I have to admit, the one question which I simply cannot stand receiving as a study blogger is the classic "How many hours should I be revising?" or anything along that train of thought. See, this is one of the main issues I have with the community as it stands; seeing as it's a little difficult to evaluate your work by how much you have been able to achieve and retain at a later date, we just tend to resort to hours as some sort of reliable measurement for productivity and, thus, success. The problem with this, though, is that one person could get the same amount of work done in 4 hours as another might in 8 - and no, it's not a question of natural ability, it's to do with how focused and efficient you've been. This was my greatest mistake at GCSE: it was almost as if I was on house arrest by my own accord, chained to my books, and quite frankly... I did nothing but make myself miserable - all the while not even retaining half of the information I was supposedly learning! Most of us have been here, at least in the latter scenario, but today I'm hoping to share some of my A-Level wisdom as to how you can get the most of your study sessions by doing more in less time - all the while retaining what you learn so that you have time to do the things that you enjoy. Gosh, that was a long introduction - but I hope you enjoy this post, and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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S E T T I N G U P T H E R I G H T E N V I R O N M E N T
There's just no two ways about it, productivity is heavily intertwined with organisation: if you want to be more productive, you have to be more organised - it's as simple as that. What I've noticed personally is that I'm more productive when I have a clear objective - that is to say, I know exactly what I'm doing, when I'm doing it, how long I intend to do it for and how I'm going to go about doing the task. This is where I'm going to advocate that you get a planner so that you can plan things (no pun intended) in the long-term, but what has particularly helped me in the short-term is to-do lists - and what I don't see many people recommend you do is making them the night before, but this is a brilliant way to avoid faffing about in the mornings/after-school because you can just get on with what it is you have to do. Just to be a little more eco-friendly, I highly recommend the Chrome Extension Momentum, although I have to admit that I do love Post-It notes from time to time so that I can be more selective and not go crazy writing 500 things down. When it comes to actually doing the tasks, I alternate between two methods: either listing my tasks in order of priority and doing them in said order (perfect for when you're particularly low on time) or do them starting with the tasks I least want to do so that I have something to look forward to at the end. If you're still in school, I'm sure you will have heard of revision timetables too; quite honestly, I have to say that I'm not a fan of them at A-Level because I need greater flexibility in my timetable - although I did find them very helpful at GCSE and, linking back to my previous point, what I found best was alternating a subject I loved with a subject I didn't like as much to keep me motivated.
So, now you know what you're going to do, you need to set up the right physical environment so that you can avoid distractions and just get whatever it is you need done. My last paragraph was a little heavy on the eye, so I'll split this section up into bullet points:
• For the love of God, just put your phone away or turn it off completely - unless there's a real need as to why you have to have it on and/or near you. This point has been stressed time and time again, but that's just because it works; at the end of the day, we can't get away from the fact that scrolling through Instagram is a lot more entertaining than learning your circle theorems - but, in the context of education, you have one shot to take a set of exams whose results will follow you for the rest of your life whereas the same social media posts will be there for you to look at after. It's not rocket science, and the quicker you'll be able to do your work, the longer you'll have to enjoy yourself looking at said social media posts.
• Similarly, I would tend to avoid music - or at the very least, music with lyrics. At the end of the day, your brain tries to predict what somebody is about to say next - so by putting a song with lyrics on, you're just providing your mind with yet another distraction and thing that isn't your work to think about. What's more is that if you put on a song you really like, which is presumably what you're going to do, you're more likely to start dancing and singing along than do any work - trust me, I've been there many a time! Don't get me wrong, at times it actually can be quite helpful to put on a little pick-me-up tune in the background - but I'd keep this within reason and if you can see it starting to distract you, just turn it off!
• If you don't have a designated, clear space to work in already, spend some time creating one. I don't know about you, but I can get distracted by the silliest of things if I'm trying to procrastinate and you want to omit the possibility of that happening as much as possible. Sometimes, I even decide to switch things up and go to the dining room or garden to revise just so I don't have distractions like my computer or make-up drawers. Speaking of computers, I believe it's just as important to organise your files and, in terms of distractions, downloading another browser which you just use for work purposes - or getting a blocker for culprit websites like YouTube. All in all, I just think it's important to create clear boundaries between where you do your work and where you do everything else - it's when the two start intertwining that problems begin to arise.
• As superficial as this one may sound, I actually think that spending some time making yourself look presentable in the morning can go a long way. Now I don't know about you, but I simply cannot get myself in the mood to work if I'm sitting sloppily at my desk wearing pyjamas or a hoodie that should've been thrown out five years ago; nobody's saying that you need to iron a suit to wear in the house (that would be ridiculous!), but even something as basic as a nice jumper and pair of jeans can make you feel so much better and ready to take the day on.
So, now you know what you're going to do, you need to set up the right physical environment so that you can avoid distractions and just get whatever it is you need done. My last paragraph was a little heavy on the eye, so I'll split this section up into bullet points:
• For the love of God, just put your phone away or turn it off completely - unless there's a real need as to why you have to have it on and/or near you. This point has been stressed time and time again, but that's just because it works; at the end of the day, we can't get away from the fact that scrolling through Instagram is a lot more entertaining than learning your circle theorems - but, in the context of education, you have one shot to take a set of exams whose results will follow you for the rest of your life whereas the same social media posts will be there for you to look at after. It's not rocket science, and the quicker you'll be able to do your work, the longer you'll have to enjoy yourself looking at said social media posts.
• Similarly, I would tend to avoid music - or at the very least, music with lyrics. At the end of the day, your brain tries to predict what somebody is about to say next - so by putting a song with lyrics on, you're just providing your mind with yet another distraction and thing that isn't your work to think about. What's more is that if you put on a song you really like, which is presumably what you're going to do, you're more likely to start dancing and singing along than do any work - trust me, I've been there many a time! Don't get me wrong, at times it actually can be quite helpful to put on a little pick-me-up tune in the background - but I'd keep this within reason and if you can see it starting to distract you, just turn it off!
• If you don't have a designated, clear space to work in already, spend some time creating one. I don't know about you, but I can get distracted by the silliest of things if I'm trying to procrastinate and you want to omit the possibility of that happening as much as possible. Sometimes, I even decide to switch things up and go to the dining room or garden to revise just so I don't have distractions like my computer or make-up drawers. Speaking of computers, I believe it's just as important to organise your files and, in terms of distractions, downloading another browser which you just use for work purposes - or getting a blocker for culprit websites like YouTube. All in all, I just think it's important to create clear boundaries between where you do your work and where you do everything else - it's when the two start intertwining that problems begin to arise.
• As superficial as this one may sound, I actually think that spending some time making yourself look presentable in the morning can go a long way. Now I don't know about you, but I simply cannot get myself in the mood to work if I'm sitting sloppily at my desk wearing pyjamas or a hoodie that should've been thrown out five years ago; nobody's saying that you need to iron a suit to wear in the house (that would be ridiculous!), but even something as basic as a nice jumper and pair of jeans can make you feel so much better and ready to take the day on.
D O I N G T H E W O R K I T S E L F
Having touched upon how to create the perfect working environment, I think it's crucial to now mention a few tips to help you along whilst doing the work itself. Again, I'll split this one up into bullet points...
• When it comes to doing the work itself, the concept of time becomes incredibly important. I get it, everybody works differently; while some people can bang out 5 hours of work at once, others prefer to do 5 hourly sessions with breaks in between. At the end of the day, though, there's only so much information that the brain can take in one go whilst still being able to stay focused - and I've found that this time interval doesn't tend to be all that long. Although I've harped on and on about it numerous times, I can't help but recommend the Pomodoro technique because of how well it has worked for me and those I have spoken to; if you haven't heard of it already, a Pomodoro consists of 25 minutes of focused working time followed by a 5 minute break - the idea is that you do 4 of these Pomodoro sessions and then you can take a longer break (15 minutes, for example). For me, this technique is perfect because it pressures you to get as much done as you can in those 25 minutes and, although intense, you really come away having felt as if you've covered a lot of material in a relatively short space of time. Of course, this might not work for you and you may prefer longer working slots, but what I'm really trying to emphasise here is the importance of regular breaks - no matter how long you can revise for at a time, a break every now and then really helps to re-focus your mind!
• Aside from retaining focus, the single-handed best way to get more done over a shorter period of time in terms of revision is to scrap passive revision techniques such as making notes and to go for more effective active-recall methods. When revising for my GCSE's, I noticed that people in the Studygram community plastered their beautiful revision notes left, right and centre- and so what did I do? Fall into that trap myself, of course! The problem with this, though, is that making my notes took hours and hours upon end and rather than testing myself on the knowledge that I would need for my exams, I would make pretty titles and highlight what I deemed to be important - none of which, of course, helped me retain said knowledge in the exam. Long story short, making notes doesn't challenge your mind to think, remember and make connections in the way that active recall methods do- if you don't believe me, I would highly suggest watching Ali Abdaal's video here - he explains it in far better detail than I ever could! So, what are active recall methods you say? Well for me, they'd include activities such as blurting, going through flashcards (see here), teaching somebody else a particular topic, completing past paper questions and so forth - although if you happen to study any of the same subjects as me, I'd check out the posts for those which are (hopefully) to your right as it's hard to get into specifics here!
• When it comes to doing the work itself, the concept of time becomes incredibly important. I get it, everybody works differently; while some people can bang out 5 hours of work at once, others prefer to do 5 hourly sessions with breaks in between. At the end of the day, though, there's only so much information that the brain can take in one go whilst still being able to stay focused - and I've found that this time interval doesn't tend to be all that long. Although I've harped on and on about it numerous times, I can't help but recommend the Pomodoro technique because of how well it has worked for me and those I have spoken to; if you haven't heard of it already, a Pomodoro consists of 25 minutes of focused working time followed by a 5 minute break - the idea is that you do 4 of these Pomodoro sessions and then you can take a longer break (15 minutes, for example). For me, this technique is perfect because it pressures you to get as much done as you can in those 25 minutes and, although intense, you really come away having felt as if you've covered a lot of material in a relatively short space of time. Of course, this might not work for you and you may prefer longer working slots, but what I'm really trying to emphasise here is the importance of regular breaks - no matter how long you can revise for at a time, a break every now and then really helps to re-focus your mind!
• Aside from retaining focus, the single-handed best way to get more done over a shorter period of time in terms of revision is to scrap passive revision techniques such as making notes and to go for more effective active-recall methods. When revising for my GCSE's, I noticed that people in the Studygram community plastered their beautiful revision notes left, right and centre- and so what did I do? Fall into that trap myself, of course! The problem with this, though, is that making my notes took hours and hours upon end and rather than testing myself on the knowledge that I would need for my exams, I would make pretty titles and highlight what I deemed to be important - none of which, of course, helped me retain said knowledge in the exam. Long story short, making notes doesn't challenge your mind to think, remember and make connections in the way that active recall methods do- if you don't believe me, I would highly suggest watching Ali Abdaal's video here - he explains it in far better detail than I ever could! So, what are active recall methods you say? Well for me, they'd include activities such as blurting, going through flashcards (see here), teaching somebody else a particular topic, completing past paper questions and so forth - although if you happen to study any of the same subjects as me, I'd check out the posts for those which are (hopefully) to your right as it's hard to get into specifics here!