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How do you revise in the library?!

I can focus so much better in the library...at home i just browse the internet, have tv on in the background (now would be a good example!). But...does anyone have any suggestions of how to get round a short attention span in the library? I can only focus for about 50 minutes and then i need to do something else for 15/20mins. At home this is okay I can just put some music or tv on for a bit, but if i go to the library after 50 mins i need to do something else so i end up going to the shops or summat, and it feels like such a waste of a bus journey going all the way in.

How do people sit in the library for hours on end to revise? I wish i could :frown:

maybe i'll take a magazine or something for a rest in between, but its still reading something!

Reply 1

tiggerishon

I take my ipod and listen to music on that in breaks.

Reply 2

WokSz

I have a similar problem. But remember, that many people work better in bursts. Just work for 50 minutes and then go for a walk. As long as you can come back and work, that's fine. I mean just because someone works for 4 hours on end, doesn't mean he'll automatically get better grades.

Reply 3

dancingqueen

I can work for a a couple of hours, then I need a break. But luckily I live about a minute's walk from the library door- can pop back to my room for a cup of tea! It's very important to take regular breaks though, otherwise you just don't take stuff in as well (she says, frantically cramming for mock exam tomorrow morning! eek!)

Reply 4

sexysax

Or go with a friend and agree to work for say 45 mins and then have a break and just chat for a bit and then carry on.

Reply 5

ice_cube

If do the same with going to the library but have an even shorter attention span. When I get bored I either go for a wander round the shelves and find the most stupid book I can, or pick up one of those Top 10 of Everything books. Enough flicking to occupy for a few minutes without getting completely distracted. At least you have the motivation to go to the library, thats better than most people!

Reply 6

Ferrus

Just don't shower for weeks on end, sit somewhere, and watch as everyone vacates their place for you.

Reply 7

mrteacher

id browse ebay, amazon or start talking to the librarian. thats waht i did at my school library:d

Reply 8

JSB19

I just stay at home, I cant go in the library because I like to read things aloud to myself thats how I learn best. Like imagining im explaining it to someone else lol. Its hard with the distractions around, but I just say, right im gonna do this for 3 hours then ill do something i want to do and then do more and then so in. Its all self discipline.

Reply 9

khil

I can't work in libraries. For some reason, libraries are so so so distracting for me. The atmosphere and structure and layout itself distracts me. I don't know how or why. The silence is distracting. The fact that there are people around and things going on is distracting. The fact that there are so many countless books is distracting cus I love reading! Can't never revise in silence - silence is somehow, distracting... Cus it means I got nothing in the background to keep me from daydreaming and drifting off. Music actually helps me concentrate.

Reply 10

Shellshocker

45 to 50 minutes is the most I can do at one time in the library. Then I go outside and wander around for ten minutes to think about other things, perhaps chatting to a friend if I bump into them. Then I can go back in refreshed and ready to go.

A nice five minute run is the best way to refresh yourself after some studying, though I don't like running with my bag or leaving it in the library!

Reply 11

teenage-monkey

As gay as it sounds, if I get the accommodation I want on campus, I can't wait to sneak about and go to the library.

Reply 12

icedout

Go for a cigarette break.

Reply 13

brabzzz

I needed complete silence and zero clutter to revise. Our 'hall' doubled as a conference center and had a few meeting rooms on one wing with just a giant table in (as in 'the apprentice boardroom table' big) - which with one desklamp meant and a tilt'n'swivel was revision heaven. Concentration breaks were tree climbing/a quick coke in the bar/chucking a frisbee around.

Maybe i'm just odd, but the library is the last place i could ever revise. Noisy (ohhh yes, the 'backgoud noise' of shuffilng papers, ringtones, whispering, poeple dropping stuff etc). That, and you'd see someone you knew every 15 mins and wander over for a chat/they'd be chatting. Grrrr - unlike the rest of the year, at exam time there are too many people in too small a space.

Reply 14

gianthead

brabzzz

Maybe i'm just odd, but the library is the last place i could ever revise. Noisy (ohhh yes, the 'backgoud noise' of shuffilng papers, ringtones, whispering, poeple dropping stuff etc). That, and you'd see someone you knew every 15 mins and wander over for a chat/they'd be chatting. Grrrr - unlike the rest of the year, at exam time there are too many people in too small a space.