Study breaks

Knowing how to sort out properly your studying sessions is the key to avoiding stress and reaching the grades you expect for every single one of your exams. Here are some tips and tricks that will guide you into making your study time much more useful, focused, and productive if you incorporate them in your weekly sessions. Combined with propitious time management, this guide could propel your academic skills and study techniques to a whole other level - an effective one. Give yourself the best chance, try these out, and trust the process. Everything will be alright.

Is it hard for you to stay focused during a two-hour-long stretch of studying? Don't worry, you are not alone! In fact, that's perfectly normal. Moreover, working on one subject for an extended period of time has the opposite effect of being beneficial: after some time, your brain begins to tire and this leads to a lack of concentration and thus a lack of learning and retention. Therefore, it is best to mix different tasks and topics and to take regular breaks that should not be longer than 15 minutes. Taking a breather from studying is just as important as studying itself. The most common way to organize a study schedule is to do alternate short and intensive periods with refreshing pauses. You can adjust the length of your sessions depending on the type of assignment. For example, if you needed to write an analysis paper, you could work on it for 45 minutes, whereas a physics project could require hour-long periods. Also, one approach that has been found to gain more popularity over the last few years is the Pomodoro Technique. It consists of 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break and so on for as long as you need to get homework done. Maybe you should try it out! In any case, the important thing is how you use your study time, not how long you study.

Do you doze off in bed when trying to learn how to write a marvelous body paragraph in an open letter? Between you and me, that weariness could also simply be caused by the fact that the topic is as dry as dust. Even so, never underestimate the power of environmental factors. Finding a better study space may be the answer. First, make sure that the workspace you have picked is only used for studying. Indeed, the environment holds a major influence on our behavior. For instance, if you put yourself in a place where the purpose is ambiguous, you are more likely to succumb to those other distractions and lose track of your goal. All in all, put the odds on your side and don't go somewhere that could compromise your sacred mission. And please throw your trash away and make sure that your desk is clean. Not to mention that it should be as spacious as possible and organized with only the study materials you need. Next, your room should be well lit. In fact, if it’s not lit properly or if it’s too dark, you could end up feeling sleepy. That is why white lights, or other color shades that tend to be classified as ‘’cold’’, are more recommended than yellowish ones. Natural light is another good idea to exploit, but it shouldn't distract you: it can be dangerously tempting to look outside. So, watch out for the double-edged window. In light of this, not only should your room keep you alert, but also constantly focused. Lastly, as for the noise around you, it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you make it your own. Pick the kind of sound you want to immerse yourself in:

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