You Learn Better When You Focus
With public school testing standards rising and college acceptance rates getting lower, you definitely need to focus on making the most of your homework and study time. Of course, there are plenty of distractions that can make it hard to focus. Here are some tips on how to minimize those distractions so you can finish your work faster.
The brain learns in two different ways: declarative learning and habit learning. For example, when you memorize a phone number by reciting it to yourself, that's declarative learning. When you learn a phone number by pushing the buttons on your cell phone, that's habit learning—you may be able to remember the number, but probably only when your cell phone is in front of you.
You want your brain to be able to recall information on the fly and that's easiest to do with declarative learning. However, when you're distracted or multi-tasking, your brain slips into habit learning mode. In order to stay in the declarative learning mode, you need to remain focused; minimizing distractions might help.
- Study In a Quiet Environment: try studying at your school/local library or using earplugs to simulate the experience.
- Turn Off the TV and Silence Your Cell Phone: despite what you may think, doing your homework while watching your favorite sitcom or talking to your friend isn't very effective.
- Listen to Classical/Instrumental Music: classical music has been shown to help increase spatial-temporal reasoning, which is especially useful when it comes to math.
- Take the Occasional Break: don't burn yourself out; give your brain a break every now and then!
