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What do you do when your brain just won't let you study anymore?
- Thread starter HR.
- Start date
Man up and get over it. There really isn't anything else you can do. You need to have the maturity to study for your exam, period. It's like paying your bills or feeding yourself. You can't just say "I don't feel like paying for electricity this month" or "I don't think I'm going to eat this week, it's too much effort." You have a responsibility to yourself to study, and the only way to fulfill that responsibility is to actually focus and just study. Disconnect your Internet or sit in a medialess room or something if you're really that unfocused.
Pretty much this. I understand that I have to do it and its my responsibility and all that, but that doesn't really change the fact that its hard for me to concentrate after studying for a few hours.
@ Erazor. Music is more of a distraction to me to be honest, because then I'll want to keep listening to it =P. Talking to my girlfriend helps a lot though. Taking a shower tends to help me relax too.
Adderall.
If you don't have a prescription (or access to someone with one), I've found that white noise helps me. Turn on the TV, but something like the Home Shopping Network that's nothing you'd want to actually watch.
Maybe get up and fix something to eat? That could help you recharge a bit, and it would provide a short break too.
If you don't have a prescription (or access to someone with one), I've found that white noise helps me. Turn on the TV, but something like the Home Shopping Network that's nothing you'd want to actually watch.
Maybe get up and fix something to eat? That could help you recharge a bit, and it would provide a short break too.
get up early, have breakfast, then 1 hour hard study, 20 minutes hard exercise, repeat (with a forty-minute lunch break) until dinner, give yourself the evening for leisure. revise major notes before bed
AJers
Your typical e-wench
I like to take a break every hour, go exercise, go for a walk, do something physical. Don't watch TV, get on the computer, or start playing games. But! If you're not disciplined enough the "entertainment" will draw you in and hours will pass before you get back to studying.
Personally, taking my dog for a quick walk or hitting the gym with my books works for me. Another technique that seems to work well for me is to switch between subjects, ie, do an hour of studying for x, then do 30 minutes of reading for y, then another hour of studying for x, and a couple problems for y.
Anyways, everyone is different and what may work for me won't work for you. But, if you read a paragraph (or study a problem), then try to summarize what it says/does without looking over it again and you have no idea or you draw a blank, then you're not effectively studying ANYWAYS and you're just wasting your time.
In my opinion, it's not necessarily the TIME you put into studying, but the retention/learning of the material that comes with it. So, if you're one of those people who can only study for 20 minutes before needing a 10 minute break, then do so. Otherwise, as I said before, you're wasting your time. Experiment with your learning style and I'm sure you'll pick up alternative ways to study. :)
Personally, taking my dog for a quick walk or hitting the gym with my books works for me. Another technique that seems to work well for me is to switch between subjects, ie, do an hour of studying for x, then do 30 minutes of reading for y, then another hour of studying for x, and a couple problems for y.
Anyways, everyone is different and what may work for me won't work for you. But, if you read a paragraph (or study a problem), then try to summarize what it says/does without looking over it again and you have no idea or you draw a blank, then you're not effectively studying ANYWAYS and you're just wasting your time.
In my opinion, it's not necessarily the TIME you put into studying, but the retention/learning of the material that comes with it. So, if you're one of those people who can only study for 20 minutes before needing a 10 minute break, then do so. Otherwise, as I said before, you're wasting your time. Experiment with your learning style and I'm sure you'll pick up alternative ways to study. :)
This basically sums it up. If you're really motivated about getting good grades, then you should be able to put everything else aside and study. What I do is force myself to study in a vacant and quiet room or the library for as long as I need to study. I would suggest leaving anything that would distract you (i.e. your laptop, phone, etc). You also need to learn to prioritize. Make a schedule of times you should study, so you know that you have enough time. If you have friends that are constantly asking you go play with them during your study times, then you need to learn deny them.
I have a room mate who is smart, but is peer pressured by his friends all the time that he hardly has time to sleep, attend classes, and study. It just sickens me to see people wanting to study, but can't man up and fulfill their responsibility, as Vader stated.
Find the right place. Trying to revise in your room, 3 feet from your computer and games console and novels, is often going to be doomed to failure.
Many people like libraries, but for some the atmosphere is a bit too stressful. If the weather permits, revising outdoors can be good - but watch your notes don't blow away!
Many people like libraries, but for some the atmosphere is a bit too stressful. If the weather permits, revising outdoors can be good - but watch your notes don't blow away!
Personally, I start studying for exams at least a week prior to the date of the exam. This is useful because it prevents the stress of having to cram everything into your head on the night before the exam. A non-stressful study time is more effective than last minute studying (though it is a good idea to do both) and you should get into the habit of doing that in the future. As for your current predicament, I agree that you should not watch TV shows, play games, etc to relax as the entertainment will make you want more and more until you realize that you just got screwed over due to the amount of time you've wasted (this is also coming from personal experience). Personally, what I did was play a bit of billiards as I was living on school residence. Even though this is considered "entertainment that would screw you over", the pool table is public property and there will be more people wanting to use it. Basically, I only use entertainment to relax before exams only if I know for sure that I cannot get drawn into it.
An alternative is to study with friends if able because it is always a good idea to work on practice problems together, even if it's the other person who needs help most of the time. Just make sure that the said friend isn't an asshole who ruins the study atmosphere. That's my two cents.
EDIT: Yeah, showers help too.
An alternative is to study with friends if able because it is always a good idea to work on practice problems together, even if it's the other person who needs help most of the time. Just make sure that the said friend isn't an asshole who ruins the study atmosphere. That's my two cents.
EDIT: Yeah, showers help too.
Hang a photograph of a janitor on your wall. Following that, decide not being bothered to study is ultimately not really a huge problem.
Same here. Pausing for a little snack once in a while usually helps me.
There are lots of recommendations here, hope some of these will work for ya.
Doing pretty much anything else for a short while can help a lot. Focusing too hard on studying for too long will become unbelievably boring, but it only takes a quick distraction for a few minutes to help you get focused again.
Someone mentioned it already. Just space everything out. Don't try to do it in one day, two days, or even a week. If you have that much trouble, look over your stuff every day, even if your test is a month away.
Check this out though. I don't know how it happened. But I seemed to get better grades, when I started caring about getting good grades less. Don't get me wrong. I still did all of my papers and I still studied for everything, but my attitude was simply "C's get degrees", and about 80 percent of the time, I earned A's instead.
Another option would be to change what you are studying. If you are finding that every single class you are in (that invovles your major) is requiring a lot of work and its no fun, then get out and pick something else. I originally wanted to be an engineer but found out that I suck at Calculus and everything higher. So I switched to Math education. Slightly better.
Check this out though. I don't know how it happened. But I seemed to get better grades, when I started caring about getting good grades less. Don't get me wrong. I still did all of my papers and I still studied for everything, but my attitude was simply "C's get degrees", and about 80 percent of the time, I earned A's instead.
Another option would be to change what you are studying. If you are finding that every single class you are in (that invovles your major) is requiring a lot of work and its no fun, then get out and pick something else. I originally wanted to be an engineer but found out that I suck at Calculus and everything higher. So I switched to Math education. Slightly better.
i listen to jazz music while studying, it really helps me study.
usually what i do when i have to study for my bio/medical exams is i just go to my room, sit on my desk, turn on my desk light, COMPLETELY mentally zone out every thought about pokemon, games, the world, women, and just get the crap over with, and its been working with me for awhile now, as studying with other people (aka study group) always ends up with someone going off topic out of boredom, and you usually dont go at a pace you want to.
Though simply put, you really do JUST have to get it done, it ain't easy just sitting down and studying when wanting to instead be lazy, but it really is the only way your ever going to really become someone successful with a good career.
Though simply put, you really do JUST have to get it done, it ain't easy just sitting down and studying when wanting to instead be lazy, but it really is the only way your ever going to really become someone successful with a good career.