Can't Study

LegacyUser

Ok, I know this is not as serious as many of the problems on here but would like some advice. I'm doing a course I really like and have done very well in so far but at the moment I cannot motivate myself to study at all... Came up here to look up nots online and here I am on boards.ie... (after several other sites). I have exams in 2 weeks and know I'll fail if I don't get my act together but I'm sitting in wasting time here!

I stopped working for a while because I had other stuff on my mind but now that's sort of settled but I still lack motivation to do any work constructively!

Any sort of help/motivation would be much appreciated

LegacyUser

This can become serious for you because if you do bad in the exam and fail the course, you have to repeat it and your GPA will suffer.

You need to ask yourself why is it that you are not studying? What happens when you try? Are you distracted? Cannot focus? Your mind wandering off? Are you bored? Are there any issues happening in your personal life that is making it hard for you to concentrate?

How is your diet and sleep, btw? Lack of sleep and not eating well can impact you abillity to focus.

Change your study routines. The place you study in may be the problem. A library, bright coffee shop may help. Find a classmate from the same course and study together. There were times when I became unmotivated and going to the library and to see other students studying away made me more motivated. I stopped studying from home altogether because I was never able to get work completed efficiently. It took me twice as long to complete an assignment at home than at the library. At home, there is TV, laundering to do, or always something to clean; so this distracted me from my studies. I needed to learn to separate home responsibilities with student and work life. Home for me is a place to rest, relax, eat and sleep. I found that people who are able to study at home without being distracted were more disciplined, imo. Not everyone is very disciplined and there is no such thing as multi-tasking either. Going on FB, surfing the internet, sending texts, playing computer games and trying to study at the same time will unmotivate anyone and lose focus. There is a huge difference between students today versus 40 years ago. We simply have too many distractions. So when you do study, just your books and notes; no laptops, mobiles.

I do suggest going back to work and reducing your hours. Sometimes having too much free time is detrimental because it can cause some to procrastinate. There was a study I read somewhere a long time ago that compared students who worked versus unemployed students. Students who worked part time had higher marks. They had to be more disciplined and learn to prioritise their time more efficiently. Students with more free time tended to procrastinate because they did not have the issue of prioritising and their grades were affected. It was not about how many hours you have in a day but how you choose to be productive with them.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Print the notes and study from the paper notes. I always find its so easy to get distracted with the laptop in front of me.

Games, boards.ie, facebook, checking bank balance online, webtext, next thing you know you have two hours wasted. Start studying, get stuck, then facebook. More time wasted.

Agent J

1) Don't panic. 2 weeks is plenty of time if you use it constructively

2) Past papers. Get your hands on them & any exam related information.
Now is not the time to be learning the stuff in depth. Your aim is to do well in the exam. Believe it or not the 2 are not nesscarily related.

3) Do answers to the past papers/examples until they are burned into your mind.

Here is a method i use for study/assignments

Take a watch & set a repeating countdown timer of ~20 mins on it.

When you start studying set it off. When it beeps change topic to something else. Next time, another topic.

After the 3rd time (ie 1 hour). Allow your self that 20 mins off to do whatever you want (Browse, cup of tea ,bathroom etc) but when it beeps again get back to work & repeat for another 3 beeps (1 hour).

This is just a method i use for myself. You vary & develop your own. You just need something to recognize when your mind is going to drift and make sure if doesnt cost too much time.

Princess Peach

Turn off your phone while you study. I used to have my sister take mine from me when I was studying in final year!

Do you need to use your computer to study? If not, try and put it in another room, or have someone guard it! I use my laptop to study because my course content is often online. There are blocks you can get for websites, block them during certain hours of the day. Again if you have someone who can help, they can set the password. I'm not too sure of the specifics, my boyfriend offered to do it for me because I am a disaster but I wouldn't let him.

Make out a study plan. Write out all the topics you need to cover and set a time for doing each of them. I will study chapters 5-7 Monday, for example. Make out a timetable. And be realistic, set yourself to study at your best times. I'm not much of a morning person so do my study in the afternoon and evening.

Make sure you take breaks but don't go online or watch tv during the breaks, you will get sucked in! Just use them to get some air or a snack.

lace

Some things that work for me are :

- Always studying in the same space. I go to the library because it's nice and quiet with little distractions. If I don't need it, I leave my laptop at home and leave my phone (turned off) in my bag. I like to have natural light so I try to sit beside a window and if I'm at home I like to keep the window open. I find that being too warm makes me restless and it's difficult to concentrate.

- Always studying in the same blocks of time. Choosing hours that are convenient for me and studying for blocks of 45 minutes at a time.

- Switching it up. I try not to study the same topic for too long. I'll do 45 minutes of one thing, then 45 of another, then going back to the first for a bit. I like to start with a topic I enjoy and do well to give myself a positive start to the study session. I find it helps my mood and attitude to studying.

- Regular breaks. I take a break every hour and a half or so where I'll try to get some fresh air, check my phone or have some food. I like to get up for a stretch and a walk about too.

- Eating well and drinking lots of water.