Studying is an essential part of being a student and, while we may not always enjoy it, we know it will be worth it in the end. You can put in hours of work but, if you don’t have a solid studying plan, negative habits can begin to creep in and take time and effort away from your sessions. Here are a few negative study habits that you may not even know you are doing, which, when eradicated, will make you much more productive.
Missing Classes
Getting into the habit of missing classes for any reason is the first step to falling behind and thus, increasing stress. If you miss a class, you end up spending valuable time and energy writing up notes from the lecture, asking your classmates what something means and maybe even having to talk to your teacher to explain something. Going to the actual class is the best way to avoid all of this wasted time.
Be sure to make a schedule for your classes that makes sense to you. Whether that is on your phone, written up and pinned to your bedroom wall, or something else. This means you are less likely to plan something that clashes with your schooling.
Distractions
The best way to avoid distractions it to take yourself to a secluded area, put your head down and get to work. But this can be hard to do and, if you have created your own workspace, you need to make sure the distractions can’t get to you.
One of the biggest distractions is your phone. Notifications, texts, calls and the urge to check Twitter can take you away from your work for who knows how long? You look at one text and the next thing you know, three hours have passed and you’re scrolling TikTok.
Another big distraction can be people coming in to talk to you. If you can, let the people in your area know that you are going to be unavailable for the next few hours. You can always head to the library or somewhere quiet to get some work done, too.
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Avoiding Breaks
Once you get in the flow, it can be hard to stop. But, taking breaks is essential and allows your brain to chill out, take in what you have been learning and recuperate. The best schedule is working for 20 minutes and taking a five-minute break, then repeating.
This also links to all-nighters which should try to be avoided. This sees you trying to squash information into your head in the short-term only to regurgitate it the next morning. Doing this in itself is hard but, add on top of that the lack of sleep this will mean, and you are in a lose-lose situation.
No Schedule
Like anything, having a schedule and rota will make it much easier to stick to what you need to be doing. If you sit down to study without a plan, you could spend your first 20-minute bracket simply trying to figure out what you need to be studying.
Developing your time management and organisational skills will also help you in later life when you get a full-time job. Most employers are impressed by graduates who can organise their own time and workload, so why not start trying this out now?
