Tricks For Staying Focused

Taking college classes is a huge lifestyle commitment. Not only will you need to diligently attend all of your courses, but you’ll also want to study the information so you can do well on your homework and exams. Some people equate attending a university to having a fulltime job. In fact, it’s advised that for every one hour you spend in class you set aside an additional 2 to 3 hours of studying time.

Of course, the time you spend outside of class on each course will depend greatly on the class itself. You’ll probably need more personal study for a geometry class then for rock climbing. But regardless, you will need to study, and the smarter you study the less time you’ll have to spend on it. Here are a few tricks to get the most out of your study time.

Quiet Environment

You may think you can work in the living room of your noisy apartment, but don’t kid yourself. Find a nice quiet place where you can really devote all your attention to what you’re learning. The library may be a good option or even a quiet building on campus that gets less foot traffic through it. This will make your study time more effective, and you’ll quickly find that you remember what you’ve gone over better.

Fortunately, if you live at Sunrise Village, you are super close to BYU-Idaho's campus where there are plenty of study places. Check out the library for tons of great quiet study spots. 

Close Tabs

There are few things more distracting than the option to distract yourself. If you have Facebook pulled up on your computer while you’re studying, the temptation to scroll through your news feed will interrupt your concentration. Just exit out of everything you are not currently working on so you won’t be as easily tempted to distract yourself.

Silence Phone

Nothing breaks concentration like getting a notification on your phone. Instead of keeping your phone sitting on your desk, try placing it on “do not disturb” and putting it in your backpack. All the notifications will still be waiting for you when you finish your study time, you just won’t see them until you're ready to be distracted.

Music

Music is such a wonderful way to lose yourself, but it can also pull you away from your studies. As much as you’d like to think you can jam out and memorize cell structures at the same time, your brain doesn’t actually work that way. People are actually pretty bad at multitasking. If you must have some sort of background noise, try picking something without words, like a movie soundtrack, so your brain won’t get sidetracked thinking of the lyrics.

Dedicate Time

Something that may really help you study is to set aside a certain amount of time every day to study. This way you can prepare yourself mentally to zero in on your studies and mute all other things going on in your life. If you are consistent with your study time it will help to train your brain to be ready to power on and finish that anatomy homework before you head out for a night with your friends.

You will get out of your classes what you are willing to put into them. Considering that you are paying thousands of dollars to attend school it might be worth it to take your education seriously and devote the time and mental capacity you need to excelling in your coursework.