Hi all! As the exam season is coming, I want to share some tips on how I stay focused while I study at home, and the tools I use to increase productivity. Hope these tips will help you prepare for your exams!
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1. Set A Goal and Reward Yourself
My first tip is to set a daily goal for yourself. Instead of setting a goal like “Study for two hours today”, I like to set a specific goal such as – “Finish studying Ch.1 within 2 hours today”. This prevents me from sitting at the desk for 2 hours without actually focusing or studying. It motivates me to concentrate during my study session. A reward can also encourage you to keep going, e.g. watch 1 hour of Netflix after a day of hard work. Write down your reward on a planner or sticky note to motivate yourself!
2. Put Your To Do List Beside You
Put your to do list on your desk or somewhere you can see easily. When you think of something to do, write it down on your to do list. Of course, you may want to first consider its urgency and importance. If it’s not something you have to handle immediately, you may only want to get back to it after you have finished 1 study session / your main tasks. It helps you focus on finishing one task at a time, prevents you from multi-tasking and never get work done.
3. The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a great way to help you stay focused, especially when you are feeling unmotivated. The traditional approach is to break your time into 25-minute work sessions, each followed by a 5-minute break. Before you start working, you can break your main task into smaller tasks. After 4 Pomodoro sessions, you can take a longer break (10-minute break). During the 25-minute work session, you are going to focus on one task. However, you can always adjust your Pomodoro session duration. As I have mentioned in my previous study tips post, 15 minutes is too short for me to study anything, and most of the time, I only start to concentrate after 15 -20 minutes of work. Therefore, I usually work for 1-1.5 hours before taking a 5-minute break.
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4. Use Productivity Tools To Help You Stay Focused
10-minute Planner
I introduced this 10 minute planner in my last blog post. This planner breaks your 24 hours into 10-minute sessions for focus. There are two main ways to use this planner.
(a) Time blocking – you allocate a time slot for each type of task at the start of the day; or
(b) Write down your to-dos. After you have completed the task, or after 1 study session/when you take a break, highlight the time you have spent on doing that task. It helps you stay focused and keep going by giving you a sense of accomplishment when you highlight the boxes! You can also use it as a Pomodoro time tracker and highlight the time after each Pomodoro session!
You can also track how much time you have spent on doing each task so that you can review and adjust your plan after a day/week. Here I used a different color for each type of task.
Timer
A timer or a stopwatch helps you stay focused by creating a sense of urgency. You have to focus to complete a task within a certain time, just like an exam. It also reminds you when you should have a break!
5. Time Block Your Day To Get Into Deep Focus
Time blocking is a great time management method that helps you focus on doing one type of task / one specific task at a time. This method gives you less flexibility but helps you get into deep focus by preventing you from constantly switching between tasks. Instead of creating a simple to do list, you schedule your work tasks and allocate time for them. This makes sure you have the time to complete your to do list and helps you focus on doing a task at a time. To time block, you may organize your work tasks into a few categories.
The picture below shows a schedule that is NOT time blocked (12th May) and a time blocked schedule (13th May). I categorize “organize lecture notes” and “do readings” as Revision; “do maths homework” and “write an essay” as Assignments.
As you can see, you don’t have to switch between tasks when you time block your day. You focus on doing your revision from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
6. Try Different Study Methods
Using different study methods is a great way to help yourself stay focused. For example, you can watch videos or read news related to the topic you are studying when get bored. This makes studying more fun!
7. Study in Silence / Study with Music?
Do you focus better with or without music? A lot of people focus well while listening to music, but some don’t. I am easily distracted by the noise around me, so I have to make sure that I study alone without music. If you feel like you study better with music, you may search for study playlists on Youtube and Spotify. They are usually jazz, instrumental, lofi music, or white noise, as lyrics and conversations may distract you from your studies.
Lastly, don’t forget to get enough sleep and stay hydrated! Good luck with your exams!🍀
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