The Art of Body Language

Chapter 9

Le Dreaded Study

We all hate studying, at least, most of us do. In this chapter, I will list some helpful study tips, like ways in which you can study, fighting the procrastination disease, and more. We all want to do well on tests and stuff, but unfortunately, we have to bear with the boring stuff first.

Let's start:

Study Notes Tips: Please keep in mind that everyone studies differently, and prefer different ways to others. It's all about how you want to and what you thinks benefits you the most. Just take a look at what I've written, maybe you can try it out and see if it is right for you.

1. I was recently told by an expert that something that is quite helpful is through mind maps. Make these for your subjects, branching out each sub-heading to more. Stick these around your room, and when you are in a test, you should be able just appear in your head, a picture memory.

2. Active listening. As you are in class, make sure you aren't distracted and are focusing on the work and the teacher. As you listen, try and think about what is being said, connecting them with other things.

3. Remember, teachers are being paid to help you, so use them as much as you can. They are the best thing (or person, rather) to have. Think of them as the 'answer' book, they know everything you want to know. Ask them as many questions as you can, even if they may seem stupid. For english, give practice essays to them to have it marked, for maths, do practice test, for other subjects, you can ask for a question from the teacher to do at home and then hand it in. Literally anything, just make sure you use them.

4. Flashcards are also a helpful tool when studying. Write a question on one side, and the answer on the other. These are really helpful to look over quickly when you are chilling.

Study Tips: Like I said before, everyone studies their own way, but you can always try some of these.

1. Study as soon as you get home. The reason I do this is because I am still in the headspace of learning, and when I take a break, I am tempted to just not do anything and end up having wasted an afternoon. Usually when I'm at school, I'll have these thoughts about all the study notes I'm going to do when I get home and be so organised, but it never happens. So I just do it straight away and it is pretty good, because I become very focused.

2. Have some snacks. Something easy to grab, and preferably healthy. Maybe have some grapes by your side, or just some chips.

3. This one is pretty obvious, but it has to be said. Turn off your phone bro. When you are in the zone of studying, you end up forgetting about it when you can't hear it, so just chuck it out to your dog, flush it down the toilet, I don't care... Just get rid of it while you study.

4. Music. This one is really controversial in the world of students. Some people just cannot concentrate when they have music playing, while others prefer to have music on. The best way to go is to listen to music without lyrics, maybe classical music compilation. This option you won't know most of the songs, and will just focus on studying with the noise in the background. Listening the instrumentals is also okay, but it may be hard if it is a song you know, because you might fill in the missing lyrics yourself!

Procrastination:

1. Procrastinating has always been a HUGE problem for me. I'd leave everything to the last minute, but even then I would still be dreading doing it and want to just watch youtube videos. There is a thing called productive procrastinating, where you can do other things you need to do before starting the main thing. E.g. I would do smaller questions for homework before getting started on that damn essay.

2. Bargain with yourself. For example, if you finish this essay, you can finally watch the episode of the show you are watching.

3. Eliminate the temptation to do something else. I heard about a thing you can get which will block you from accessing certain sites like youtube. I'm not sure what it was, but it sounds very useful in eliminating the desire to do something else instead of the task at hand.

4. Motivate yourself. Think about that score you are aiming for, or the dream career you want so bad. Reward yourself for completing a task. I heard something from somewhere, that eating a lolly for example after completing, say a page of study notes, will register in your brain as a good thing. Something like that.

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I had always had many problems with studying and that damn PROCRASTINATION, so I hope at least some of these help for you guys.

Doing mind maps really is probably the most helpful thing for me. For some reason, it actually gets me excited to make them and put them around my room. They're fun to make and you can get creative and colourful with it.

Please inform me of any mistakes and feedback.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and learnt something new! :D