Just a quick little update. As some of you may know, I've recently set up a Twitter account and am much more active on it than I ever thought I would be. I have a thing with social media where if I spend too much time on it, then I get a little panicky. There is a reason behind it, and one that I don't really want to go into right now, but I might explain it in another post. Anyway, I've discovered most of my favourite bloggers and Youtubers on it and it's getting me really involved in this particular community. It's also a brilliant platform if any of you would like to get in contact with me. If any of you would like to follow or get in contact with me, my Twitter can be found here.
Due to the fact that I have to get back to schooling soon and I am constantly going to have to be studying now (which I regretfully say) I thought it may help myself and other people if I created some sort of small series to help people who are going back to school as well. So here's the first instalment: The Set up.
No matter which course you go into, you will always receive a syllabus (or you can find one online) which will state what you need to learn, study and revise for any upcoming exams. It also provides an outline to what you will cover. Essentially, it acts as a basis and a backup for your course. For me, this is an essential part of my studying. Not really a part of the set up, but would just like to highlight how crucial your syllabus is.
Now to the actual set up. Before I begin, I would like to point out that studying is a different experience for everyone and all that I state will be what works for me. I would advise that you take time out to really find out what works for you, because that will be so helpful in the long run too.
For me, music is a no-no. Studies have shown, however, that headphones tend to decrease retention and memory whereas music in the background can aid some people. It all depends on how close the source of sound is to you. Some music - such as Bach and Beethoven - have even proved to help some people memorise and study more efficiently, but I have had no such luck. One thing that has no positives to it is working in front of a television, or any screen that has some sort of entertainment on it. This can directly interfere with your thoughts and your pattern of study, making it even more difficult to retain information. I will be the first to admit that if I learned something in a class or lecture that I fully understood, and I received work or assignments about it at home, I sometimes turn on the television as I sit on the couch and do my work. This is not advisable and should be avoided! I do, however, work a lot from my laptop. Whether it be taking notes on it during lessons, or gathering extra in information from it, it has become a crucial part to my studying process. It is a very tempting distraction, however, so if you have a tendency to give in very easily, I would try to refrain from using any digital gadgets where you can.
The location in which you study is also very dependent on the person. I prefer to study in my room, with my door locked so I can tucker down and close myself off for a few hours at a time. I also prefer to be alone, and I definitely work best if no one else is at home with me. When I do take breaks, I try to limit the time that I have outside of my room, as I can often get driven off to things that lead to doing other things, resulting in me subconsciously avoiding work. However, the bedroom or any other room can represent sleep and relaxation to some people, which results in them not having any motivation to do work. It is also a place of many distractions, so to be able to work effectively in a bedroom you have to be able to stay focused for excessive periods of time, without feeling the urge to check your phone, go on social media platforms, or anything like that often.
Mixing up your study environment occasionally is often advised to stimulate your brain. I often do like to take my work some places, but they have to have a desk and a quiet area. Working on beds, or any other surface where I cannot fully focus, tends to draw my attention anyway and draw me towards sleep because that is what a bed represents to me. Study groups, especially those with people who are revising the same information as you, can be a very positive influence for some people, but as I tend to work better alone, I find myself getting easily distracted by them. This is especially evident when I study around some of my closer friends, because I often end up just chatting with them. For me, when I get out to study, I lean towards a library that has isolated stalls, or another, similar place. For people who do not attend university or college yet, although it may be a daunting experience the first time, uni and college libraries and general campuses have a multitude of places that have been designed especially for their students to study. I promise that once you get there, no one will pay much notice to you. They may seem very scary, but uni students are actually most of the time (when they are on campus) too absorbed in their own work to care about too much else.
Some people even prefer noisier locations, as when you get too much background noise, your brain sometimes blocks it out. For me, this would never work but it is important to practically explore our options.
Lighting and temperature may seem unimportant but actually can have a drastic effect on your mood and how you're feeling. Try to find a happy medium with lighting that isn't harsh but doesn't want to put you to sleep, and a place with consistent temperature. I prefer to be warm, whether this means turning the heater up or piling on a few extra layers, but it makes me feel even more focused.
This might lead onto the question of - when I study, what material should I take/what materials should I have with me? Of course, I cannot answer this question so that it covers everybody. With every course, there comes a whole new set of materials and course work. This is another advantage of working from home - you have everything on hand. When you go out and study, you should triple check to make sure that you have all you need when you leave. If you do go out, do not set yourself the task of going over all your courses and studying everything. I may not be able to generalise on many things I have said in this post, but I can assure you that this will never work. If you go out, give yourself two or three subjects in which you have narrowed down even further what you need to go over and make sure that you have a basic outline of what you're going to study. There's nothing worse than going out to study, pulling out your books and materials and then having no clue what you're reading, with no one to ask.
When I work from home, I study one subject at a time, because flipping and switching does not work for me at all. In between topics in a subject, I like to take five minute breaks, and in between subjects I like to take at least fifteen minute breaks, in which I refuel. On my table, I have to have all the physical books, materials and resources that I need to go through all I want to before my next break. If they are not on my table, and I constantly have to be getting up, I get drowsy and bored much more quickly as I am constantly being exposed to distractions. So make sure you have everything you need with you on hand. I also have to have my pencil box/case with me. However, life becomes much easier when I take everything out from it and lay them out on my table for easy access.
Highlighting is a tricky thing as some people have a tendency to overcompensate with the colour that they put on their pages (I come from experience). One trick a friend advised me is to colour coordinate your information - for example, green could be for key dates, yellow could be for important people and so on. This did not work for me at first, and I still have trouble with this, but I have slowly trained myself into some sort of compromise. I highlight what I absolutely need to, and then right out the key points of what I have had to highlight. This has registered in my brain as less writing, which means a less ache-y arm. Of course, if you received a document that is crucial to your studies, do not compromise on your information because you want a less ache-y arm.
I like to write in lead and red pens when I study. Lead makes it easier to scribble notes around and add information to, and writing in red makes it really establish in my brain as hard fact. Blue and black pens are kept on hand if need be because they can come in handy for taking side notes or scribbling on post it notes.
That's something that I forgot to mention and show! I'm not sure what they're called universally, but I call them post it notes. They're the little paper tabs with stickiness on the back of them that you can attach to paper and things to make little notes on or mark an important passage or page. These are important to my studying process. I find them excessively handy in writing little side notes which I stick next to passages. They also prove useful when you are studying out of a textbook and don't want to damage or mark it, and you can stick a post it note to write notes on and not permanently vandalise the book.
Apart from that I don't really like having anything else on my table. As far as snacks go, I like to have something that I wouldn't normally crave - so anything like cookies is a big no. There are some food that have proven to increase brain performance, such as celery with peanut butter, and I tend to lean towards snacks like this. Celery with peanut butter is a snack I consume on a day to day basis, as it really can fill you up and make you feel very awake.
Finally, and because I do do this a lot, I would encourage you to clean out your mind and physical area before you study. Any worry, distractions or other problems should be out of your head before you sit down to study for long period of time. Make sure you aren't worrying about how messy your room is as you sit down, and if you are, do something about it. Make sure that fight you're having with your friend is out of your head, even if it means taking some sort of radical movement to do so, before you try to concentrate too hard. Meditation, although it may put you off a little, has actually proved to help people who have trouble studying due to prior concerns. It is the most important thing to be completely aware of your mind and surroundings when you study, and have the capability to drown them out.
That's all for now. If you have any additional tips about the set up and environment of studying, and what works for you, leave them in the comments or tweet them to me. If you have any exams, tests, or just schooling coming up - good luck! I believe everyone is capable of doing well in whatever they pursue, they just has to learn how to harness their natural intelligence.
Much love,
Duchess
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