One of the most important aspects of good study is that it is focused study. Distracted study is not study! If you spend an hour “studying”, but in fact spend 15 minutes of that time replying to notifications on your phone or telling your little brother or parents to leave you alone because you are studying, it is very unproductive study because it is not focused study. Your teacher knows this, that is why they so often ask for silence while you are working in the class. It means you are focused on your work, and not distracting or being distracted.
One of the best ways to improve your study is to remove all sources of distraction so that you can focus on what you are doing. The first and easiest thing (though you probably don’t want to) is to turn your phone OFF! That’s right off. Not just to silent, not put in the other room, but actually turn your phone off. This way there will be no way it can distract you. Your not going to be half way through a past paper and get a text or lose your train of thought because you received a Snapchat. You won’t even get a notification from Facebook or Instagram because the phone will be off.
I don’t know if I can emphasise this enough. Your phone is not useful when you are studying. If you need to find information, then use something else. Try a family computer, a textbook or something other than your phone. Your phone is your enemy when it comes to effective study. You need to have focused study, and your phone is not going to help at all.
A second and harder thing to do is to study somewhere your family (or whoever you live with) won’t interrupt you. If you have a pretty good family this might be done as easily as putting a sign on your door that says: “studying, do not disturb” or something like this. However, for many this is not possible. Instead a change of location is needed. There are the obvious places: the library, or you could ask a teacher if you could use a classroom or the school library after school. Wherever you pick it should be as free from interruption as possible to promote focused study.
Some places not to pick would include, shopping centres, cafes, or a friends house (unless your friend is a major drill Sargent who will demand silence, and focused study over gossip or mucking around.
For study to be beneficial it needs to be focused study, anything else is unproductive. You are looking for optimum performance when studying, not just getting it done to tick a box. So find your space and turn off your phone, it is time for some focused study.
