Avoid Distractions While Studying

You know you really want to get good grades. Your parents have put the pressure on, or you promised yourself you would do better. But how do you focus on studying? Read on for some good tips.

Steps

Studying Without Noise

  1. Find a place in your house that is the quietest or where you are comfortable.
  2. Tell whoever lives with you that you are studying for a really big test and that they need to keep the noise down.
  3. Go into the room you want to study in and take out all the things that could distract you.
  4. Light candles or spray air freshener in the room. This will help make you relaxed while you study and help you be less forgetful.
  5. Once you are relaxed, organize everything you need to study and lay it out in order from hardest to easiest. That way, you will tackle the harder material first, so if you get tired you'll know it already.
  6. Don't eat anything that will upset your stomach while studying.
  7. Eliminate all noises you think you might have missed earlier.
  8. Clear your head of anything that you tend to think about that hasn't got anything to do with studying. If you don't, your brain won't store most of the things you need to know and you'll forget.
  9. Tell all your friends that you really need to be studying. Tell them that you would appreciate it if they don't call, text, or come over, which will distract you from studying.
  10. Put everything on silent. Your cell phone, your pager, your laptop, and all other electronics should be on silent and put away in your closet. That way, you won't get a text and want to answer it.
  11. Try saying the subject matter aloud. That way, there is a higher probability that you will remember it.
    • You can also try to develop a habit to eat a piece of flavored chewing gum or something while studying because your mind can relate the information with the taste (more neurons involved means more information retained). So that way, when you chew that flavored chewing gum in the exam, you will be more likely to remember the material.
  12. Try to remember the things you have learned without looking in the book.

Studying To Music

  1. Find some headphones. Listening to music without them can be helpful, too, but headphones block out some extra sound around you, making it easier to concentrate.
  2. Find neutral songs. These are songs that may not have lyrics, particularly exciting beats, or anything else that will catch your attention. While these may not be the songs you listen to for fun, they will help you focus. Background music that doesn't affect your emotions, mood, or make you start singing along is best.
  3. Try listening to violin, cello, and/or piano solos. Classical music has been proven to help people focus while they study. Instrumental solos are especially great because they lack the complexity and drama of a full orchestra, which means the music will be less likely to distract you.
  4. Make a playlist before you start studying. Gathering a playlist of songs that suit your studying mood and putting it on repeat keeps you from having to select a new song every two or three minutes. This keeps the music coming and allows you to just focus on what you have to get done.

Studying in a Small, Noisy House

  1. Have a household meeting. Ask everyone for their ideas about the most suitable places in the house for you to study. This is a good way of bringing the issue to everyone's attention and asking for good ideas, as well as buy-in to the solution. Some things you might like to put on the table include:
    • The need for a space that is away from constant people traffic and distractions
    • The need for a quiet spot to think and revise from, perhaps including quiet time
    • The need for no interruptions from siblings or other household members during study time
    • The need for a spot away from electronics.
  2. Set up a space that is permanent for studying from. It should be as far away from noise and thoroughfares in the house as possible. It is best if the place has a door that you can shut. Make it clear to everyone that this space is completely off-limits during your set study times and that if anyone wishes to interrupt you for a good reason, they must either knock or signal that they are coming.
    • Keep all of your study items in this one place so that you don't need to go to-ing and fro-ing to retrieve things and be distracted by other household goings on.
  3. Deal with the noise. In a small house with thin walls and people doing other things, noise will likely remain a constant. Some of the things you might consider trying include:
    • Invest in a decent pair of noise-canceling headphones. Wear these whenever studying.
    • Get a white noise machine to try to cancel out the other noises.
    • Wear ear plugs. These don't work for everyone and you need to get a decent pair.
    • Request a set quiet time each weekday. Have a parent or household member in charge set a minimum amount of time each day during which everyone in the house must remain quiet.
    • Have others wear headphones or earphones. Loud TVs, YouTube videos, Netflix movies, music and whatever else can be tamed by making the watcher or listener use earphones.
    • Make an arrangement with anyone practicing music that they don't practice it during your study period.
    • Have a noise curfew. Make it a household rule that after 9:30pm or 10:00pm that everyone must be quiet.
  4. Change your study hours. Another way to work around noisiness is to be awake when others are asleep. Perhaps study later in the night or go to bed early and get up much earlier than everyone else, to make the most of the early morning hours for studying.
  5. Be flexible and respectful. Avoid turning this into a demand that everyone else conform to what you want. There needs to be some give and take involved, so that each household member gets their time to do the things that they enjoy. As such, if you manage to get a deal that it's quiet time between 4pm to 6pm, accept the noisiness between 7pm and 9pm.
  6. Go somewhere else to study. If all else fails, or just for a change of scene, locate other suitable study places. This might be the local library, your school or college, a friend's house or some other suitable spot. If your house is cramped, it might be nice to get out on a regular basis anyway. Once you have a routine in place, your brain will get used to the external place of study and you'll find it just as normal as being at home.

Tips

  • Bring water with you when you study. You need to keep yourself hydrated.
  • Be organized. If you're not, your study techniques won't work very well because they'll be a mess.
  • Switch off your cellphone and deactivate Facebook, as well as any computer games. Anything that can pull your focus off your schoolwork.
  • It will help you to study in a place that really makes you comfortable because that's what you need: a nice, soothing environment.
  • Try to get nice scented candles with relaxing scents, such as vanilla. They can really sooth you and make you really relaxed, so you'll enjoy the study session.
  • Use a distractions page where you can write down anything that comes into your head not essential to your current study session. This prevents getting side tracked.
  • Keep yourself calm. Getting angry, frustrated and resentful will just make it harder to study and will likely cause others in the household to get annoyed with you. Moreover, it's impossible to study well when you're all worked up.
  • If you can lock the door to the room where you study, this will stop people from interrupting you unexpectedly. Find out whether it's okay to put a lock on the door if it doesn't already have one.
  • Don't let your phone or electronic device distract you; mute it or have a friend or family member keep it for you in case you have some important messages.
  • All electronics should either be switched off or put away. It'll help you concentrate and you'll be able to be finished with your tasks in no time!
  • Television is also a distraction. So get a time table of watching TV and studying this will help you in your big tests.

Warnings

  • Keep phone out of sight so it doesn't distract you if you get a notification.
  • Don't eat fast food before you study, but make sure you eat so that you're not hungry while studying. Hunger can be a big distraction. You need to eat healthy foods which will boost you with enough energy to keep you focused on your studies
  • If the noise and commotion is too much for you, it's really important to speak up. Other people may not be aware that they're having such a negative impact on your ability to study well. In fact, some people thrive on noise and commotion while studying, so it may be foreign to them that you're experiencing issues.

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