Unfortunately, it’s exam season. For most students, this means 10+ exams, some of which are on the same day! In order to succeed, you’re probably going to have to study for multiple hours a day. However, it can be difficult to stay focused and study effectively for many hours. Luckily, I’ve put together this guide on how to study for long periods of time so that you can study effectively for longer!
Please remember that studying for 8+ hours a day is not sustainable – only do this once or twice before exams! Take care of yourself and know that grades are not worth your mental health! <3
- Use high-return study methods
- Take short, but frequent, breaks
- Plan out what you’re going to study
- Stay motivated to study!
- Put your phone away
Use high-return study methods
Studying for 16 hours a day is useless if all you’re doing is just reading the textbook over and over again. If you are going to study for many hours, you need to incorporate active recall in your studying. Essentially, active recall is when you try to remember the information, instead of just passively consuming it. You can use flashcards, practice questions, and past papers to incorporate active recall into your studying. Check out this guide I made for more information!
Take short, but frequent, breaks
While studying, you need to make sure that you take breaks in order to prevent burnout. Short and frequent breaks are the best, since they’re often enough so that you don’t lose motivation, but short enough so you still stay in the zone. Make sure to take a few longer breaks during the day for meals and exercise!
Plan out what you’re going to study
By making a study schedule, you’ll always know what to study next. That way, it can be easier to overcome procrastination, since you won’t waste time thinking of what to do. It can also prevent you from becoming overwhelmed, since you’ll see that you have time to study everything you want to study. However, the most important reason why you need to make a study schedule is because it’ll help you work out what you’ll do during each session, so you won’t waste time on passive recall.
Stay motivated to study!
This is probably much easier said than done, but you need to stay motivated. Obviously, you won’t want to study for 10 hours a day if you have no reason to. You can check out this guide I’ve written about getting motivated to study. Try include rewards, gamification, and frequent breaks in your studying so that you’ll be motivated to study for longer!
Put your phone away
For me, the number one distraction while studying is my phone. I’ll always tell myself that I’ll take a quick, two minute long break. Three hours later, I’m no closer to finishing the biology practice paper I was doing. If this sounds like you, then if you want to study for a long time, you need to get rid of your phone! Don’t throw it away though, just put it in another room. You can also add a screentime limit, or download apps that block time-wasting apps. My favourite is Focus Plant – it’s a cuter (and free!) version of Forest.
