The word I have shouted at myself many times while trying to study for exams, concentrate is (in my opinion) the word easiest to say but hardest to do.
Trying to cram in all the information can be stressful, and having a short attention span doesn’t help either. More than once I have shove a pillow into my face and screamed due to the fact that I lack the strength to concentrate for any longer than five minutes. So, I decided to take a break from my usual posts and write a post that can help you, the reader 🙂
Here are some common problems that affect ME while studying, and I hope you can relate:
- Electronic devices constantly going off
- Noises from the outside world
- Mess
- Sheer boredom
- Sensory Overload
Unplug/Take away any distractions:
There is absolutely no chance of a good studying session with messages from Snapchat breaking it every two minutes, or with emails from Pintrest telling you who saved your pin awakening your laptop. So, put your phone/laptop/tablet etc. in another room.
I know it’s hard to, I tend to struggle to do it myself (what a first-world problem, I know) but this will benefit you in so many ways. The constants noises and vibrations don’t take away your concentration and it allows you to be able to buckle down and study.
Noises from the outside world.
Despite my wishes, while I am revising the rest of the world keeps turning. This is especially irritating when your sister is running down the hall, the TV is blaring and there’s a drill running SOMEWHERE in the house. It affects my concentration greatly.
What I do is close my bedroom door and play some quiet meditation music. It calms me down and somewhat blocks out the outside sounds. It helps bring back my concentration to my studying and tests always seem to go better when I do this.
Mess
I cannot work when my desk is messy. Instead of concentrating on my work, I look at how disorganised my desk is and mentally organise it, paying not attention to the studying I need to do.
If your workspace is messy, the day before you’re due to start your studying, clean it. Put everything away, throw away what you don’t need, organise what you do need, and actually clean the workspace using a cloth. It immediately makes me feel better and more comfortable, and allows me to concentrate better on my studying.
Sheer boredom
Studying is boring. I absolutely hate it, especially for subjects I cannot stand. The sheer boredom of it makes me unable to concentrate as I think of everything I could do to procrastinate studying. But sometimes you need to suck it up and do it.
Use a method that you like; flashcards, spider diagrams etc. so it is less boring. Set breaks for yourself. For example, every half hour of revision you do, take a five-ten minute break. Also, give yourself rewards. If you revise for ten minutes, have a few crisps. This always makes the time go faster when I’m looking forward to doing something after a set amount of time, even if it is something small like that.
Sensory Overload
I often get sensory overload when studying. The person walking outside my room is too loud, the rain is too loud, the kettle is too load. It drives me to the point where I’m visibly crying and am about to pull my own hair out.
So, cover your ears, take a few deep breaths and calm down. Take a short break to wind yourself down, and when studying, start off easy. Don’t immediately jump into the harder stuff, start of simple. This will help you calm down and the noises become not so noisy.
These are my tips for studying. These are things I do that always seem to help for me, so u hope it can help you too.