The ending of midterm season signifies a lot of things. It can be a halfway check, one step closer to thanksgiving break, or it can also mean that finals are coming up. The word finals can bring so much stress and anxiety onto a person, especially during these times where studying is getting more difficult and procrastinating is getting easier.
Of course confiding in other people may lead to them trying to help you by providing you with some tips and advice. The list can go from organizing your subjects and time, to color coding your notes. These are all things that we’ve all heard before. This is why I decided to explore some different ways on how one can maintain their focus while studying.
The first tip is to chew gum. Back when I was in the third grade, I remember my teacher Mr. East, handing out gum before we took any exams. His reasoning was that gum helps activate our brains. Of course you guys aren’t going to go just on the word of Mr. East. I decided to go onto the internet and search how chewing gum can help improve one’s brain. A study shows that chewing gum can actually help enhance one’s concentration. Apparently, the motion of chewing something can stimulate nerves and areas in the brain that have to do with motivation, helping people focus better on longer tasks. (1).
The next tip is to watch someone else studying. Sometimes all one needs is a buddy, someone to work with or at least be in their company while they are working. During these times where people are meant to be social distancing, this can be quite hard. One can easily turn to YouTube and search videos of a person studying and they can be motivated to study as well. This method is known as Gongbang. Certain creators post videos of themselves studying. They then get positive feedback in the comments from their viewers about how their video helped them study as well. (2).
Another tip is to record a time lapse video of yourself. When someone feels like they are being watched, they tend to work harder. Some people have taken time lapse videos of themselves to help with their studying. At some point, they stop the video and watch it. Of course, the video is a lot quicker than the actual time spent working. However, it is known to motivate a person to work more, and even pay attention to their studying patterns that they unconsciously do. Although this is not scientifically proven, a lot of people have admitted that it helps them when coming to study.
The last time is to listen to music. Now this is not the most unique method to help a person focus like the rest of the methods may have been. But have you heard about listening to a Mario Kart soundtrack to help studying? A lot of people on TikTok have shared their tips on what helps them study, and one of them is the Mario Kart Soundtrack. Upon more research I found that in an article published on the popular science website, it states that music that is fast paced and without any lyrics is known to be the best kind of music to help a person study. (3).
I don’t know about you guys but I will definitely be testing these tips to see if they help me concentrate on my studies. If you guys have any other unique tips that help you focus while studying, please let us know, we can all use a little help. Happy studying!
1.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308093933.htm#:~:text=Summary%3A,conc
entration%20in%20visual%20memory%20tasks.
2. https://www.businessinsider.com/youtubers-study-video-gongbang-studying-focus-youtube-
trend-2019-2
3. https://www.popsci.com/work-productivity-listening-music/