Trying to find a magic formula for studying

Gemma Good is pondering the benefit of learning off volumes of information for the State exams without necessarily understanding it...

You know the feeling when a deadline is looming, perhaps at work or at university, and you think it is further away than what it actually is?

For many it is the end of semester stress, pressure from the ongoing State exams or even preparing for a summer vacation. During a stressful period, I tend to think of every single deadline and obligation at once, get into a major panic and then end up doing nothing, which does not help the situation at all.

I have attended many study courses over the years while preparing for State exams (although I never got to sit mine, yes, I was in the class of 2020) which highly recommended the creation of mind maps to help study. This consisted of drawing pictures to try and enhance the memory of certain topics. I remember drawing waterfall diagrams and plate tectonic diagrams for geography until I thought my hand was going to fall off, writing paragraphs upon paragraphs on erosion and deposition. I was learning them off as opposed to understanding the information, a common theme of the State exams. Do they work? Yes, but I found I often got frustrated at the length of time taken to actually create the mind map.

For me, studying at home was always an issue, something that presents to this day. I am one of those people who needs a sign stuck to my chair telling people to not distract me. I have no willpower when it comes to this, it doesn’t matter if the deadline is five days or five minutes away – I will sit and chat to you without a care in the world. With assignment deadlines and exams looming, I got up on Saturday morning and took myself into the library in Cavan. I knew there would be no distractions.

I arrived at the library and saw there was a concert outside it celebrating Cruinniú na nÓg, a fun day for children. The kids were really enjoying it; the event looked really fun with entertainers and singing, but I was grateful for noise cancellation earphones. They are my saving grace when it comes to deadlines. At least in the library, despite it being busy, I knew nobody was going to come and distract me.

I entered the library and as expected, it was full of Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate students. Like myself back in the day, they were writing and rewriting paragraphs. Yellow exam paper books sat in front of them, they had faces of intense concentration and stress. I wanted to tell them it was okay, they are only exams but most likely they had heard this one million times. It doesn’t help the fact that they have course material to learn and relay in an exam.

I got to work reading articles. I was working on a group project about the impact of screens on the brain. Ironic I thought, staring at my screen reading about how beta amyloids caused by blue light emitted from the screen creates plaque in people's brains, which can cause memory problems later in life. Screens in today’s society are unavoidable. I stayed for a few hours, reading and typing, however I returned home with less than what I expected finished.

That’s when the Pomodero technique was recommended to me. This is a time management system where you work for 25 minutes straight and then take a five minute break.

In these five minutes, I was getting up and going for a quick walk outside, then returning for another block of studying. After four consecutive blocks of this, you take a 15-30 minute break. Now, I won’t lie; I kept the principles of the technique in mind but, for one 30-minute break, I ended up going to Killykeen for a stroll with my friend. I don’t believe in completely isolating yourself from others in stressful times.

I love this technique because during each 25-minute working period, I had a goal in mind for what I wanted to achieve. In this way, I got things done. Something I highly recommend for this technique is putting your phone on ‘Do not Disturb’ mode and having the timer open beside you. In moments when I was tempted to stare out the window, it helped to keep me focused.

Eventually, I got the assignment finished, so I could tick one more off the list. I had never tried the Pomodoro technique before, but I have to say it worked for me. The time intervals are just the right length of time to stop my brain getting tired or distracted. I think it can be implemented in many fields of work, exam preparation, cleaning or even preparing for a holiday.

Although between packing for 25 minutes rather than trying to hit a 4,000 word count, I know which I would rather be doing.

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