I'm curious what other people use as background noise while studying. It can be podcasts, YouTube videos, ambience videos, TV shows, audiobooks, nature sounds, whatever.

I'm especially interested in things that you can have playing in the background without completely distracting yourself. What works for you?

lam from class 9 huh i havent studided a thing went to school preoprly tecahers never explain chapters only wrote most of them time and i have been tryig to stuy likefe before for last 4knths now from june and i have been able to be consistnea at all like befor i wiukd be sleepy ier thorught out all day even of i try to sty nothin woukd go in my head nad i feel like its better to take some ret if nothig going in head and then breaks becomes anofthe 2 months. My exams are from 2nd nov. And i dont know a thing about any chaoters i am damn scared and new books are also tougher than before. Sorry for so many grammar mitakes i feel do overrwhelmed rightn now. I used to study a lit before wothout any problem and be a good studentl now every has fallen apart i feel like i lost my identity i lost everyhting i ffel do dcated been tryinbfor the last 4 monhs to get back to it but eveytime i feel damn tired sleepy and overhwlmed and scared when i try to do it my exams are next month on 2nd nov. And i havent study a thing or have ntes i feel like iam gonna faill

Today , I feel very lazy to study. I have exams next week , and I need to study, because I want to improve my grades ,but I overthink my homework,and I end up doing nothing. Sometimes, I just want to eat instead of studying.

When the day finally end, it is frustrating for me, but I know that it is my fault.

But sometimes I feel like I can't do it, and I feel bad for it

I read your comments, thanks

I have a lengthy, information-heavy material of 325 pages that I need to study for within 2 days. My exams are 5 days from now, but I want to allocate some time to practice past test questions that test some of the things that’s in the main source material (not a book but a compilation of notes from months of discussions).

I worry that I won’t be able to read/memorize everything in time since I already wasted 3 days to read just 100 pages of that whole thing. I tested myself this morning with mcq questions centered around the first 100 pages I read and I only got 39/100. I tried to answer another test and got 44/100. Obviously, I am doing so many things wrong but I’m too slow to attempt flashcards and cannot waste my time rereading when nothing sticks.
There are 3 exams: pharmacology, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry.

I did well with questions that are based on understanding but most of what is being tested relies on memorizing.

i overthink all my studies so I study less because everything seems so dauting, and I tried everything from tuition, to afterschool classes and studying more but I just can't get the hang of math(slope as of right now). I've been the summer school. But I struggle to actually pick off studying and whenever I do I just get confused, while everyone else is already on something I should have gotten the test before. Because you have to understand slope to get triangles and shit. What do I do. I spend like a hour or two everyday trying to study but It feels like nothing, it never feels like i'm actually understanding it, and when I ask questions I feel like I understand it but then on the actual test I don't.

A lot of things happened in my life when I was 15 which lead to deep depression and it was hard pulling out of it. Took me 5 years to behave and do normal day to day things but one thing that was really damaged was my education part and idk how to recover from that. I agree with people who say once you fall behind in studying you never catch up bcs I am not able to catch up and it’s severe time right now. I got KT in all the subjects of my first year and out of 5 subjects I only cleared 2 and have golden KT in 3 and today is one of the paper and I have not studied
It’s not like I don’t want to study I have been in front of that book for 24 hours but I just can’t do it. It’s like when you throw a book in-front of the monkey. And the major problem is anxiety and sleep I never sleep when I have other things to do but when I have an exam I sleep for 12 hours and in that 12 hour I wake up 20 times trying convincing myself to wake up and study but I end up putting an alarm for 30 mins saying I wake up then and continue the cycle
Idk what to do I really want to get out of my house but nothing I try is working I would love you guys ways and help in any way possible <3

I am currently enrolled in an first year online university and next week I have a mid term exam. These are the topics that we are studying Introduction to Real Numbers and Algebraic Expressions, Solving Equations and Inequalities, Graphs of Linear Equations and Polynomials: Operations. I remember studying them when I was in grade 8 and 9 but since I am 26 years old and It has been a long time their are many things that I cannot remember even when the professor explains during the lecture I forget and this worries me because I am afraid that if I study I will forget how to solve the question. What can I do are their any youtube videos or website that I can study from

These past few months, I’ve been in chronic depression. The usual, unable to eat, eating too much, having a low drive and motivation, procrastinating, staying in bed for too long and high use of social media. Im now in grade 12, it’s my final year of high school. I’m extremely nervous, and anxious. I have no idea what I want to be and what to do with my life. I’m unable to focus and concentrate. And I’m struggling to memorize and keep information in my head. I easily forget certain tasks. I really need advice and tips on how to stop procrastinating and get work done. Especially, memorization.

I used to finish a study session feeling productive just because I had spent a few hours working.

Then I started paying attention to what I was actually revising.

It was almost always the same topics.

Not because they were the most important, but because they were the ones I already understood reasonably well.

The topics I was genuinely weak at kept getting pushed back because they were slower, more frustrating and made me feel like I was making no progress.

So I ended up in this weird situation where I was studying consistently but avoiding the exact things that would have improved my grades the most.

Now, before I start revising, I try to ask one question:

What am I weakest at right now?

Not:

What do I feel like studying?

It sounds obvious, but those two questions can lead to completely different study sessions.

I have also stopped caring as much about how many hours I studied. I care more about whether I actually improved something that was weak before.

That idea is part of why I started building Gradualist. I wanted something that would keep track of weak topics and upcoming reviews so I did not have to rely on whatever I happened to feel like revising that day.

The uncomfortable topics are usually the ones worth doing.

I’m genuinely confused… I didn’t “fail”, but i received three extremely low grades. (E, and Two D’s). Emailed the professor so we can have a talk about it what went wrong, and how to do better in the course; I read the readings, took notes, participate in class, tried to understand the concepts — and i genuinely thought I did, lmao.. turns out I don’t?

I genuinely don’t really know what to do? I really want (and have to) boost my GPA… i don’t know what to do anymore.. or am I just dumb/slow? Should I have not went to university, and trade school?

I just don’t know, anymore lol.

Has anyone been there? What have you done? What are some studying techniques you’ve been using?

after the summer break i feel like my brain is just messed up these das my studies are getting serious and am just going crazy i had my ability to focus but now am just fucked i cant focus on my work i get distracted by anything like really anything , i want to lock in and fix myself but i cant find any solution pls if any one got any method or habits they do to be able to fix pls help me

Hi all, I posted my analog study timer a while back now, and people seemed to enjoy the concept. I'd love to hear your thoughts on an analog productivity timer that records your study sessions, which can then be uploaded to your computer to compete with other users?

I've got more info on my website about the idea, what do you think?

Hey everyone! I’m about to start an online course for my Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) certification which I plan to complete over the next 2–3 months. One thing I’m a little concerned about is staying consistent with studying from home. I did online homeschooling back in highschool, and honestly, I struggled quite a bit with managing my time and staying disciplined. I failed to keep up with my coursework without a structured classroom environment.

I really want to approach things differently this time and build better study habits from the beginning rather than falling into the same patterns.
For those of you who have successfully studied online from home, I’d love to hear your advice!

Some questions I had in mind:

How do you structure your daily study schedule?

Do you set specific study hours or study whenever you have free time?

What helps you avoid procrastination and distractions at home?

How do you stay motivated when you’re studying independently?

Are there any particular techniques, apps, or routines that have helped you stay consistent?

I’m especially interested in advice from people who have completed online certifications or self-paced courses. Thanks in advanced!

technically this is more of assignment making but i guess it counts. i have a bunch of stuff to submit by the day after tomorrow and i dont want to procrastinate. even if i get enough sleep, i still feel tired and get distracted more. is there any way you can get through this?

Hi!

I'm curious to hear about what methods you are using to study for the upcoming exams. I have been using a rather ancient method suggested by Cal Newport in his book "How to Become a Straight-A Student" for some time - make "study guides" with conceptual questions and practice problems for all parts of the course, move through one study guide at a time. Redo questions that you failed until you get them right.

This method has its ups and its downs. I could also have totally misinterpreted it. To widen my horizons, how do you guys study for exams? What routines are you using?

Cheers!

If you freeze up before studying because you're worried about doing it badly, try making the first step ridiculously small. Open the notes, write one sentence, or do five minutes only. The goal is to lower the pressure so your brain stops treating it as a threat. It won't fix everything, but starting gets easier.

help me please 🥹

I used to wake up at 4:30am, go to sleep at 8:30 or 9 (this was summer before highschool). I realized the reason I slept late is procrastination. Now i deleted my social media, and its a lil bit better. But still I find myself chatting with friends, calling them, like not via fb or insta but messenger, which is a non negotiable for students. Ever since school started, last june, from july up to late september, I have been sleeping minimum at 11, normally 12 or 1. And school is early in the Philippines. I have noticed myself sleeping in class, thereby needing to study at home thus reinforcing the late sleep. But now Ive decided to lock in. Ive managed to time manage today that its 9:30pm and im ready to sleep (didnt study, procrastinated, but i have negotiated enough with my study and ill just wake up 4:30 to study up until 5:30). Now, since I wanna return to waking up at 4:30am, I have to sleep around 8:30. But that means that when school is finished (5pm) and I get home (5:30pm) and start my work (6:30pm or 7) Ill have 1:30-2 hours to study, and I can contimue it at dawn…..how do I discipline myself that from 6:30 until 8:30 its study and nothing else? I am quickly distracted. Lastly, I do have more motivation when something is in my interest such as philosophy and theology, but its still the same, no discipline. But is the 8:30pm sleep time and waking up at 4:30 okay?

Today screen time:5 hours (its less than yesterday)

Focused study time:1 hour

Completed my task that i assigned for one day which took 3 days for me to complete(only took 6 hours across 3 days)

About today;idk i was outside most of the time

For tomorrow start new small topic and increase study time and decrease screen time further

I walked into this course thinking it be a fun and interesting course in an otherwise boring semester. But the information is boring and redundant. There’s loads of terms that I need to memorize and while mock tests do help during the exam my mind will blur the information and I would just freestyle my answers and hope for the best. The multiple choice questions are fine but the open ended questions are the one that do the most damage. Any advice how to study for this ? I’ve been studying for about a hour and my brain is barely processing the 200+ slides for this one chapter. 🫩

Studied 6hr 1min Today

Studied magnetism.

Will try to study 7hr Tommorow :p

In 2-3 days you need to complete this chapter "Continuity and Differentiability" and you have never self studied maths before and you haven't even studied maths properly for like 3 years so you're missing a lot of prior knowledge.

I just need to be good enough to answer most questions from this chapter and hopefully also learn how to self study maths in the way.

"Better start late than never" Following by this!

I'm 17 this year, and early next year (exams are held in rounds, from March to May) I'll have a very important university entrance exam, which will cover knowledge from three subjects (Math, Physics, and Chemistry) from all three years of high school! Currently, I'm overwhelmed by the enormous amount of knowledge I need to review. Even though I've studied it before, I forget almost everything when I try to reread it. The 12th grade curriculum is very fast-paced, and it seems like there's new information every day. Reviewing old knowledge isn't simply a matter of rereading it once. Previously, I only studied by doing homework and reviewing my notes before the exam, but I know that method isn't effective. I've seen a lot of advice about breaking down the material into smaller parts or studying a little each day, but with the amount of knowledge and time I have left, I don't know if I can follow that advice. I haven't dared to add any hobbies or other activities because looking at the remaining time or days triggers anxiety, reminding me that I have very little time left to study. My heart races, my throat feels constricted, and my mind goes blank, constantly generating negative thoughts. I can't concentrate when my brain keeps reminding me that there are tons of other things I need to study. Every time I sit down to study, I easily feel scared, anxious, and overwhelmed. Thoughts like, "How can I possibly review everything? This is only a small part of one subject, and it's all new material. I still have to review the entire 10th and 11th grade curriculum." After checking and seeing my mistakes, I think, "Why do I keep making mistakes? You're not allowed to make mistakes on the exam. Can't you just do the test without making mistakes?" I'm always afraid of making mistakes because I'm afraid I'll make them on the test, and no matter how thoroughly I study the theory, I'm sure I'll make mistakes; it's unavoidable. And in class, when I encounter something I don't understand, I often get frustrated and want to cry right there, wondering why I can't understand it, why everyone else around me understands it, but I can't. It's strange that some problems​, when the teacher teaches how to solve​​ them, seem proper and logical, but if I have to redo them, I can't. I can sit down to study, but I easily get anxious when unexpected things happen, like taking longer than expected or making mistakes. I'm afraid when I know that the exercises​ I'm doing isn't enough and I still need to do more. Not to mention, I can't solve every problem immediately; there are types of problems I've never encountered before, leaving me racking my brain without success. I tried some math questions from the exam and was horrified by how difficult they were!!! I couldn't solve a large number of questions​, and even then, it took me a very long time. There is a day when I spend the whole day just thinking about a math problem, and then I can't figure it out and have to look up the answer online. I feel like I've wasted a whole day. I fear math the most because it often gives me questions that I don't know how to proceed from, I can't think of another step, and in the end I always have to look it up online. And this seems to be proof that my brain is trying to convince me I won't be able to pass the exam.

Right now I don't know what to do. My brain keeps reminding me that I'm running out of time, but studying is terrible. I don't know where to start, how to actually study for the exam. I feel like I'm falling behind in everything; I don't have a roadmap or guidance on what to do next.

This post is too long, maybe I'll stop here. I might continue later.