Advice on how to stay focused while studying

Right, I am looking for some advice: I personally really struggle to concentrate but also at the same time I get annoyed ever so easily. I am in year 10 and currently looking to try and study to boost my grades but I really struggle to sit down and revise. I also find that because me and my sister share a room I am INCAPABLE and I really struggle to do any form of homework or revision while she is in the room making any form of noise. However obviously I cannot have the bedroom to myself 24/7, but I cannot even stand hearing her breathe while I am trying to study. I know this might be slightly strange. Also when I sit down to study my brain does this thing where I have to start on an even time number for example: I can study at 6:00 but if it gets to 6:03 I then have to wait till 6:10 and so on…. It is a never ending cycle , I am not sure why I do this,

Basically I am wondering if I have something wrong with me or I just need to find a coping mechanism.
I would love any tips anyone might have 😁

Reply 1

eccoluver

flora is a great app for this !! i get the same thing and it helps to listen to really loud music to really cancel EVERYTHING out, even better if you have noise cancelling earphones.

Reply 2

EdgeHillStudents

Official Rep

Original post by buzzing-roast

Right, I am looking for some advice: I personally really struggle to concentrate but also at the same time I get annoyed ever so easily. I am in year 10 and currently looking to try and study to boost my grades but I really struggle to sit down and revise. I also find that because me and my sister share a room I am INCAPABLE and I really struggle to do any form of homework or revision while she is in the room making any form of noise. However obviously I cannot have the bedroom to myself 24/7, but I cannot even stand hearing her breathe while I am trying to study. I know this might be slightly strange. Also when I sit down to study my brain does this thing where I have to start on an even time number for example: I can study at 6:00 but if it gets to 6:03 I then have to wait till 6:10 and so on…. It is a never ending cycle , I am not sure why I do this,
Basically I am wondering if I have something wrong with me or I just need to find a coping mechanism.
I would love any tips anyone might have 😁

Hi there!

I completely understand what you mean, I used to struggle a lot with being able to concentrate when studying and sometimes still do. I have a few things that worked for me:

•

Putting my phone on Do Not Disturb

•

Putting on background music (I personally love coffee shop noise on Youtube)

•

Having a specific goal of how much to get done (but keep it small to begin with!)

Of course, these might not work for you as you mentioned your sister making noise distracts you so maybe you need no noise at all. Do you have a library or access to a different space to study?

It really can be hard to completely focus but my main piece of advice would be to just keep trying as once you get into a routine and used to it, it becomes a lot easier.

I really hope this helped in some way!! 😄

Emily
Second Year Creative Writing

Reply 3

AlanKawa1967

What helped me was doing lots of bite sized sessions. I would revise for 15 mins, then take a 5 min break and keep repeating this for a couple hours. Eventually I got tired of taking the breaks and started doing 30 mins then 5 min break. Hope this helps!

Reply 4

University of Bradford

Official Rep

Original post by buzzing-roast

Right, I am looking for some advice: I personally really struggle to concentrate but also at the same time I get annoyed ever so easily. I am in year 10 and currently looking to try and study to boost my grades but I really struggle to sit down and revise. I also find that because me and my sister share a room I am INCAPABLE and I really struggle to do any form of homework or revision while she is in the room making any form of noise. However obviously I cannot have the bedroom to myself 24/7, but I cannot even stand hearing her breathe while I am trying to study. I know this might be slightly strange. Also when I sit down to study my brain does this thing where I have to start on an even time number for example: I can study at 6:00 but if it gets to 6:03 I then have to wait till 6:10 and so on…. It is a never ending cycle , I am not sure why I do this,
Basically I am wondering if I have something wrong with me or I just need to find a coping mechanism.
I would love any tips anyone might have 😁

Hey 👋 I completely understand how you feel I really struggled with concentration and I'd find any excuse to procrastinate. I also shared a room with my sister so we had to come up with a bit of a 'timetable' of when to chill in the bedroom and when to study downstairs. Is there any other space you could use, or a local library you could go to?

I also found that I concentrated better with ambient noise, I really couldn't cope with silence so found loads of spotify playlists to put on in the background. Noise cancelling headphones as suggested below are also great to have if you find you're sensitive to noise.

I used a few different ways to try and focus, so there's an app called Forest where you can set a timer and the longer you stay off your phone, it grows a digital tree for you. It helped with my productivity! And because you can set it to whatever time you want, if you did it in even intervals hopefully it will help!

I hope that's helpful 😀 and good luck with your studying!

Jennie

Reply 5

learniq

Original post by buzzing-roast

Right, I am looking for some advice: I personally really struggle to concentrate but also at the same time I get annoyed ever so easily. I am in year 10 and currently looking to try and study to boost my grades but I really struggle to sit down and revise. I also find that because me and my sister share a room I am INCAPABLE and I really struggle to do any form of homework or revision while she is in the room making any form of noise. However obviously I cannot have the bedroom to myself 24/7, but I cannot even stand hearing her breathe while I am trying to study. I know this might be slightly strange. Also when I sit down to study my brain does this thing where I have to start on an even time number for example: I can study at 6:00 but if it gets to 6:03 I then have to wait till 6:10 and so on…. It is a never ending cycle , I am not sure why I do this,
Basically I am wondering if I have something wrong with me or I just need to find a coping mechanism.
I would love any tips anyone might have 😁

Hey! It sounds like you’ve got a few challenges, but don't worry, there are ways to cope. Try using noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs to block out distractions from your sister. You can also create a study schedule and stick to it, even if it means starting at those "even" times you mentioned. I like to break my study sessions into shorter chunks with breaks in between to stay focused. Also, try finding a different spot to study, like a library or a quiet corner of your house. Keep experimenting until you find what works best for you! Good luck! 😁