Exam Season is upon us and everyone I know is panicking — including me — about workloads and how much more they need to study. So to celebrate that, I’m rating my favourite ways to motivate myself to study.
Studying with friends
7.5/10: When we actually get down to it and study, this is one of the best motivations for me. The vibes are perfect, not lonely and when my friends are working, I’m able to pressure myself to work properly, as well. However, if one or neither of us are in the mood to work, then everything quickly dissolves into chaos — one time, my friends and I ended up having a heated debate over the islamic terrorist groups from our respective countries.
Overall, this method should be combined with others to be the most effective — like when we’re forced to be quiet and focus because we’ve moved ourselves to the silent study area of the university library.
Cafe study space
4/10: I love the feeling of being the “cute, mysterious girl in the corner” of a cafe somewhere. That feeling can sometimes get me to be very focused while doing my work and do so in a productive manner, as well. However, if I was honest with myself, it’s never a lovely, independent cafe somewhere cute; it’s probably the Pret or cafe Nero closest to our university. On top of that, I am a hungry girlie which often causes me to spend too much on food and drinks that I don’t really need or have the money for. Even worse is that I’m nosey and I spend an embarrassing amount of time listening to other people’s conversations and watching them. This method has worked in the past but it’s really not the best.
Library study space:
8/10: I’m going to say it, I actually love being in the library, especially the top floors of SOAS library when it’s a bit dark and quiet — the vibes are truly perfect. I bring my laptop and a bunch of work and use the fact that others are also panic-working to get myself into the zone where I pretend I’m some academic genius studying in a world-prestigious university, maybe contributing to some world-class research rather than working on some silly, little first-year essay. My only concern is the fact that most libraries don’t allow us to bring in food and drinks — as we’ve already established, I get hungry, so the library is not ideal for super long time periods.
Dark academia
7/10: Hear me out, I actually love this so much that I’m using this method currently in the height of a sunny spring to write this article. This probably ties into other factors like the library and my playlists, but once again, I like to dress in nice clothes and pretend I’m in The Secret History or something — it motivates me to try and be the best and love what I study. It’s simple enough: you just dress smarter than normal, put on some classical music, brew some tea (perhaps the actual studying part isn’t that fun, but pretend to like it is — fake it till you make it) and just get on with your work — maybe not necessarily to the point of obsession that some people take it to (though, you can if you want to).
Nonetheless, I sometimes do find myself scrolling on Pinterest for hours, just looking at the aesthetic instead of doing anything substantial. Also, exam season does take place in the summer months which is not ideal for the whole dark academia aesthetic, but it can be forced if you try hard enough.
Playlists:
5/10: For me, if I tie it to the dark academia aesthetic, I can really motivate myself. However, when it comes down to it, I end up finding neutral music which neither helps nor inhibits my ability to study. I will just turn on my classical music playlist to get me through studying rather than sitting for hours in silence while other people might prefer lo fi — I’ve seen some people work really well to metal music (apparently it gets you to do stuff fast). Just don’t turn on stuff you would dance or jam out to because if you’re anything like me, you’re too easily distracted for that.
Procrastination:
2/10: Do I get the work done? Sure. Do I end up crying/ having an anxiety attack on the day of the deadline and promise myself I’ll never do it again, but inevitably end up doing it every single time I have a deadline? Of course. Would I recommend anyone else do it? Absolutely not. Does everyone do it? Yes. Come on, you’re better than this — for my sake, just break the cycle that none of us seem to be able to — your mental health will thank you.
Building a study routine:
NA/10: I’m not convinced anyone ever actually does this. Let’s face it: I added this one because every time I find some kind of study motivation source, this is one of the main points they raise. But, I would not be desperately looking at these study motivation sources at 3 AM if I actually had a study routine.
That’s pretty much everything I could think of. Ultimately, if we only ever studied when we had the motivation, I don’t think any of us would pass or be getting our degrees so it’s important to just force ourselves to do the hard stuff, regardless.
Good luck to all those who have deadlines approaching and exams near :) Now, go study!!!