Help with studying?

[Celestefey]

Hello everyone! I know generally people frown upon advice threads on the forums, but either way, I felt like this would be a useful thread perhaps to other people who may also be in a similar situation to me, and it's always good to feed off of other peoples ideas and techniques too.

Anyway, I'm currently in my last year of secondary school and I'm hoping to attend one of the top universities in England in September this year. Unfortunately, though, I've fallen into a pit. I'm usually very very hard-working, it's something that everyone and anyone just knows about me. I always put all of my effort into whatever work I do, and I always try my best and am constantly seeking ways to improve myself if I'm struggling in a certain area. With my year 11 exams, I studied and revised for hours on end each night, my bedroom walls were practically covered with notes and drawings and diagrams. Even in year 12, when I was set homework, I would do it immediately, whenever I had a study period, I would ensure I was spending it productively, and so on and so forth. But, my motivation has suddenly dropped and I feel like I'm no longer as hard-working as I used to be.

This is probably for a number of reasons. In November I was finally and officially diagnosed with depression, but I know it had been affecting me for many years already. I felt really really low and hopeless during that time in my life, and I lost the motivation to do anything. I guess I probably just overworked myself in the end. I lost motivation to do my homework. I even lost motivation to do things like drawing or writing, things which I just enjoyed doing in my free time. I took some medication though and am feeling much better, but... I'm still not the way I used to be. Even back when I was in year 11 and 12, I would say I was suffering with depression, yet even so I remained so motivated. Now I just cannot be bothered to do anything. Sometimes I get into class and can't even be bothered to write. I look at a piece of paper but all I see are words and I can't seem to focus myself on reading it. I lack the motivation to do extra research in certain subjects, I rarely do homework, I feel like I spend my free periods sitting around watching stuff on my phone or just reading. I do sometimes get spurts of motivation but... I burn out pretty quickly.

So I was wondering how I could remedy this situation. How can I gain motivation again? How can I remain focused on my work and ensure that I can get through the work? What tips/techniques do you use? I really appreciate any help and advice! Thank you.

 

[Red Cat]

I've kind of had the same problem throughout my schooling. It's hard to stay motivated when you spend tons of hours studying year after year. My advice to you would be to not demand perfection of yourself. The goal of education is to learn, not to get perfect grades. I live in the U.S., so I don't know how similar or different the education system in England is, but I'd recommend you always try to show up to your classes if nothing else. If you show up and are at least somewhat engaged in what the teacher / professor is talking about and what is going on in the classroom, then you'll at least get something important out of it. Teachers and professors usually like to test you on the stuff they talk about, so you can sometimes get away with not reading the books if you listen to what they say.

With homework, again don't worry about being perfect. I used to try to be perfect and I hated myself for it, and then I just decided that if I could at least do better than half of the students in my class that would be good enough. I'm sure you're smart enough to do better than half of the students in your class, so maybe you should just try to hit that mark instead of stressing yourself to death. For exams, don't cram for hours the night before an exam. If you have to do that to succeed on an exam, then you haven't really learned anything and you are just doing a short-term memory challenge. Just do some light studying on the areas that you don't understand very well and get a good night's sleep and you'll do fine. It's not the end of the world if you don't do well on an assignment or an exam. Just learn from it an move on. Often you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes.

I'm not trying to say don't care about your education at all because you really should, but focus on what you are getting out of it and not on trying to get a good grade. I've found that when I do that, the grades take care of themselves. Just show up to classes and put a respectable effort into all of your assignments and exams and you'll probably do fine.

 

[Celestefey]

I've kind of had the same problem throughout my schooling. It's hard to stay motivated when you spend tons of hours studying year after year. My advice to you would be to not demand perfection of yourself. The goal of education is to learn, not to get perfect grades. I live in the U.S., so I don't know how similar or different the education system in England is, but I'd recommend you always try to show up to your classes if nothing else. If you show up and are at least somewhat engaged in what the teacher / professor is talking about and what is going on in the classroom, then you'll at least get something important out of it. Teachers and professors usually like to test you on the stuff they talk about, so you can sometimes get away with not reading the books if you listen to what they say.

With homework, again don't worry about being perfect. I used to try to be perfect and I hated myself for it, and then I just decided that if I could at least do better than half of the students in my class that would be good enough. I'm sure you're smart enough to do better than half of the students in your class, so maybe you should just try to hit that mark instead of stressing yourself to death. For exams, don't cram for hours the night before an exam. If you have to do that to succeed on an exam, then you haven't really learned anything and you are just doing a short-term memory challenge. Just do some light studying on the areas that you don't understand very well and get a good night's sleep and you'll do fine. It's not the end of the world if you don't do well on an assignment or an exam. Just learn from it an move on. Often you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes.

I'm not trying to say don't care about your education at all because you really should, but focus on what you are getting out of it and not on trying to get a good grade. I've found that when I do that, the grades take care of themselves. Just show up to classes and put a respectable effort into all of your assignments and exams and you'll probably do fine.

Thank you so much. I do admit I feel like I am possibly pressuring myself a bit too much. of course in the past I studied a lot so even now when I'm perhaps studying a moderate amount, it feels minimal in comparison. However I do feel like I need to push myself especially since it's my final year and I do really want to go to university, as I will otherwise have to retake my final year again in order to get better grades, or, alternatively, try to find a job and do something that doesn't make me too happy. I guess in that sense I do have a lot of pressure on me and I shouldn't really worry too much, as long as I do what I can each day, even if it's just to take a few notes down, then that was my best for that day. I feel like I could perhaps benefit from more teacher guidance in my classes so maybe I ought to email some of them. Anyway, I really appreciate your advice, and thank you so much.

 

[Acruoxil]

Pretty much just adding on to what Red Cat said, try to enjoy what you're studying and not just do it for the sake of studying. Are you good at Literature? Try starting with that. Do you have a lot more fun with Biology? Yep, invest more time in that. Eventually as you start doing better in those subjects, you'd start feeling a lot more fired up in moving on to other subjects and eventually get things back in gear.

Find motivation in what you're learning, instead of motivation outside of what you're trying to learn. If you can find interest in your class subjects, it will make it a heck of a lot easier to sit down and study, because you will actually want to learn the information.

I also find that whenever I put off homework, or don't study when I should study, I am on the computer browsing around randomly, wasting time away. A neat little trick is to convince your parents to unplug your router until you have finished what you need to finish; your work will get done much faster without any needless distractions, and once you're done, you can reward yourself with as much of Tumblr or Skype or whatever you enjoy spending your time with as you would like

Also something which greatly helped me when I used to have computer science as a subject or had to work on my PC for anything. You can make two accounts on his laptop. One for personal use (gaming, browsing the internet, Skype, Tumblr, Netflix, etc) and one for school only. The school only account should only have Microsoft programs, the internet (with website blockers enabled), the stuff you need for your work and nothing else on it. So when you log into that account, you are forced to get work done, as you have nothing on that account to distract you. Of course, you can end up switching users but anyone can motivate you to want to get something done, but the only one who can make you do it is yourself.

Also, there can be external factors into play. Taking in account your depression, is there something that bothers you besides studies? Your school friend, a crush, a friend you're having troubles with, your mom, your nightstand, wanting a game, anything? If that's the case try to get rid of those problems one by one. Got troubles with a friend? Try talking to them, see what's up and clean the air. If everything's good, that's great, nothing to be bothered about. If things are bad, talk to them about it and fix them. If they just don't care, kick them out of your life for the time being. I had a very similar problem with a friend I had started getting close to, I just started to not care and decided to concentrate more on academics and other people. Do you want a game? Promise yourself to buy yourself one or to ask your mom to help you buy one if you complete a certain goal with your studies.

Oh and stick this right above your work table. It's gonna give you the push you need.

 

[Damniel]

Sorry to hear about your depression, but getting help and openly talk about it is a very big step.

For studying, I would think about what you want to do for your future. What do you plan on doing? How do you plan on achieving it.

You may want to go to college, you may not, but keeping the best grades possible will always help. But don't make grades everything and enjoy you're few months as a child because grades aren't everything in life.

I would do all studying/homework in your kitchen/dinning toolmaker where there's very little distractions. Leave any electrinics in your room and just concentrate on the work, play some music so you don't pass out from boredom, but don't check your phone for any texts or anything like that. Hope it helps and good luck!

 

[That Zephyr Guy]

I don't know what everyone else has suggested thus far because that's like 12 walls of text goddamn guys, but I think the big thing here is to not only take their advice, but to also do what you can to combat the depression.

A lot of what I'm about to say has probably been told to you just about every time you've told someone you have depression, but bear with me, this is the stuff that helps me and I hope it helps you too:

-Exercise, even if it's a little bit every day. I know, with depression it seems hard to bring yourself to do anything, much less physical exertion, but there's quite a lot about it that helps that I just quite can't put into words well. Something inside of you just sort of... lights up, once you start to get into it at least. I guess it's sorta like physics, a body in motion will want to stay in motion.

-Drink some milk and spend some time outside. Maybe not too much time outside because it's winter, but definitely at least some time because it's winter. During this time of year there's less sun and we all naturally get a little more depressed than usual, which is totally normal, so it might help alleviate that a bit. Why milk though? I forget the exact chemical, maybe it's the calcium, but that chemical + sunlight = Vitamin D which is one of the chemicals which helps battle depression.

-Have fun with your studying, reward yourself. Studying for hours on end is hell. I've been there, and I've felt drained from it every time. Something I've found that helps, if you're disciplined anyway, is to treat yourself when you study. You'll study for longer, but it won't feel as exhausting. Did a homework assignment? Treat yourself with half an hour of gametime. Studied for an hour? Browse belltree for a bit. You get the idea.


If you're artistic, you could do what one of my friends does - after you're done taking notes for a class, get a new notebook and transcribe them down into it as neatly and pretty as possible. This does three things:

One, you're rewriting your notes, so obviously they'll be fresher in your mind.
Two, you can find anything you don't know too well. Look it up, write it down in your own words.
Three, once you're done with that notebook for the year, you can catalog it and use it again at a future date.


Making a new prettier notebook isn't really a good suggestion though if you don't find it fun, but it's something I've done before and it's kind of fun if you're into it.



Most importantly though, message me if you ever need to talk. Depression sucks, and we all need to vent whenever it's needed. We don't know each other much but I honestly don't mind lending an ear, so don't hesitate if it's what you need.

 

[Red Cat]

I don't know what everyone else has suggested thus far because that's like 12 walls of text goddamn guys

Then you write a wall of text after that...

Now I'm thinking about how much studying Celestefey could have done instead of reading these posts.

 

[Acruoxil]

Now I'm thinking about how much studying Celestefey could have done instead of reading these posts.

No, honestly this stuff helps. Reading advice which is for your own good never helps and isn't counter productive. She's easily willing and wanting to do things, she just needs a push. I'm sure these posts serve the very purpose and give her the push she needs.

 

[That Zephyr Guy]

Then you write a wall of text after that...

Am I cool like you guys yet?

 

[Red Cat]

No, honestly this stuff helps. Reading advice which is for your own good never helps and isn't counter productive. She's easily willing and wanting to do things, she just needs a push. I'm sure these posts serve the very purpose and give her the push she needs.

Yeah, I know that. I was just making a tongue-in-cheek remark about the length of our posts.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Am I cool like you guys yet?

I don't think any of us are.

 

[Acruoxil]

Am I cool like you guys yet?

No ur still a peasant, sorry bruh

I play better Dota than you play League

 

[Celestefey]

Thanks for your help everyone. I really appreciate it! I'll be sure to take it into account.

 

[KaydeeKrunk]

I used to have a really hard time studying and reading and doing assignments for school but I used to set "goals" and then reward myself, a lot of times it was food, like I'd buy a snack or something, and for a reading assignment I would like tell myself after X amount of pages I can eat 1 piece and it helped me do it for the reward. It also helps doing it with someone, like getting some kind of study buddy, I would have my friend come over and we didn't even have all the same classes, but the ones we had together we'd do together and the other classes we'd try to help each other where we could and then we'd breeze fast through the work together so we'd have more time to hang out together. Also reading aloud helps you retain stuff you study better so that could always help.

 

[epona]

if you're on tumblr or instagram, maybe you could become part of the huge (and ever-growing) studyblr community? it really motivated me in my final year of school because you see all these pictures of pretty notes and productivity and you just feel like.. compelled to study
there's also a lot of great resources and masterposts posted by studyblrs that can really help with studying and essay writing etc!

not to mention there's a lot of support and advice for keeping on top of your studies while struggling with mental illness
here's a few examples:

clicky

clicky 2

 

[KarlaKGB]

have u got ur uni offers yet? the offers from the ones u rly wanna go to are rly good motivation