I just cannot concentrate!

LegacyUser

Hi, I am a student in my 3rd year of university and I am struggling greatly in recent times to concentrate on study. I have always found it difficult to focus on something that I was not very interested in such as college content but would force myself none the less to process the information some way or another. For example, I will sit in a library for hours on end writing out the same information over and over again to get my brain to remember it for exams. Anyway somehow I have managed to get by over the years and have gotten in to college and managed to progress through the years. However recently it has gotten worse and I cannot seem to just study at all now. I am hugely motivated to pass my exams so putting the time in isn;t the problem. I am happy to stay in on weekends coming up to exams and study etc and this isn't the problem but instead I just find it near impossible to sit there and read something. It is crazy, yesterday it took my 5 hours to do 1 reading!! In 5 hours a productive student could have done several but because it takes me so long to concentrate as my mind is constantly drifting in and out, I could only get 1 learned in this time.

It is driving me nuts lately because I am honestly trying to study but I just sit there reading something and my concentration will only last for about 1 minute before I am off thinking about something totally different. No obviously it doesn't help that I have no real interest in what I study (like many students) but I should be able to force myself to concentrate regardless. I have always been this way and performed very poor in my early years at secondary school as I was hyper active. However I did buck up coming up to my leaving cert and exam seasons during college. I never have once in 3 years even learned anything from a lecture. I just can't! Some people do and thats great but my mind cannot concentrate for long enough to be perceiving what is being thought in lectures. Instead my approach has always been to lock myself away in my room and study for hours and hours in the weeks leading to exams and this has always seen me do well. I am the type of person who has to force knowledge on myself but I seem to be losing this ability lately.
I am now starting to worry because despite the fact that there is a lot at stake I still cannot seem to apply myself. I have always thought I had ADD when I was younger but I am totally fine outside of academics so it must not be this. I mean I can sit for hours reading things I am interested in and process them and I even have a very strong memory. I dunno sorry if this post was pointless but I just needed to vent.

alantc

I didn't read all that, but go to your college counsellor so if you fail an exam, it'll be on paper that you've been having trouble for a while and tried to get help.

alantc

And it might help you too.

Piglet85

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but do you spend a lot of time on the net?

My internet use went up a lot over the time I was in uni, and I think my concentration went down proportionally. I definitely find when I go through phases of being online more than I should that it effects my ability to concentrate on studying - it definitely made it harder to force myself to do the readings. It doesn't have to hold you back, you can still get excellent grades, but I know how frustrating it is to feel like you're taking way longer to do something than is necessary because you just can't force yourself to stay focused.

This is just a theory that I have, but lots of my peers have agreed with me. I think we spend so much time reading small snippits online and staring at a screen that it does have a negative effect. As I said, perhaps this isn't the case with you at all, but if you are honest with yourself and find that you're spending excessive amounts of time online, maybe cut back for a while and see if that improves your concentration. It's worth a try, and I know it works for me.

LegacyUser

I've had similar problems in the past and I think a lot of students (and teachers) neglect to take note that studying is A SKILL. There are plenty of information of studying help (the study hacks blog is one of my favourites) online but the main thing is getting stuck in a finding out what works best for you.

In my own personal experience here's what really helped me.

- There are more ways to study than reading. When we read we only engage one part of our brains. Make new notes or summarise existing ones, read aloud, imagine you're teaching the class to someone else and imagine how you'd deliver a lecture. Depending on your subject, try to practice by "doing" as well as just reading.

- Don't just sit there. Get an egg timer or your phone or something to divide your time in little units, each with specific goals, rewards and punishments. E.g. for the next 45 minutes I am going to condense my lectures on Plant ecology into bullet point notes. If I succesfully do that I can watch tonights episode of The Apprentice. There's no point just sitting down for 3 hours, twiddling a pen and thinking you've been "studying".

- Take away distractions. If you know you're easily distracted, box up your xbox, stop checking your facebook, etc. Make sure you study space is comfortable and distraction free.

- Be competitive. I'm very sporty so when things are tough I imagine how hard people like Lance Armstrong etc work to be as good as they are. Arsene Wenger had a great quote that the key to being successful was how much you were prepared to give to be the best. It might seem OTT to have this attitude to studying but if you look at the most successful people (in all walks of life not just sport) you'll find they have this competitive drive in everything they do.

This isn't just something that you need to learn now for college. Perservering through boredom and difficulty is something everyone has to learn in order to be succesful. You can ask lecturers, forums and counsellors for help but at the end of the day it's you that has to put the shift in. Good luck!

LegacyUser

Piglet85 wrote: »

I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but do you spend a lot of time on the net?

My internet use went up a lot over the time I was in uni, and I think my concentration went down proportionally. I definitely find when I go through phases of being online more than I should that it effects my ability to concentrate on studying - it definitely made it harder to force myself to do the readings. It doesn't have to hold you back, you can still get excellent grades, but I know how frustrating it is to feel like you're taking way longer to do something than is necessary because you just can't force yourself to stay focused.

This is just a theory that I have, but lots of my peers have agreed with me. I think we spend so much time reading small snippits online and staring at a screen that it does have a negative effect. As I said, perhaps this isn't the case with you at all, but if you are honest with yourself and find that you're spending excessive amounts of time online, maybe cut back for a while and see if that improves your concentration. It's worth a try, and I know it works for me.

Lol, you figured that one, i'm online ALL the time! I don't even watch TV any more as there is rarely anything good on so I browse the net all night mostly. I am not living with friends any more either so the old internet is sort of outlet no.1 on nights in. In fact my college life is pretty sad but I am a mature student so done the whole boozing 5 nights a week thing already. Yeah perhaps the internet has a role in this and I have been meaning to cut back lots buts it is more of a case of nothing else much to do. Its not like I'm addicted to the web or anything. Like if I was not studying in college right now and doing something else I sure as well wouldnt be using it near as much. Just sort of my lifestyle at the mo.

Piglet85

I can relate to that, I finished a masters in September and was in a similar situation to you - less of a social life than in my primary degree, and the internet became one of my favourite distractions. Like you, it wasn't an addiction, because if I was off doing something else that I wanted to do it wouldn't cross my mind, but as soon as I find myself at home with time on my hands I can waste far too much time online. The mature student lifestyle definitely can have that affect. So it sounds like it might be worth cutting down on it and seeing if that helps!

LegacyUser

alantc wrote: »

I didn't read all that, but go to your college counsellor so if you fail an exam, it'll be on paper that you've been having trouble for a while and tried to get help.

I know there is a personal circumstances form available for students to submit within 1 or 2 days after sitting an exam if they have any circumstances which affected their performance. This is taken in to consideration when marking the exam. However I am not sure if I can just write "I couldn't concentrate" despite the fact that things in my personal life are fine. I want to genuinely to well in my exams without any exemptions but I would consider talking to somebody in the student support as this is beginning to worry me now. I have done nothing over the past few days and the work load is piling up. I feel a bit stupid though going in and telling some counsellor I just cannot concentrate and I don't expect them to be able to do anything about it. I can't exactly just get a pass while the other students have to work, that wouldn't be fair. I dunno I guess I am just hoping that as the exam season rolls closer the fear of failing will get my concentration into swing. Fear of failure is the biggest motivation possible for me when it comes to sitting any exams.