Tips for increasing your Productivity while Studying

First of all try to get a separate room for studying. This room should be such that you can study there for 1-2 hours without any disturbance. Put a study-table in a corner of room where lots of natural light comes in. Natural light refreshes us and helps in resetting our built in clock. Paste a notice board in the room preferably in front of your table. Use this notice board for any important reminders, deadlines etc. No need to make it fancy. Those of you who can't get a separate room try to get something similar. You can use a table lamp if you like.

Always have a study plan in mind before you sit down to study. How much course work will you cover in this sitting? When will you take a break? How many hours will you study? etc. Answer these questions before you sit down to study. Remember it's easy to achieve your goal when you have a clear picture of your goal and the path in your mind. Make a general study plan for 1-2 months. Write it on the notice board. Try to complete the work according to your study plan. Set up deadlines for particular tasks like completing a chapter, doing next set of your correspondence course etc. Write them on a piece of paper and pin it up on your notice board. Respect your deadlines! Try to complete your work before the deadline. Whenever you complete a task remove it from the notice board. That will give a sense of satisfaction!

Take breaks while you study. Don't study continuously for 3-4 hours. Studying continuously lowers your concentration and productivity. So after 2-3 hours of continuous study you will be taking one hour for 15 minute work! Instead study for 1-2 hours (depending upon difficulty of work) and then take a five-minute break. In this break try to relax. Don't go and watch T.V. during the break (or don't do some other similar activity) because if your favorite show in on T.V. chances are that your 5-minute break will extend to 2 hours. Instead do some light breathing exercises, stretching etc. during the break. The easiest breathing exercise is - Close your eyes, take 10-15 deep, slow and rhythmic breaths.

If at any time you find yourself stuck at a question for more than 20-30 minutes and you are getting no new ideas for solving that problem then leave it instead of spending another hour on that problem. Write the problem on a piece of paper and pin it up on the notice board. Think about that problem when you are free like sitting in your school bus, free periods in your school/college etc. Explore all the ways you can think of to solve the problem (e.g. in mechanics change of frame of reference, rotation of F.O.R., some special trick, energy method etc) before asking for help. Ask for help only when you have thought about the solution to the problem for 3-4 days