Hey everyone,
As a lot of you know, I’m currently finishing my bachelor’s degree. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m actually in the midst of my final essay! It’s a whopping 6000 words, and I’m notoriously bad at focusing on stuff like this for long periods of time. I probably should have asked this earlier, but here we are.
SO! What sort of study habits do you all have? Where do you like to work, how do you focus best, and do you have any tips or tricks for staying on task?
With big projects I like to cut the project into smaller pieces. Then give yourself goals to complete the smaller pieces. For me it is much easier to stay focused when there is an end in site and when I can see progress made. It is much easier to see the progress when you are focusing on a piece of the project rather then the whole project. I am currently using this method to clean out the utility room in our basement as it was full of the previous owners stuff when we moved in. So instead of thinking I have to get this whole room done, I will give myself this one shelf unit to go thru. After a couple hours the shelf will be done, I will feel accomplished for finishing something and I am closer to the final goal of having the room cleaned out. Sometimes you feel so good for what you have accomplished you will want to get started on the next piece of the project.
Hi @Vindace! Absolutely loved your question, as it got me to thinking as well.
I’m enrolled in Psychology at a very demanding private college in Brazil. While Brazilian education is notoriously known for its shortcomings, my college seems to still be holding onto its railings in a sea of budget cuts and governmental missteps. With that being said, I’m currently writing my TCC (roughly: “End of Course Paper”). It’s a paper you must write after passing all your mandatory classes in order to state to the world “this is what I’ve learned from these 5 years of slow death, please graduate me before I suicide.” I’ll share my strategies with you, and hope at least one of them comes handy!
Technical writing is hard, period. You can ease the pain, though. I don’t want to make this post super long, for your sake as well as mine # haha I failed. With that in mind, I’ll blend what works for STUDYING as well as what works for WRITING. You can’t write what you don’t know or don’t remember, so these two walk hand-in-hand.
# Seriously, I got science to back me up.
Spaced Repetition // source
Spaced repetition is an evidence-based learning technique that is usually performed with flashcards. Newly introduced and more difficult flashcards are shown more frequently while older and less difficult flashcards are shown less frequently in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect. The use of spaced repetition has been shown to increase rate of learning.
A fun and interactive way you can read more about it in ~20 minutes:
– How I do it
I use a really handy, clear and easy-to-use software I discovered recently! It’s called Mochi. https://mochi.cards/ // Available for: Windows, Linux & Mac. Free without cloud save.
It’s super intuitive and comes with a guide. If you’re INTERESTED and have any trouble at all or questions, let me know. Nicky should have you cover with the game I linked above, though.
Timeboxing // source
In time management, timeboxing allocates a fixed time period, called a timebox, within which planned activity takes place. It is employed by several project management approaches and for personal time management.
– How I do it
Just grab your phone or a clock or really anything that has a timer function and set a time for how long you’ll be writing your paper. Don’t set it for 2 hours, but for 30 minutes – or 25, which is how the famous Pomodoro technique works.
I leave my phone on airplane mode, turn off the internet on my computer if must be, and simply write. Once I head the ding! I get up, stretch, go to the bathroom and take a brief break and resume my clock.
Don’t forget to stay hydrated, go to the toilet often, don’t check on social media or other distracting things, stretch and write when you don’t have a billion other things to do.
Let me explain: if you got a pile of dishes in the sink, your dog needs to go for a walk and you still haven’t done the laundry, hurry and get those done so they don’t keep setting “you’ve still haven’t done your chores!” alarms in your head. When possible, that is.
Additionally, I find that having a reasonably tidy desk/workspace helps.
– I’m a software nut, so I really can’t type in a banana. Tell me to write my paper on Notepad and I’ll bloody stab you with my fountain pen. I use Typora for focus, LibreOffice for formatting & spellchecking and JotterPad on my phone – desperate times call for desperate measures. I made a list of several suggestions of software for writing over here.
– Quit reading and start writing. My ScienceDirect account is more bloated than my father after Thanksgiving. I’m currently scourging the Journal of Environmental Psychology like some kind of rabid possum and some times I just really need to sit back, slap myself and say “you’ve read enough. Time to actually write.”
– Studying outside of my house. I purposely keep my portable computer with few games installed and loaded-up with my favorite productivity software. My gaming PC has too many games and cool things to distract me, so stepping out to the nearest library or coffee shop really helps me focus.
# Alright, this is mostly my experience, but I dare you to tell me these are good practices
– Sitting down for several hours straight and typing like a madman
That sweet knee popping when you get up to rush to the bathroom with a full bladder is not doctor-approved. Space your stuff. Write in bursts. Stretch. Pee.
– Checking on Instagram, Chrono.gg and talking on the phone with your SO while you write
‘Multitasking’ is a silly trend, fight me. What are the things that usually distract you the most? Take note of them, and take them out of your writing routine. Pair that with Timeboxing and avoid distractions when you’re set to do your stuff. There is no ‘multitasking’ in ‘writing my essay’ – really, I tried.
– Making ‘extra hours’ and denying yourself sleep
Don’t. Go the f*ck to sleep.
– Not exercising because you only need to write 'one more paragraph’
The day’s beautiful outside, take a stroll and then get back to writing. Especially when you have writer’s block, taking a break is the absolute best cure.
When you can, get a second pair of eyes. 
Personally, I have two very bad habits: rereading and perfecting my prose. Together, that makes for really stylish writing that sounds good but that might have a bunch of typos because I read the passage so many times I can’t see my own mistakes anymore.
A second pair of eyes does two things for you:
So don’t forget to get someone else’s opinion other than your own after you write big chunks of text!
# You rock, you can do this! You just gained: +1 faith and +1 knowledge.
@coralinecastell This is awesome thank you! Also congrats to you for nearly being done as well!
Don’t attack me so personally! haha I am all too good at doing both of these things unfortunately.
Great advice, and thanks for the encouragement. The get out of the house is doubly true with 2 kids, It’s hard to get anything done while being around here.
In college I did everything ass backwards in terms of studying.
Night before crunch for the exam
Slam out essays in a semi-single sitting
utilizing night hours when people aren’t being loud and annoying
Okay so I didn’t do everything backwards. I did take notes and occasionally would review them. But usually I would work out problems. Mind you, I was in a technical field. For the non-technical exams I took… there were a few more reviews of notes and stuff that happened. For my later classes, we also got an equation sheet we could bring to the exam so long as it was handwritten. The idea was that you could write down all the equations you want, but if you didn’t know how to use it you would fail anyway.
Also to note is that in High School, I never studied, so that is probably why it worked so well for me.
What are my recommendations? Find something that works for you. For me, crunching the night before was perfectly fine.
I do what @terryndonita does. Break it up into small tasks and go from there.
And Congrats. That is soooo awesome… 
