As the year wraps up and we begin to approach the turbulence of exam season, we may find ourselves beginning to lose stamina. The feeling that we’re so close to the end, and yet so very far, is an easily discouraging feeling.
Being that I’ve been in school for … virtually my entire life, I’ve tried many a ways to work through, what I would often see as, the burden of studying—including trying out different study techniques like the pomodoro method, the SQ3R technique, running through daily math drills, color coding until every letter in my notebook is swathed in a pastel color that I forgot the meaning of—and while these methods generally did work when it came to doing the work, they never made the task of starting any easier. And in the past couple of years, I’ve come to realize that it’s because they didn’t address the root of my issue: studying felt like an unenjoyable, unmanageable, and extremely daunting task. While I absolutely loved learning, when it came to school, studying felt more like a chore instead of something that I had the privilege to do.
Once I understood this, I knew that I had to do some work in deconstructing this mindset–that I had to take this intimidating task and paint it in my favorite colors, decorate it in stickers, and mail it to myself like a present. And I found that by fostering a positive environment for me to learn and review, the struggle became much more manageable; maybe even enjoyable. I think the best way to detail the process of creating a positive study environment is to focus on the five basic human senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. That is, what can we surround ourselves with to paint this task in a positive light?
Sight:
The first thing that comes to mind is exactly that: light. Some online sources state that cool-toned lighting is best for assisting in one’s ability to remain alert and focused [1, 2], and after consulting a few other students I know, a couple of them agreed. These students said that bright, white lights allowed them to keep awake, and so they found themselves much more productive. However, for me personally, I find myself avoiding this kind of lighting—simply because they remind me of sitting in an exam room or in a clinic’s waiting room—and instead, I lean more towards warmly lit rooms. I find that the soft, orange hues help me feel at ease, which is something I value when I’m caught in stressful times.
Something I found interesting was that those who preferred cool lighting shared the same thoughts as I did, but they preferred the feeling of the exam room—that it contributed to their ability to study effectively, and that the warmth of the orange lighting made them too relaxed to be able to focus. Hence, it’s really a user trial-and-error task; next time you find yourself so lost in your books that you forget to keep track of the time, take note of how the room is lit. If you find that the cool tones help you absolutely own that study session, you’re lucky to find that a lot of public study spaces (like a public library) house those brighter, white lights. However, if you’re like me and you prefer warmer light, most cafes that I’ve been to have those soft, yellow-orange hues. Additionally, it isn’t a bad idea to invest in a few candles or some string lights to emulate the feeling of warmth in your study space.
Another thing that falls under this category is not only organizing your study space but decorating it too. This includes budgeting some time to organize my desk in a way that looks aesthetically pleasing to me, sorting my digital notes into folders, creating an agenda that I enjoyed looking at, pasting positive messages in said agenda, color coding with pens and highlighters of colors that I really loved, typing in a fun font while writing up an essay (before, of course, changing it to the required font), and even leaving encouraging notes in the margins of my textbook. While a little silly, these little things could put a fun little twist on studying for you! And for me, I found that over time these silly things became essential to the process of constructing a positive learning environment for myself.
Hearing
The next big thing you should take into consideration while studying is what level of noise allows you to remain relaxed and, at the same time, focused. It could depend on your task, like for me, when doing textbook readings or flashcards, little to no noise is essential to remaining focused–in such a case, something you might find it helpful to put on background noise like rain or ocean sounds to mark off when you should be focused (noise on) and when it’s time to take a break (noise off).
If you’re the type who can listen to music while studying, while there are plenty of study playlists online that can service you, creating your own study playlist can be a fun little task to give yourself during those stressful times. Something that I enjoy doing is refreshing my study playlists each semester—and along with that, creating different playlists depending on my mood. I ask myself, how do I feel when I study for XYZ? Maybe it’s frustration because I keep forgetting the little things. Or maybe it’s boredom because this is my least favorite topic in this course. Or maybe it’s just built up tension from struggling through a concept that doesn’t exactly click right away.
Then I ask myself, what type of music do I have in my arsenal to turn that feeling into a positive thing? Do I need some intense classical music to feel like a scientist about to make an insane discovery? Do I need some smooth jazz to relax as I comb through something that I’m not fully interested in? Do I need to listen to my favorite movie score to accompany me through a particularly difficult topic?
Be attentive to how different sounds and music affect your mood, and work to frame your study environment around that.
Smell
I always find that having a noticeable and pleasant scent around to engage my sense of smell makes me feel more grounded. Whether it’s the sweet aroma of a vanilla candle, the calming notes of peppermint steaming from my humidifier, or even just the smell of coffee in the air of a cafe—I’ve found that it always makes my study sessions more enjoyable. Allow yourself to explore what scents make you feel relaxed, happy, and focused; really dig into what releases those good emotions for yourself—they really do make a candle for everything—and you might find yourself looking forward to your next study session.
Touch
As school began to increase in intensity, I’d found that there was great merit in investing in a good fidget toy. Something as simple as having a stress ball lying around has helped ease the tension of intense study sessions multiple times. As with using your sense of smell to ground yourself during long stretches of studying, having something physical to play with or squeeze can allow you to reel yourself back whenever things begin to get frustrating, but you aren’t yet ready to go on a break. It can be tough to strain yourself through a mental grind, but having different textures or objects around your study area can really assist in keeping you grounded.
Taste
By far my favorite to play around with is taste. Having a drink nearby to sip while reading through the lengthy pages of a textbook or working through hours of math questions has been my personal saving grace. Keeping a little drink or your favorite snack nearby during stressful study sessions can serve as a mini rewards system—for every couple minutes of work, you get a little treat! Hard work deserves acknowledgement, and your time and effort is extremely valuable regardless of the volume of work you finish; so, when the study timer is getting up there in hours, allow yourself the pleasure of a cup of tea to accompany you to the finish line.
And, lastly, it’s important to be patient and gentle with yourself. It’s easy to let the arduous task of studying ruin even your most favorite subjects—but by allowing yourself some grace, you can work towards constructing a healthy and positive study environment to help you through this exam season. You got this!
Sources
[1] E. Herrera, “The Psychology of Light: How Different Lighting Impacts Our Emotions | VONN Lighting,” www.vonn.com, Nov. 06, 2023. https://www.vonn.com/blogs/articles/the-psychology-of-light-how-different-lighting-impacts-our-emotions
[2] “Warm lighting vs Cool lighting - What is Better for You?,” Wiprolighting.com, 2021. https://www.wiprolighting.com/blog/warm-lighting-vs-cool-lighting-what-is-better-for-you
