Studying: the stress, strain and strategies.

Studying is an important but very difficult skill. Some people can just flick a mental switch and pass tests with flying colours while others will labour over notes and still nothing will sink in. It's a tedious task that takes lots of practise. I, personally, have trouble motivating myself to sit and learn. But once this brick wall is broken I have no problems with retaining information. Unfortunately (but still fortunately) we have this thing called holidays whereby our brains automatically switch off and refuse to register anything to do with numbers, facts and "educational" terms. Then when we're back at school, what do you know, we are back at square one with a fully concrete brick wall. And so the cycle starts again.
Have you ever made a timetable for studying? I'll assume you have as it is (in my opinion) a fun activity and prolongs the actual "studying". But one of the worst things you can do is use days and times. If you write a list of the days (Monday ...... Friday) and then have another perpendicular row that contains half our times (6:00,  6:30, 7:00.......) you are setting yourself up for disaster. I mean how many times have you actually stuck to it for over a month? I'm guessing the answer is somewhere between almost and never. A better strategy is to use weeks.
Write a list of subjects across the top of a sheet of paper leaving a gap at the start.
Then down the left column write week 1, week 2, week3 ........ etc. Include dates like March 18th -- March 22nd. Then fill in specific info for the first week but do not write in any other weeks. Once you've completed a piece of studying tick it off or mark it on the timetable. Then, when Friday comes, you'll know what you've studied and what you didn't get round to. Include the parts you didn't study in next week's timetable and prioritise them with a red dot. So that way you will not fall behind.
A study space is really important too. I do after school study which I find extremely helpful. I have a whole desk or sometimes two, all to myself and for two hours I get all my homework done with a little bit if study thrown in. So far I have not bothered to do anything extra when I come home but because we're close to the summer holidays I will have to do another hour when I go home. In my bedroom I have a desk but it gets cluttered so now I've cleared everything off except a globe and a mug of biros. Nothing that isn't study will be allowed to touch the desk. We are young and easily distracted so it imperative we avoid studying near interferences.
I know I'm not a know it all when it comes to studying or else I would be getting straight. But as I am at the height of the studying age and year I like to think I know a bit. If you do find yourself slacking and not bothering to sit and hit the books do not give up. Take every little piece of swotting as an achievement in itself.  Don't get fed up, there will always be good and bad days.
Participating in class will also help retain information. By using diagrams, hand actions or singing can be useful to some. The good thing about studying is that it actually becomes easier. Like I said before about the brick wall and how the very first step you take in studying will begin breaking it down. In about a week or two you should find it mush less hard to concentrate and more able to remember information.
There is lots of online sites that are specific for making timetables, flash cards and providing mock tests.
Here are a few:
examtime.com
studyclix.ie
skool.ie
I think they'll be more useful to students in the Irish system. If anyone has used them what did you think? Hopefully after reading this you might be better at studying or at least motivated to get going. So don't laze around in front of the screen, what are you waiting for? Start Studying!

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