Improving Your Concentration while Studying

Try these tips to improve your concentration:

• Avoid external distractions by finding a quiet place to study.

• Eat high-protein snacks and get enough sleep. You cannot study if you are hungry or too tired.

• If the material appears to be too difficult, break the task in small sub-tasks. Give yourself rewards after making progress.

• If you worry too much about your performance on exam that interferes with your concentration, your might ask for help how to study more efficiently.

• If you worry about personal problems which impair your ability to concentrate, you might talk to a counselor or someone who can help. Worrying will only make you to study less, and will not solve the problem.

• When your mind starts to wander, you don’t study efficiently. It is better to stop because you cannot “daydream” and study at the same time. You might write down interfering thoughts, daydream for a few minutes and continue to study when you are ready to focus again.

©UAMS Student Success Center/ Vuk, J. M.D., Ph.D. July/2015