Attention span

Started 'revising' for my AS Level exams but its become bloody hard! Probably due to the fact my subjects are so not interesting so have no passion in actually studying them (English mainly.) Staying on the English topic, I literally have no idea what I'm revising the course is that difficult and its generally giving me overwhelming anxious feelings. Do you have any tips how I can revise with my Goldfish attention span as I'm really struggling to revise - thank you!

Reply 1

claireestelle

Original post by edenolivia

Try the pomodoro technique, where you work in short bursts and have regular breaks :smile:

Reply 2

Scott M Harvey

There's a great technique for increasing your attention span that was supposedly developed by Albert Einstein. It's called the Einstein Distraction Index, though I wouldn't really consider that proof! The steps are fairly simple:

-Take out your textbook and place beside it a notebook with a plain page.
-Write at the top of the notebook "I will not be distracted by that."
-Set a timer the 3 minutes and begin reading your material.
-Any time a distracting thought pops into your head, read the quote at the top of your notebook and put the tally beside it.
-When you can get through the entire 3 minutes without a single tally, move the timer to 6-minute intervals.

I'm afraid I can't link you do any research that proves the validity of this technique, I can only talk from my personal experience. The Einstein Distraction Index definitely enhanced my ability to maintain my attention over long periods.

The other benefit is, once you have completed a certain interval without any distracting thoughts, you won't need to perform this exercise for another 6 weeks in order to keep the benefits.