Focus is the most difficult part of being a student or taking care of any other obligation for that matter. It has a direct influence on all skills in life.
Online schools, such as EduWW have fewer distractions for students than regular schools.
For example, sitting in a classroom with 30+ other students makes it impossible for you to stay focused during the entire class, which lasts 45 minutes. Also, spending six or more hours in school can be overwhelming.
At EduWW online school, you create your own schedule, which means that you choose when you study and for how long.
Also, the program is segmented, and you follow learning materials from the platform, which is interactive and enriched with multimedia content.
With a timetable that you can customize based on your own needs, you can learn more efficiently in a shorter time.
But, here is the catch.
The amount of free time that you have with online school can easily sidetrack you.
You can start procrastinating – which means delaying doing something important, like studying.
Also, because of the nature of the virtual school, you are on the internet. That means you are just a couple of clicks away from Facebook or YouTube or any other platform that can distract you from learning.
Which is why there is a need to develop a mindset that will remove your inhibitions, help you focus better at school and improve your studying efforts.
Why is focus important?
Many people believe “focusing in school” means listening better during the class. However, that depends on many factors that are outside of one’s control.
Some teachers may have trouble presenting the lecture in a way to keep students engaged, or a student simply isn’t that interested in that subject.
Our online school EduWW does not have these issues, however children in any school can have their own problems with focus and concentration.
Being focused does not only mean you will study more efficiently and listen better during class.
A focused mindset is aware of many problems that appear outside of the classroom and sometimes outside of school entirely.
Focus on school also means recognizing all the obstacles that prevent you from being an efficient student and removing them from your life.
Hence, it is important to improve your discipline and organization in all aspects of your life.
So, if you are a parent that wants to help their child or a student who wants to improve their own grades, this guide is for you.
Here are some helpful tips on how to remove all distractions so you can learn more efficiently and faster.
Tips on How to Focus Better in School
These tips will improve your overall performance as a student.
That will also induce your concentration during lessons as the better you perform as a student outside of the classroom, the better you will perform in it.
Satisfy Physiological Needs
Don’t start learning on an empty stomach. Make sure that you eat before you log in to the platform.
The food gives you energy, which is one of the reasons why you shouldn’t study if you are hungry.
If you start to learn on an empty stomach in about half an hour, you’ll be so hungry that you won’t be able to focus.
So, you’ll have to stop learning and go to eat. In other words, you’ll deviate from your own timetable.
Also, make sure that you go to the bathroom before you start studying.
By no means do we think that you are not allowed to take a bathroom break during studying, because you are.
However, it would be way better if you take care of all your physiological needs before you start your online schooling for that day.
Create a Dedicated Study Space
Choosing a place to study is of crucial importance. It must be a place where you feel most comfortable.
In most cases, it will be your working desk in your room.
Here’s a tip, try keeping your desk clean. What do we mean by that?
Well, remove everything that you don’t need at the moment from the desk. You can have a notebook and a pen, in case you want to take notes, and a glass of water or a cup of tea.
Everything else can be a distraction.
Having a designated study environment at home that is clean and organized can help you improve concentration while studying.
It is also important to keep the space minimalistic so that it doesn’t distract you.
Personalize that space in the way it suits you the most.
Take smaller steps at a time
Studying for hours by trying to grasp 5 lectures a day sometimes may be as bad as not studying at all. The efficiency of solving problems in all aspects of life hides in taking care of them in smaller amounts at a time.
Let’s say you study for an exam that will cover 50 textbook pages that are divided into 3 lectures.
Instead of studying all of them in one day, and repeating it the next day, it is always better to divide the material into smaller parts. Determine your own way of dividing the materials.
Sometimes it can be sub-lectures or even pages. The goal is to divide it in a way that makes sense to you, and to make it small enough for it to be an easy task.
Next, allocate these divisions to each day. Make a schedule of what you are going to study each day in a week.
Do that all over again for all the other subjects you need to study.
Make sure you study multiple subjects per day, but in smaller amounts. That way, you can keep the consistency while not being discouraged by the amount of work that needs to be done.
Students at our school do not have textbooks and use online platform materials instead.
Even though these materials help students study more efficiently than textbooks, anyone can fall into this trap.
Minimize Distractions
Mobile phones, laptops or desktop computers are the most common distractions. Make sure these devices are not near your studying space while you are studying.
Studying without distractions helps you prevent yourself from breaking the consistency you have set by following the previous tip.
Your smartphone is one of the biggest distractions you can have while studying. Make sure to turn it off or turn it to silent.
It would be even better if you can turn off the phone and leave it in the other room.
Because you’ll feel the urge to check that notification on Facebook or Instagram, and the next thing you know, you lost 45 minutes scrolling through your social media.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube are a distraction for everyone, not just students.
It’s hard to resist them, yet they are time-consuming.
But, if you have set your mind to learn for the next two hours, it would be best that you remove all distractions. Turn off your phone or leave it in another room.
Now when we have removed your smartphone as a distraction, here is one that we might not be able to physically remove. It’s your computer and internet access.
You need these to access our online learning platform. But, if you are already on the internet, what keeps you from sneaking a peek on Facebook?
Yes, we know it’s tempting. But don’t do it.
Otherwise, you will spend hours in front of the computer, supposedly studying when in fact you’ll learn nothing. You just wasted your time, and you will eventually have to make it up.
What we are saying is, try to refrain from browsing the internet or checking your social media while you are on our platform.
In case you can’t do it, you can always search some browser extensions that block yours from accessing certain websites in the time that you set.
But, we believe that you are strong-willed enough and that you’ll be able to focus on your studying even without block add-ons.
Even if you attend a traditional school and do not always use laptop for studying, many students will use their desk to study. And desks usually have laptops on them.
So in this case, the best thing you can do is basically the same.
Or if you do not need the laptop to study at all, it might be best to completely turn it off.
Take Regular Breaks
Depending on your learning styles or study techniques, the duration of each break may vary. However, it is always advisable to study no longer than 50 minutes without breaks. This is a point in which your concentration drops significantly.
The purpose of breaks is to reset your concentration and refresh your mind. They can also pose as a reward after a job well done.
Use learning techniques
Learning techniques represent following systems that make your studying more efficient.
The most popular one is the Pomodoro technique, but you can choose which one fits you the most.
Practicing some studying skills can also help you achieve better results.
Foster a Healthy Lifestyle
Health is the greatest wealth. Healthy lifestyle helps in developing good studying habits. The healthier you are, the better your organism functions, which influences your focus and concentration.
A balanced diet, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep are fundamental to cognitive function and concentration.
Make studying more fun with tools and videos
Studying can sometimes be made less boring.
YouTube videos, or even the materials on your school’s online platform if it has one, are much more efficient ways of studying than reading and repeating lectures from textbooks.
Quizzes and other gamified materials are also great, as they urge you to complete practical tasks which helps you learn better.
Conclusion
Helping students and teenagers focus in school boils down to taking smaller steps at the time, and improving their discipline that will help them fight bad habits of procrastination.
Remember, each student is unique, so it may take time to discover which strategies work best for them.
If you are a student, then your most important assets are patience and discipline.
If you are a parent, encouragement and a positive attitude towards your child’s efforts are much needed support as the path your child takes is no easy task.
Staying focused in today’s day and age full of distractions seems like the skill of a superhero.
But, with these tips, we are sure you can master the art of focusing on your learning material.
After all, it’s all up to you – develop learning habits, make a timetable, create the perfect environment, remove distractions – and study.
With EduWW, you can learn smarter, not harder, to get high-quality knowledge.
Feel free to try out these tips and let us know which one worked the best for you.
