Education

How to improve your concentration during exam times

Facing an exam is something that most people have had to go through in their lives. The exams are present in our lives: the driver’s license test, our first college exams, the final exams of the university career or the exam for that opposition that we have been preparing for a long time. Whatever the type of exam, they all have a common denominator: you have to study.

Achieve maximum concentration to study

In order to achieve our objectives and desires, we are being evaluated through these tests that are necessary to carry out the necessary filters to access any activity that is usually motivating for us. To the extent that the motivation to achieve the objective is higher, the greater will be our attitude towards the exam and therefore our willpower to face the study.

Once the initial minimum motivation is achieved, the next step is to achieve maximum concentration to study in the most efficient way possible those extensive syllabi that we have to read and memorize in some cases.

Study planning

It is important to do some kind of planning of any work that we have to carry out. In the case of the study, it is important to clarify the key dates that we are going to handle so that we organize the study in a structured way. For example, divide the study by blocks depending on what we have and mark a date on the calendar in which we have to have a certain study block read, reviewed or learned. For this we can use a calendar to make it more visual or, if you have the ability, do it mentally but planning must exist.

In this sense, it is also necessary to plan the schedules available for study and those that we are going to use to accustom our brain to the fact that it is time to study. It is also important that we set ourselves challenges that are easily achievable in the beginning to keep our motivation on the warpath and not end up frustrated with unattainable demands.

Within the planning process you could also include the application of some additional study techniques that optimize our performance: learning to summarize, underline, review the topics, carry out self-evaluations, etc.

Set schedules

Our concentration is limited and we are not able to attend to the same stimulus for too long. You must find the best time to study. It is said that our brain reaches its highest degree of cognitive performance around 6 hours after waking up and from there it begins to decline. Obviously, this optimal point is difficult to reconcile with our rhythm of life, so you must do a personal self-knowledge to know when to take advantage of this condition of our brain.

That is, if you have availability in the morning to study, the ideal would be to get up early, do some previous activity to activate the brain and start studying. If you are one of those who prefers to study in the afternoons or evenings, you should also take into account that decline in brain cognition capacity and know that if you have had a very hard and complicated day that has demanded a lot from you mentally, it is difficult for you to give up. evening. Better to rest.

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Good nutrition and supplementation

Everything that happens in our body and mind comes from some chemical process that produces energy to activate us . We need a power source, such as computers, and the brain is the organ that consumes the most energy in our body, therefore we must maintain a correct diet and diet, stay well hydrated and in some cases in which we need to improve these conditions perhaps opt for a supplement that helps us get those nutrients that our brain is demanding of us.

The vitamins to study can be a well – used resource that can provide us with the vitality necessary to increase our concentration to prepare this important university exam or opposition. Iqual Concentración is a good example of this type of nutritional supplements due to its experience in this field and to be one of the reference companies in terms of sustainability and the use of natural ingredients free of additives, focusing its products on the well-being and health of its consumers.

Rest and leisure: the invisible study

What happens to a computer when it has been running for too long and running at high performance? Your RAM memory is at its limit and it starts to slow down, heat up, and ultimately stops being as efficient as before. The solution? Restart it and let it sit for a bit. Well, our brain, although it is not a digital machine, is biological and needs time to rest and sleep. During these periods we could say that the invisible study takes place .

During those moments of rest and sleep is when more is used to consolidate what has been learned in long-term memory, as long as this does not happen, the information we receive is more difficult to consolidate. And how important it is to consolidate information for a student! At least until after the exam. Curiously, the information that is lost immediately when we pass the exam is due to the fact that it is not well consolidated and we keep it active in our procedural memory for the exam. You finish and see you later. This has a high cost of energy and in the end it is not efficient.

Ideally, if there is time, is to dedicate a break to the brain so that it consolidates, even the day before an exam it is convenient not to dedicate it to study but to rest so that it processes the information well. Don’t worry, if you knew it, you won’t forget because you don’t review it on the last day.

Sport and study

Therefore, during the study period it is essential to maintain that balance between study, rest and leisure activities such as socializing with friends or doing some sports. Sport is a great tool for students as it naturally releases the neurotransmitter endorphin which works as a natural pain reliever to help people better cope with pain and suffering, and how much suffering there is in a student!

Conclusion

Therefore, to achieve maximum concentration and reach that particular flow state, it is necessary to: plan, set real goals, set schedules, rest, have a good diet and food and, if necessary, put yourself in the hands of a psychologist or professional and educational counselor. to help you better understand the study process. Cheer up for your study!

Iván Pico

Director y creador de Psicopico.com. Psicólogo Colegiado G-5480 entre otras cosas. Diplomado en Ciencias Empresariales y Máster en Orientación Profesional. Máster en Psicología del Trabajo y Organizaciones. Posgrado en Psicología del Deporte entre otras cosas. Visita la sección "Sobre mí" para saber más. ¿Quieres una consulta personalizada? ¡Escríbeme!