How to Concentrate on Studies

Freedom now offers Focus music, café sounds from cities around the globe, including Berlin, New York, Stockholm, and London, as well as office and nature soundscapes. They’re all available for free on your Freedom dashboard.if you need a little help avoiding the pull of distracting sites, check out our free extensions Pause and Limit. Pause gives you a set amount of time before a site opens, so you have a chance to think about whether now is really the time, or if you’d rather stay on track with whatever you’re doing. Limit allows you to set daily limits on how much time you spend on websites that you select. Both are proven and effective tools for breaking the habit of compulsive distraction.

Unless your friends happen to be good study partners, study alone. Post a sign on your door telling roommates or family members to stay away. If you have kids, seek an hour or two of childcare if possible. If your home environment is distracting, gather your study supplies and head over to a comfortable study spot.

If you're studying at home​, choose a quiet room with limited clutter. If distracting background noises bother you, pick up some noise-canceling headphones and turn on a study playlist (preferably instrumental) or white noise. Create the best possible environment for studying before you open your books so that you don't have to pause mid-session to make a change.

Schedule your most challenging study sessions during peak energy periods, when you anticipate feeling most energized and focused. If you're a morning person, that means you should be studying as early as possible. If you're a night owl, choose an evening time slot. If you aren't sure what time works best for you, reflect on your most successful studying experiences. What time of day did they take place? When does your brain feel most effective in general? Pencil in study sessions during these periods, and stick with them.

If you say you barely have time to sleep, we have to change that asap! If you want to concentrate better and increase your capacity to learn new things, sleep has to be one of your priorities. Lack of sleep affects your mood and focus, impairs your judgment and motivation. So, make sure you catch 7-8 hours of sleep every night and notice the difference in your concentration levels.

Before settling down to study it is really important to find yourself a suitable study environment in order to give your full concentration to the preparation. It is advisable to find a vacant room with soothing lights and soundproof doors, having soothing lights will allow you to focus on your studies without feeling your eyes pinch. So, go ahead and find a suitable room for yourself and get set go to complete your mission

When you’re really, truly focusing on studying, you’re able to make the cognitive connections that reinforce crucial skills and build long-term memory. In contrast, when you’re studying with distractions (engaging in “shallow work”) your performance is reduced. Switching back and forth between tasks causes attention residue. When you go from a GMAT practice problem to answering a message from a friend back to the GMAT problem, part of your attention is left behind with your phone conversation and therefore can’t be applied to your studying.

The attention residue phenomenon is backed by scientific studies on work productivity. As Sophie Leroy discovered, “People need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully transition their attention and perform well on another. Yet, results indicate it is difficult for people to transition their attention away from an unfinished task and their subsequent task performance suffers.” If you’re studying for the GMAT with distractions, you’re really only studying at 50%. For a test this important, 50% isn’t going to be enough.