Academic Coaching – Study Skills and Habits (1 of 6)

A. Distractions – All students have certain distractions while they study. Some of these distractions are minimal and may have little effect, yet others can be extremely damaging. Academic distractions range from background noise to physical discomfort or the people with whom we study. Most of these distractions can be easily eliminated by the student. Here are a few of the most common sources of distractions and how they affect the student:
a. Cell phones – Students often find themselves communicating with their friends by talking or text messaging while they study. Other times, they may spend time on games or other applications on their phones.
b. Music –Many students assume that by listening to their iPods and other such devices will give them personal seclusion from the outside world.
c. TV – Having the TV on in the background is the most deceptive one of them all. Students don’t realize how much of their attention is unconsciously consumed by the television running in the background.
d. Studying with people who are not working on the same material – Those students who have had study groups know that the only way study groups work is when everyone in the group works on the same project. When students get together with classmates or friends who are not working on the same project, they tend to either socialize or get sidetracked with questions outside of work. This breaks their concentration on the material they are trying to study.
All of the above distractions either disrupt or overload the information flow to the brain. The brain needs as little sensory input as possible while the person is studying. When there are audio/visual or physical distractions (uncomfortable study positions, bad lighting, etc.), then the student loses full concentration on the study material. The brain becomes too busy with other information and can’t process the study material properly. The usual argument that students use for having the TV or music on in the background is that they don’t watch the TV or consciously listen to the music. The issue is that we may not pay conscious attention to the sensory input, but subconsciously, our brain is picking up everything. It’s very similar to having many applications running in the background of our computer. When those unwanted applications are running in the background, they slow down the processing speed of the computer.

Suggestions – Students should let all of their friends and family know that they will not be answering their cell phones (calls or text messages) while they study. Then, they should turn the phone on its silent mode, and put the phone far away where they won’t even be able to see the flashing screen. They can check their messages when they take a study break, which should not be more than once per hour for about ten minutes. Proper study techniques also require the student to turn off the TV, radio, iPod, etc. when they study. No additional sensory input should be on.
There is another very powerful and concealed reason why we should eliminate all other sensory inputs while we study. That reason is linked to how our brain recalls the material it has stored. When the brain stores any information, it tends to store every other bit of information that comes in at that time. Additionally, it connects all of that input and stores in one place. This means that when we read a book in a park and listen to classical music, the brain will combine the reading material, the environment (the park with all the smells and sounds) and the song to which we are listening and store them all together as one experience. So, when it’s time for us to remember what we have read, it would be ideal for us to recreate the same environment as of the time we were reading the book. This process helps the brain retrieve the material much easier.
We have all been in situations where a certain scent or song has taken us back to a specific experience. That is because of the brain’s information retrieval process. The problem is that when the brain needs to recall certain information during a test, it will have a difficult time retrieving everything since the student cannot replicate the same study environment during a test in a classroom. The student will not be allowed to have a TV or iPod playing the same program or song as it did when studying.
And last but not least, the student should study with other people ONLY if the others are working on the same material. This will allow them to ask questions regarding their work and learn from each other.