Anyone who has ever studied, knows the pain of not being able to focus. Whether it is daydreaming about being any where than where you are, or if it is doodling so much on your pages that you look like the next Pablo Picasso. Trust me, I have been there, I sometimes think I suffer from short term memory loss because I can not stay on subject to save my life at times.
But, I have learned a few things that help make studying a little better. Stay on track with me here, it is pretty painless and really helpful.
1. Turn your cellphone off
I know, you are thinking how can you ever live without your phone glued to your hand? Your cellphone is your number one distraction when you are trying to study. I even have to leave mine in another room when I need to do some intense study sessions. If I do not leave my phone away from me, I will pick it up and get so distracted that it makes it hard to get back into study mode. Your tweets can be sent out later, your snaps will be just as good another time in the night, and your Facebook relationship can become official after you are done.
2. Study in a cool environment
If you are in college where there is air condition in your dorm, lucky you. When I walk into my dorm I begin to melt from the heat. I tried to study in my dorm when I first moved in and found that because I was so hot I was becoming distracted. I would focus so much on the fact that I was dying from the heat that I was not taking in any information that I was looking at. I found that going to a cool area really helps, you focus more and get to cool down.
3. Study alone
I know we all want to go in groups to do everything. We can not even go to the bathroom alone anymore we have to have a whole entourage. But I find that when I go in groups to study, I want to socialize more than focusing. Maybe it is just because I am a social butterfly and could talk your ear off about anything. But it is just the fact that if someone is there, I want to talk to them. If you go alone to study, you focus more on the information you are receiving, rather than what chapter your friend is on and what you are going to do after you get done studying.
4. No music
I love music, and I am constantly playing it. Spotify is my best friend, and I make some amazing playlists. With that being said, it is never a good idea to listen to music while studying. Trust me, if it was a good idea I would be all about that. But, if I listen to music I will start jamming out, and focusing on learning all the lyrics to the new Beyonce song, rather than focusing on my work. So save the karaoke session for after studying.
5. Stay organized
I am a huge planner person. I highlight and sticky note like there in no tomorrow. But when taking notes, there is no time to really do all that unless you want a five hour study session. I found that when I keep my class notes and my out of class notes separate, I tend to remember the content better. I know, it is more notebook and more things to carry and keep track of, but it really does work. If you keep your in class notes separate you remember more of what the professor said and what the notes pertain to, rather than if you lump them all together and create a jumbled mess.
No one is perfect, and reading all of these tips are helpful. When it actually comes down to it, we all have our own way and routines for how we study. I just found that these tips help a lot, and keep you on track. So get to those long study sessions and late night crams, cause we know at some point we will all be there a time or two.
