Everyone has a unique approach to studying. One cannot completely copy the study methodology of others and expect to work it effectively for him/her. Studying smarter is better. Not only studying smarter saves a lot of time, it also saves us some time for pursuing our hobbies. It also helps to keep us miles away from stress.
Location
Some say that cafeterias have the best ambience for studying. The background noise and lighting amplifies the results. But this can’t be true for everybody. Some people find public places like cafeterias too noisy for concentrating in studies.
If you are one of them, public libraries are the perfect location for you with perfect ambience & low background noises and perfect study atmosphere. And most of libraries are free to access with free material available.
Home is the usually the most productive place for studying for most people. The comfort level of self’s house is unparallel with any other place and of course the cheapest of all options. But if you aren’t living alone, there may be some distractions which may affect your productivity. Unlike libraries you may or may not have a study table for studying. If a person is lazy enough he/she may try to study at the couch to have a more relaxing study session, but we all know study sessions at a couch doesn’t end well.
Noise
One of the most important factors while studying which plays an important role in output is the background noise. Some people find a light background noise (such as music) while studying soothing and quite effective. But others prefer complete silence or just the ambience noise of a public place.
Studies show that background noise of close to 75 db is quite efficient for creative thinking. However sound more than 75 db is quite detrimal for studying and effects out body by effecting breathing & blood circulation pattern. It may affect BP or may elevate stress.
Time
Time is another important factor. It is one such factor which heavily differs from one person to another. Some people believe that morning time is most productive and a person should engage in problem solving and concept understanding during this time. They believe that morning time is when the human mind is fastest & calculative. They prefer reading new concepts in morning and revising the same or already read materials in study times other than mornings.
Morning
- More calculative.
- A range of locations available.
- Clearing problems is easier.
- Natural light.
- More number of distractions.
Late Evening time
- Increased creativity and effectiveness.
- Not many locations to move around.
- Research proves that night-owls are smarter than most early risers.
Taking Breaks
Just like every other exercise undertaken by the body, the body tires up after a certain time. The same is for studying. It’s quite surprising to know that most people don’t consider taking breaks as an important factor in their study schedule. Everybody wants to read all the stuff in one go, but obviously the human body has a limit after which the productivity drops expontially. Studying for close to an hour then taking a short 20 minute break is most effective for retaining the stuff we read.
And also, don’t forget to drink some water and do some movements in the break time. Don’t just keep sitting at the study table even at the break time.
Are group studies effective?
The short answer is NO!
The groups aren’t that efficient as they appear to be. There are too many distractions. And also the topic which each individual group member wants to discuss may heavily vary. This leads to wastage of time and confusion. Of course, one can take up some checks to make a group study session more efficient such as pre-determining topics to be discussed, kicking out the distracting elements while a group study etc.
The best and most efficient way of studying is discovering and creating a plan for you. A study plan for one person may or may not work for another; after all, each person is different and has a different attention span, different favorite time to study etc.
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