There are two types of students in the world. On one side, we have those who are interested in doing studies and on the other side, those who are not.
The second type study under pressure or for exams. They study for a degree or just to finish their homework, assignments and obligations. Some students want to genuinely study. But soon they lose their interest and give up.
Earlier I was one of the second type of students. But this moment came in my life when I decided to prepare for Union Public Service Commission examination (it is considered one of the toughest exams in India).
I prepared my mind in this direction and started studying. Suddenly I realized people that study 12 hours a day for this exam. Here I am not able to study even for 4 hours.
Making your studies interesting is very important. Because after 2-3 hours we tend to lose our interest and do not want to study further. And we waste our whole day.
So how to make studies interesting. Let's Find Out
After struggling for 2-3 months, I started experimenting on how we can generate interest or how to make even a boring study interesting. Studying is something we all have to do. There is no alternative to being educated.
Trust me, these tricks, that I mention here helped me a lot. Now I can study 11-12 hours in a day with much interest. You will know this through 5 steps that I mention below.
Step 1. Lessen your Burden of a Long Syllabus
Long syllabus or piling up of books will always distract you and lessen your interest. So here you need to work smartly.
- First and foremost, read your syllabus thoroughly.
- Divide your syllabus in small parts – monthly basis and then weekly and then daily basis.
- This way you make a plan of study in your mind and set a target for yourself.
- Focus on daily basis, topics which you have scheduled for that day. Focus on completing those on the same day.
Rewards you will get after following these steps:
- Your mind generally gets prepared when you make plan by yourself of completing things and it starts acting accordingly. Psychology says, your mind always pokes you or reminds you about things which you have planned for yourself.
- It will remove the heavy burden of syllabus and make you more focused to complete your daily schedule on time
It works like this. When you know that it’s your duty to buy vegetables for home every day, you get ready for market and think “come on let’s do this first and be free”.
So it also happens when you plan your studies.
Step 2. Find the Right Time to Study
1. After dividing syllabus choose the best time for studies.
For example: I generally get distracted in evenings because people and friends come to visit home mostly at this time. This period is mostly for snacks, tea/coffee and chit-chat. So this time will not give you peace, which is quite required for studies.
Utilize this time for social media. This way you make social media time slot, like you have made for studies and you will not get distracted during study time.
2. Divide your study time in sessions.
For example:
- 1st session would be – in morning (time you can decide)
- 2nd session – in afternoon
- 3rd session – in night
3. Now divide your daily basis syllabus (in first part) in these sessions.
(One advice I can give to you is make every slot for 3 hours. Because at a stretch, one can sit for three hours. Make it a habit.) – You can follow this advice if you are preparing for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, CAT, GMAT etc.
Step 3. Time Tracking
This is the most important trick one can use. It helps to keep tracking study time, session wise or you can also track it hourly. Here you can use a time tracker.
The best part of time tracker is, it gives you graph on weekly basis and you can compare your today’s actual study time with your previous one.
This way you keep yourself engaged in studies and improve yourself every day.
The best time tracker I got is Toggl.com. There are other time trackers too like clicktime, dashable, clockify etc.
I am attaching below my own Toggle tracking.
(Here I have decreased my study time daily… 😛 . But any ways this is a daily as well as weekly tracker.)
Step 4. Relaxing mind
It’s very important that you relax your mind to regain energy.
- Use evening time for relaxing and rejuvenating your mind completely. This will give you more energy for your next study session.
- Take power naps of half an hour to rejuvenate your mind for next session.
- This trick also helps some people: to take 10 minutes break for every 50 minutes of study. (but personally I feel distracted by this trick)
- Sleep well for 7-8 hours.
- Drink plenty of water in a day and also during your study sessions.
Step 5. Neat and Well organised place
- This is also a trick to increase your interest in study. If your books are well organised according to your plan and study table/place is neat and clean you will find that the place attracts you for studies. And you will feel more positive vibes around yourself.
- Make another list of your ‘completed topics’ and stick it near your ‘to do topics’. This will make you feel that your target is not far. Also it will give a satisfaction that you are completing targets on time.
The list of ‘completed topics’ will increase your interest to do more.
Every student has own strengths and weaknesses. While you are preparing your plan, keep your strengths and weaknesses in mind. Do not make unrealistic plans, which you cannot complete on time.
For example: If I know that I can complete only 3 topics in a day, and I make a plan to complete 5 topics per day, I won’t be able to complete my target and rest 2 topics will become a burden for next day.
In this way I have 5+2 i.e. 7 topics to cover in a single day to keep me updated with plan.
These topics will never get completed and here you will lose your interest slowly. And finally you will come out with no plans in your hand. You may also lose interest in studies because most of the topics are left behind.
So plan according to your strengths and weakness and act accordingly.
