Magnate's Study Log

Magnate

Consonata wrote: »

Heya, I was looking through old study logs and I saw that you were aiming for similar points to myself. Do you have any tips in terms of study, keeping yourself disciplined and not burning out?

Sure no problem,

I think it's fair to say everyone burns out towards the end of sixth year, but when you leave everything to the last minute you very quickly realise what has stuck over the past 2 years and what hasn't. Even when it feels like you don't remember anything I guarantee you that you'll surprise yourself.

I think the key really is consistency. Pay attention in class, do your homework to the best of your ability, and study for any small weekly class tests that you may have coming up.

In terms of studying, the best technique I found that worked for me is the pomodoro technique. You can read more about it here but the idea is that you work for 25 minutes without any distractions to complete something and then take a 5 minute break. Then after 4 sessions you take a longer 30 minute break. You can download an app to track everything. It really helped me because I felt like it replicated an exam environment, I was always racing against the clock. Not only that but I had a break to look forward to afterwards. I really wish I had discovered it sooner. At the start of 6th year I was a mess productivity-wise. I would come home and spend hours just sitting at my desk, procrastinating and doing homework and ending up getting barely anything done despite wasting my whole evening. This only made studying harder as the thought of coming home and spending hours at a desk was depressing. It may seem counterproductive taking so many breaks but I guarantee you that you'll get so much more done than if you were to work in an hour or two long block instead.

As for staying disciplined, there's a few things I've learned that I wish I knew when I was starting 6th year. Motivation is temporary, it's state dependent. Some days you will feel motivated and some days you won't. Discipline however is constant. You become disciplined by doing the same things over and over, forming habits. It takes approximately 30 days to form a habit, and this is where motivation is useful. If you can keep yourself motivated and get over the 30 day hurdle, it becomes infinitely easier to keep going. I always used to wonder how people can work insanely long hours in demanding jobs until I realised that they've just become used to it. It's so true though, for example during the christmas holidays after exams I would be so used to my 24/7 cramming routine of the past 2 weeks that all I could think about was studying. It took a few days to get used to doing nothing again.

To help you form these habits you should check out the "don't break the chain" concept, see here for an in depth explanation, but the idea is simple. I use Chains.cc, basically each day you complete a task you want to keep up, a visual streak grows. The streak will grow longer with each day and soon your main motivation is to keep the chain from breaking. This is so helpful for getting through the first 30 days, and also continuing on after. It sounds simple but there's a lot at play psychologically and it works really well. It also goes hand in hand with the pomodoro technique. At the start of the year your daily goal could be to complete 6 25 minute pomodoro sessions. That's 2 and a half hours of solid work every day over a 3 and half hour period. Do that alone and I guarantee you that you'll be on par with the people who say they do 4-5 hours of study a night but realistically procrastinate for 70 percent of that time. What's more, the time will fly by as you'll have several breaks where you can do whatever you want. Keep this up for 30 days, form a chain and it will become second nature to you. Then increase this to maybe 8 25 minute sessions later in the year and you'll be well on target

You can read all the specific subject advice you want, or the usual stay organised/eliminate distractions/test yourself etc. etc. but it's all pointless if you're not able to sit down and concentrate. It's easy for someone to say "just do it" but sometimes it's not that simple. I was in the exact same position as yourself last year, but really most of the advice went in one ear and out the other. Please take this to heart.

It's the same every year, students get excited every September about studying but within a week or two they've lost the enthusiasm and give up. Just realise that it does get easier. Stick it out for a month and it will become your routine, then do not break the chain. You can apply this to a lot of other areas in life too. People join the gym every January, New Year's resolutions and all that, but how many actually stick it out? Don't do too much too soon, if 8 pomodoro sessions every day is too much for you, start with 5 and gradually increase it. The secret is to do it every single day, even on weekends. Consistency is everything.

I really hope that helps. I feel like it's the one thing that really made a difference to my study, even though I discovered it a little too late.