Managing Your Study Environment

Managing your study environment is just as important as managing your study time.

Successful students seek out a comfortable place, well supplied with study supports and free of distractions, to do their studying. They make a routine of studying at this one place. They do not invite their friends to join them (except in study groups before exams, and then they meet somewhere else); studying and socializing don't mix. In short, they find a place (not their room in the residence hall) where they can keep their attention focused on their work.

Research tells us that the place most likely to meet all of these conditions is the library. What specifically does the library give you that you need to study effectively?

• Quiet: Some students tell themselves that they concentrate well with the stereo going, the TV on, or with conversations or games taking place in the background. Research contradicts this claim. The overwhelming majority of students study best in complete quiet.
• A Good Physical Setting: In order to stay with the books for an extended period, you must be comfortable, but not too comfortable. In the library, you will find chairs that are easy to sit on but that keep you upright facing your work. You will find lighting that illuminates your books and notes without glare. You will find a work surface (either at a study carrel or at a table) that is uncluttered and spacious enough to spread out on. And you will find the support of easily accessible reference librarians and books when you are doing research.

Whether or not you decide to study in the library, make sure your study environment has all the advantages the library does. And when you use it, be sure you:

1. Use it regularly. Patterns in our lives reinforce themselves. If you study regularly at certain times in certain places, then you will be psychologically ready for study when you go to those places. Let the habit help you.
2. Combat internal distractions. Catch yourself daydreaming and put a stop to it. Catch yourself fidgeting (getting the paper lined up just right, opening and closing your notebook, rearranging your notes), and put a stop to it. Catch yourself planning activities for when you've finished studying, and return to the here-and-now. Continually reinforce yourself to study when it's time to study and you'll be finished sooner.
3. Avoid the temptation to share. When you've discovered how well this study environment works for you, don't let your roommates or best friends in on it and drag them along, unless they will have their own private study areas, too. Unless you are forming a real study group, study must be a private affair. As it becomes more social, it stops being studying at all.
4. Have a plan. Set realistic goals for each study session, and be sure you have all the materials at hand (books, paper, pen and pencil, notes, etc.) to reach those goals. Do only what you have planned to do; don't betray the mind you have coaxed into studying by pushing it beyond agreed upon limits -- it may betray you next time. Stay with your study until you have met your goals, breathe a sigh of satisfaction, and take off for some fun.