How to Study Much More Efficiently at Home

There are a huge number of students faced with the same dilemma during COVID-19 and that’s having to study exclusively at home. Whilst home-study has been a thing for years, it always started with lessons or lectures at school, study groups after school, and to finish the day, personal study when at home. However, two of these have been taken away from us due to a pandemic and students have been forced to learn a lot of material on their own.

A challenge for the brightest of pupils, we’re going to have a look at some ways in which you can study at home more efficiently.

Have a Routine & Create a Timetable
When you’re at school, you get up in the morning and leave the house to go to lessons. Each of those lessons has a set time and they’re organized in a timetable in a way that you won’t get bored. When at home, you should take a similar approach so the feeling of learning is somewhat the same. Set your routine for the day and be realistic with it, including things such as your wake up time and your school day finishing time. Breaks are hugely important and you’ll wear yourself out without them so schedule a few of those in throughout the day too. Once you know how long you’re going to be working and studying during the day, you can create your timetable. Choose which subjects you want to study and when. Make sure you break up your daily sessions, studying one subject too long can be detrimental to your concentration. Allow yourself to have treats too, you are at home after all, so the odd tv program in your break time isn’t going to hurt anyone. Setting specific objectives can also help each of your days feel different and if there’s a challenge to it, you might feel more motivated.

Get a Study Space
Sitting on your bed surrounded by papers and textbooks isn’t the best learning environment. In fact, it’s probably going to hinder your learning abilities and mess up your sleep pattern. Be smart with where you are going to study, in front of the television is a bad idea as the temptation will be huge, and dark places aren’t advised. The experts from Caitlin Pyle suggest finding somewhere with natural light and enough space that you can tidy everything and have an organized workspace. There is a reason libraries are so good to study in, try and replicate that at home.

Get a Good Night Sleep
Humans need a certain amount of sleep to function properly and it’s even more important for young people in order to concentrate. 8 hours is the recommended amount of sleep each student should be getting, and it’s no different just because you’re at home. Try and stick to a normal routine when it comes to your sleeping habits, don’t let the temptation of staying up late to watch an extra episode get in the way of your study time. A good night's sleep is hugely important the night before a test as it makes you more alert and will help improve your memory.

Eat Properly
Students aren’t known for their exquisite eating habits and that’s something that comes part and parcel of being a teenager. It is, however, important to try and keep on top of our diets in order to boost brain function and feel better. There’s nothing worse than trying to concentrate whilst your belly is rumbling and the feeling of hunger is settling in. Try to ensure this doesn’t happen by eating periodically throughout the day and write it into your timetable, this way you won’t forget.

Don’t Get Distracted
This is easy to say, but hard to stick to. Getting distracted is one of the main reasons we end up spending hours away from our studies and this can have terrible effects on our results when it comes to taking the tests. The main distraction we have now are our phones, texting friends, playing games, scrolling through social media, these are all things we find ourselves aimlessly doing and it can really affect our concentration levels. Try turning off your phone before your study day begins and only turn it back on in your breaks. Put it somewhere you can’t easily reach it and you’ll find it much easier sticking to the books.

We all have to fight the pandemic, and whilst it’s difficult for people that work to adjust we should really feel for the students. It’s a stressful situation being made worse by having to study, more often than not in a house where there are other people working. Find your space and get your head down, it will be over before you know it.