It’s 1 a.m. I am studying for a test that I have the next day. Although I have been studying for the past three hours, the need to continuously go over the same content overtakes the need for sleep.
This late-night study habit projects the common idea that students feel they must study the hardest to get an A on their next test. However, there is a fine line between healthy studying and over-studying.
According to The Collegian, the effects of overstudying include a lack of concentration, causing students to make “stupid mistakes.” Recognizing symptoms of overstudying, such as feeling tired or upset, is important in deciding when to stop and go to sleep. As a result of these emotions and reinforced lousy studying techniques, it is incredibly likely that test scores won’t improve, likely dropping instead.
Overstudying prevents effective studying.
Research from Debut shows that studying for long periods of time can prevent productive retention of information. Preserving information comes with time, thus highlighting the importance of studying over a period of days to ensure that one’s brain is efficiently registering the information presented to them.
Although plenty of study techniques exist to establish efficiency when studying, such as the Pomodoro Technique and the SQ3R method, many students still resort back to over studying until 3 a.m.
Breaks are essential to ensuring that students have the chance to retain information after a long period of reviewing. Without study breaks, productivity and the ability to fully process information is limited.
Complex concepts may not be digested in just five minutes. Often, students’ brains need time to process the information.
According to a survey conducted by The Standard from April 26-29, only 46.5% of 133 High School student respondents indicated they consistently take breaks during studying.
Taking a break is a small but effective method that will ensure the restoration of a productive mindset.
The lack of study breaks among the High School supports the idea that ASL students are keen to not break up their time and may spend a long time on one specific task.
Excessive studying is counteractive. However, taking a break is a small but effective method that will ensure the restoration of a productive mindset. It doesn’t have to be a long break; five minutes will do just the job.
While some studying hacks are very ambitious in how they expect people to study, like expecting one piece of homework to be finished in just 30 mins, starting at a smaller scale can work just as well.
Breaking up studying time can be majorly effective in increasing productivity. Using breaks can help students stay more focused, give time to re-engage, and take a step back. Although this is a small-scale studying tip, it can significantly improve efficiency.
