How to Create the Perfect Study Space at Home.
Ever wondered why studying at home can be so difficult? Creating the right study environment might be the key!
Talking to my students about revising effectively for their GCSEs is a topic which, unsurprisingly, comes up regularly in our tutoring sessions. A problem you will all be familiar with is students finding it difficult to both get the motivation to revise and then actually staying focussed once they have started. And while it isn’t the only solution to improving concentration, having the right study space plays a large role in encouraging students to want to revise and to stick with it too.
I looked at a lot of the advice out there for studying and a lot of the same ideas kept appearing: have a quiet space, avoid distractions, keep it organised. All great suggestions but the more I thought about the wide range of students I’ve supported over the years, the more I began to think about how to make the advice we have all heard stop being just a ‘one size fits all’ and look at how you adapt a study space while keeping a great learning environment.
Noise Preferences Vary
Most suggestion tell you to find a quiet space so your child can concentrate fully on their revision. Now, the concentrating part is definitely important, but does it really need to be silent? Talking to students who have gotten into a great study routine, many of them enjoy listening to music and some even enjoy being in an environment with a little hustle and bustle.
So where is the line and how much volume is needed in a study space? There isn’t going to be any advice that can tell your child how they work best so encourage them try it and see. Try revising with music they like. Try revising in a quiet space. Once they’ve tried both, get them to check how much work they got done in their revision time. How much time was spent choosing the right song or flicking through their playlist? How much time was spent staring out of the window because the silence was so dull? Paying attention to your own working habits is incredibly important and is absolutely something I’ll be looking at in a future article but check out the link at the end of the post for some helpful guidance to get you started.
Eliminate Distractions
While some advice on the perfect study space might be up for debate and depend entirely on your preferences, one thing which is a complete must is removing distractions. How strict you need to be is up to you. Perhaps having a phone off to one side is completely fine but if revision time is being interrupted every few minutes, then maybe it needs to be out of the way. And if phones or other devices are just too much of an unavoidable distraction, go big on getting it out of the way – don’t just put it on a shelf nearby, put it in another room entirely, make it completely inaccessible until the revision session is finished. The main idea here is that study time is for studying and every second counts.
Set Clear Time Limits
And while we’re talking about time, the best advice I have to offer on the perfect study space (which I never see mentioned) it to set a clear limit on the time spent there. Nobody likes feeling chained to a desk and working on revision until you are too tired to go on not only isn’t helpful it also isn’t healthy. Ideally, having a dedicated study space is a great way of keeping studying as the focus when you’re in that zone and has the bonus of creating that great feeling of being done for the day when you leave the space!
Keep the time there short and make sure you have small breaks in between. I’ve seen a lot of suggestions on the ideal amount of time to revise for, and you may need to adjust slightly to suit your child, but I find around twenty minutes focus with five minute breaks are ideal. And when you’re done with your focussed burst of revision, remember that those breaks are just as important too! Just make sure you stick to the timings and don’t let those five minutes turn into an hour.
Optimize Study Essentials
If you can’t have a completely separate space, or you have a space which is already perfect for studying but it’s also used it for other things, try to make getting into ‘study mode’ something you have to physically do. It doesn’t need to be much, maybe just getting out a box or bag that has revision materials in is all you need but having something which signals when studying starts and ends can you really help you to lock into that study space for those bursts of revision.
Lastly, here’s a list of a few short tips on some everyday essentials when studying to make sure your child can get the most out of their learning:
- Get comfortable before you start
- Make sure you have plenty of light to avoid eye strain
- Keep it tidy and organised
- Have your study equipment together
- Keep studying routine and regular
It doesn’t have to be much, but with a few purposeful changes and setting a clear study zone, you can help embed revising into the daily routine. Remember to check what is working for you and change the things that are getting in the way of a useful study session.
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