How to Study the right way..

To many people, effective studying means heavy nonstop grinding. This is not necessarily as effective as it seems. There are negative effects to working hard without a break. Many people still continue the trend of uninterrupted focus because they will be busy 24/7. However, busy does not always mean productive. Productive means getting things done, but busy means you have something to do, whether or not it means finishing it. There are more effective ways to study smarter, not harder.

One way to study productively is to manage your time. This does not mean setting aside a certain number of hours or minutes for every assignment. It means that you have focused and productive time blocks, with a brief break following it. This is known as the Pomodoro Technique. You would study or work in 25 minute intervals. After every 25 minutes, you would take a short 5 minute break. After four 25 minute sessions, you would take a longer break, lasting 20-30 minutes. This technique works because our brains are wired to be completely focused for a short period of time before it gets tired.

To deal with the tiredness after every 25 minute session, we have a 5 minute break. During this short break, our brains can recharge before getting focused again. After 4 rounds, you would take a longer break, which is a time for your body to recharge. You can get a snack or take a brief nap or just do something fun. Using the Pomodoro Technique allows us to stay completely focused for intervals of time so we can get things done instead of being distracted for a longer time.

Many people like to multitask. They believe that multitasking allows them to get more things done more efficiently. Multitasking may seem like a good way to get things done when you are in a time crunch, but the quality of your work will drop. For students, this usually means working on homework for several subjects at once. This is highly ineffective because your brain will get confused about what it needs to focus on. If you are working on science homework and writing an essay at the same time, you might include science information in your essay and vice versa. Your brain will get confused about which topic it needs to have relevant information for, and it will get jumbled up. Miraculously, even if you manage to use the right information for the right subject, the quality of your work will drop drastically. Your mind will be filled with thoughts that you won’t take your time to analyze a book for your essay, you just read and write based on surface level analysis. As you go into higher grades, you need to dig deeper for analysis and quality of homework, and the teachers won’t accept the simple stuff anymore. Working on multiple things can make you too occupied with other things to put your full effort into your analysis or homework, which can also drop your grades.

Another way to effectively study is to study with no distractions. Our phones control most of our lives, especially during the covid pandemic. They are also pocket sized, which makes it easier to have wherever we go. They are an enormous distraction when it comes to studying. The best way to study and ensure we are absorbing the information is to put our phones and any other distractions away. Usually, even if phones are silenced, they vibrate when a notification goes off, and it creates an urge to pick up the phone.

You stay more focused when the phone is somewhere you don't have easy access to. Personally, I silence or power off my phone and put it in my dresser drawer, which is all the way across the room. For you, this could mean putting it in a different room, or giving it to your parents to hold until you get your work done. This limits all the distractions and doesn’t give you as many opportunities to waste your time.

Many people enjoy doing their homework or studying with music in the background. I agree, music is a good way to stimulate the brain. However, based on the subject, the music should change. If it is a subject like art, music with lyrics and a fast beat would be helpful to get those creative juices flowing.

For any subject that requires concentration like math or science, music without lyrics, and a slow and steady beat is the best. This kind of music reaches out to the logical parts of your brain and doesn’t allow you to get distracted by the lyrics. Lyric less music is a good way to escape the silence but still stay focused. Another effective way to study is to not leave everything until the last minute. Usually, you are informed of an exam at least a week in advance. Plan out the topics you need to study throughout the entire week. This will help you slowly absorb bits of information at a time, which allows you to retain it. On the last day or two, review bits and pieces of every single topic. If you have 6 topics you need to study, and a week until the test. Study one topic every day, and on the last day, review all 6 topics plus anything else. This ensures that you cover everything you need for the test. Make flashcards, take practice tests, anything that will help you understand the material better. If needed, pretend that you are teaching the material to someone else, even if it is just an empty room. As they say, you learn better when you are teaching it to someone else. Planning out your days in advance allows you to not get too stressed out and keeps you organized.

In the end, many people might think that working hard and for longer ensures their success in the future, and that is completely okay! If that has worked for them in the past, let them continue. If it has not worked for you, try something different! Everybody learns differently, you need to keep exploring to find what techniques work for you and help you be successful.