If you have come this far it is because you probably find it difficult to study sometimes, either because there is a lot of noise or many interruptions at home, because you can’t concentrate or because you can’t find the motivation. The tasks pile up and you end up studying at dawn the night before the exam without being able to get the rest you need before an exam.
On many occasions, you will spend hours in front of books or notes and, however, you will barely manage to learn anything in those hours, so you become demotivated by feeling that you are wasting time and being ineffective. Would you like to know how to study quickly and well at home? In this Psychology-Online article, we offer you 11 tips for studying at home.
Take care of the environment
To study from home it is important to take care of the study environment. If the place you live is noisy or you don’t have privacy, maybe you should try going to a library. It is important that the place where we study have as few distractions as possible. For example, if there is noise we get distracted by listening to that noise, if it is too hot or cold we end up focusing on how uncomfortable we are, etc.
On the other hand, it is also important to have good lighting so as not to have visual fatigue and good body posture so as not to cause any pain in the back or neck.
Planning
How to organize yourself to study at home? It is important to have good planning. This must be realistic and flexible, since it is normal for unforeseen events to appear. When planning studies, the following factors must be taken into account:
- The subjects: have the most difficult ones at the beginning. Likewise, you should avoid studying two subjects in a row that interfere with each other, such as two languages.
- Time: set a minimum and maximum time. It’s about studying as much as possible in the shortest amount of time possible.
- Breaks: every hour rest for about five minutes, no more, no less.
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read
How to study at home? Read what you have to study. When you start, make a general reading of what you have to learn. This will help you get a general idea of what the syllabus consists of and see it globally to understand how the different sections are connected to each other.
Take your time to do it. Although it is not an in-depth reading, you must concentrate and understand the main concepts well. Additionally, as a complement, you can write down next to each section what it consists of, for example, the “definition of X”.
Try making summaries and outlines
Another recommendation for studying at home is to make summaries and outlines. to synthesize information. Furthermore, at the time you do it you are not memorizing the information, but rather you are understanding it and, therefore, learning.
Once done, it will be much faster for you to study. The schematics serve as review source of the information. Seeing them activates the knowledge you had stored. Therefore, they are ideal for the moments before the exam.
Interprets
If we talk about tips for studying at home, it is important that when you study you do not simply dedicate yourself to memorizing. Try to understand what you are studying, relate concepts to each other and find meaning in them. This way the information will not only be stored more easily, but it will also remain in your brain for longer than if you had simply stored it.
Within this interpretation we could also take into account that you compare elements with each other in order to obtain their similarities and differences.
Preparation and organization
We continue with more tips for studying at home. If you feel that a specific subject is becoming too expensive for you, you can divide the task into simpler parts. First, separate simple tasks from complex ones. For example, learning English vocabulary is a simple task while complex tasks are those in which you need to reflect, make summaries, diagrams, etc.
Second, establish steps in your study journey. A first step would be to underline the important concepts. Once that step is finished, you must go to the next one, which could be creating a diagram with these underlined concepts. It is not necessary to do all the steps in one day.
Evaluate yourself
It is very good to do self-exams to check what information we have managed to understand and retain and what information not. In addition, it is a way to ensure that you write each word correctly without making any spelling mistakes. One way to self-assess, for example, is to ask someone to ask you random questions about the lesson. This way you don’t have to waste too much time writing on theory-heavy subjects.
Avoid temptations
One of the rules for studying at home is to try not having your cell phone at hand Not even the television on. Allow yourself to check your phone every hour to ensure you don’t do it all the time. On the other hand, it can be very useful to use plugs to avoid being distracted by external noises.
As we have seen, there are different advantages and disadvantages of studying at home. Temptations can be a problem if left unchecked. If you feel that your source of distraction is a problem you have, try to solve it before studying. If it’s not possible, remind yourself that you can figure it out later.
Habits
How to concentrate to study at home? Logically, if you haven’t slept well or your stomach is full and heavy from having eaten a lot, it will be more difficult for you to concentrate. Furthermore, it is important perform a physical activity so you can move your body after many hours sitting.
The best way to study quickly and well is set a schedule to study at home. Don’t forget that you have to clear your mind and give it a break. Make sure that each day there is time for disconnection and leisure, whether watching a series or seeing some friends. There comes a time when the mind is fatigued so it is better to have time to recharge. In addition, rest helps motivation in studying. Discover the.
Take care of your thoughts
One of the tips for studying at home that cannot be missed is to take care of your thoughts. It will be much more difficult for you to concentrate on studying if you constantly tell yourself that you are going to fail, that you don’t have time, that what you are studying is very difficult or that you are lazy. try repeat motivating and positive messages to yourself to yourself.
One way to do this can be to place post-its in your study area with motivational messages such as, for example, “you can do it” or “it’s less to go.” The idea is that you do it thinking about what you would say to someone important in your life if that person were the one studying at home.
Do relaxations
If your nerves get to you as the exam approaches, try using relaxation techniques. In this article, we show you. These can help you increase your ability to concentrate. An example of relaxations is take slow, deep breaths and focus your attention on what those breaths are like, how your stomach stretches, what the temperature of the air that enters is like, etc.
Furthermore, if you are wondering how to help children study at home, relaxation techniques are a tool that will help you when carrying out the most difficult tasks with them.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Villota, MFE, Escobar, MF, & Velásquez, FG (2015). A general review of study habits and techniques in the university environment. Psychogent, 18(33), 166-187.