go it alone.
4. Study With Friends
This is another thing that may depend on how you study the best, but having companions can keep you honest. Be careful, because a study sesh can turn into just hanging out really fast. It happens all the time. So study with people from your classes so that the focus really stays on the subject! Plus, bonus there, you have more people to ask questions and collaborate with. If you prefer studying with your friends, make sure that you go into it with the understanding that you need to get some serious work done. That will hopefully deter any major distracting conversation.
5. Reward Yourself
College is hard! So amidst all the studying and cramming and writing and reviewing, make time for yourself. Add time in your schedule to relax – pencil in an hour to watch the latest Big Little Lies episode, or make a lunch date that doesn’t involve homework. Even while you’re working you can stay motivated by using rewards – an m&m for every three pages you read, or five minutes on your phone for every twenty you spend studying. Use whatever incentives will keep you on track and focused.