Studying Tips: Focus on Focusing

By WR!TERS@WORK

How often are you distracted by the buzzing from your smartphone? Karen’s latest Instagram story is up and she’s gone to some far flung tropical island on yet another vacation, again. You wonder if your best best friend Charmaine knows about this? Just as you are about to text her, a notification promptly informs that your favourite Twitch streamer is LIVE. The FOMO hits hard and you’ve hardly gotten anything done. Don’t freak out just yet, because WRITERS AT WORK is here to shed some insight as well as practical tips and tricks on how to anchor your attention towards acing those English examinations!

In our age of algorithmically-driven social connections, it is hardly the fault of anyone who finds it difficult to remain focused. What was it that you wanted to tell Charmaine again? We succumb to distractions when we are simply not mentally engaged with the tasks we are, well, tasked with. Our primal monkey brains crave constant stimulation. We’re prone to distractions when work gets too difficult and thus find ourselves at a roadblock. The dopamine hit of instant gratification from unlocking an S-Tier mobile game character is an easy pick over the trying tedium of slogging through past examination papers.

To help you stay focused during your study or revision sessions, WRITERS AT WORK offers intensive AND engaging English tuition classes for both primary and secondary schools to help strengthen your language ability while developing critical thinking skills vital for excelling in your examinations. You should absolutely look up Miss Jemmies on her TikTok live streams when she conducts her English tuition classes. Now, THAT is a welcomed distraction! WRITERS AT WORK has compiled five effective techniques to aid students in their studies. In this blog, we’ll share these strategies, so don’t say, “bo jio,” in your exams (because that technically is not a proper English term.)

1. Hang Up

Turn off all phone notifications and set it to silent mode. Even better yet, put that mobile device way out of reach until you’ve achieved your personal study goals. While obvious, this is probably the most effective way to help reduce distractions. Social media thrives on your contributions towards the attention economy, so steer clear of that (for now)! Placing your phone in another room, burying it under the kitty litter or mistakenly mailing it to Alaska prevents you from fiddling with digital distractions. As they say, “out of sight, out of mind.”

2. Mari Kondo Your Space

An ideal workplace should be clean, organised, simple and free from distractions. Working in a disorganised, messy environment can add to an uncomfortable sense of cabin fever. Not only that, you may find yourself caught in a dramatic search and rescue operation trying to find those vital notes you might have misplaced. Clear away any clutter from your desk, arrange academic resources in an accessible manner and make Mari Kondo proud by discarding anything that doesn’t spark joy, except for your school assignments of course – since those actually do count towards your grades.

3. Good Vibes Only

Discern the difference between what are ‘welcome’ and ‘unwelcome’ distractions. It may sound counterintuitive not to eliminate ALL distractions, but training yourself to filter out unnecessary noise and keep good vibes may add balance and harmony in your life . Welcome distractions might include Mom peering through the door for the third time this evening asking if you want those fruits she bought earlier, or Mr. Kibbles the family’s Persian blue feline snuggling under your arm seeking affection. Isn’t he adorable? These little precious moments of life and short study breaks can add value and revitalise our focus. Embracing them is like parking briefly at the pitstop and topping up your fuel tank for the long road trip of your scholastic journey. On the other hand, unwelcome distractions could be the piercing noise of construction work outside, TikTok notifications, or scam calls trying to emotionally guilt trip you into divulging sensitive personal data. Dispense of these distractions and divert that time and energy on more meaningful matters.

4. Gamification

If work becomes too much of a grind, try motivating yourself by gamifying the process of studying and celebrate steps of progress made with small rewards. Just like most modern mobile games, players can find incentives for completing certain tasks. The greater the risks, the better the rewards, allowing players to unlock achievements in acts of derring-do. That sense of satisfaction is what makes gaming so enjoyable for many, and you can apply that strategy to studying as well. Seemingly overwhelming tasks can be broken down into smaller sections or levels of a game, like dungeon-crawling. Then remember to reward yourself with something of a welcome distraction, like a candy treat or a few minutes of fail-videos on Reddit. Use that burst of motivation to push forward into the next challenge, never losing sight of your end goal – one that you set within achievable, realistic means, of course.

5. Schedule Optimisation

Having a study plan or timetable outside of school hours may provide you better structure and optimise the extra time you may not know what to do with, for example, on weekends. Whether you prefer something classy like a Moleskine planner or classic like Grandma’s paper lunar calendar (tearing those pages can be so satisfying), have a plan that you can put into timely action. Having too much time at our hands and not knowing what to do with them usually ends with us reaching for low-hanging fruits like brain rotting content online that offer little intrinsic value to our lives. Like in gamification, the point is to ensure that you develop a task list of smaller, achievable goals each day to work towards a larger weekly goal, and in order to do so, you will need to schedule your time wisely.

Distractions are an unavoidable part of life and trying to eliminate them completely isn’t the most feasible solution. Studying will always be a taxing cerebral affair, therefore pacing ourselves, maintaining focus and finding motivation are key to success. WRITERS AT WORK tuition classes offer that conducive learning environment that you may be looking for when tackling English PSLE and O Level examinations. Find your focus with us and join our teachers in your next study session, try using some of these tips to improve your focus and get some productive work done!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

1. Is Creative Writing Good for Kids?

Creative writing is good for children as it teaches them how to use their imagination. Children have a vivid imagination and will enjoy coming up with different storylines and characters. Through the use of creative writing, children can express themselves using the English language, which is also good for their emotional development and maturity.

2. How to Begin a Story?

A good story should have just the right amount of exposition to illuminate the setting and the characters for the reader without giving away the entire plot. The story should begin where it is relevant, and the general gist of the situation should be outlined. The writer should know how to move the plot along from where they start easily, and the story should flow logically.

3. What is an Enrichment Class in English?

An enrichment class allows your child to not only learn the basics of the mechanics of English such as good grammar and sentence structure, but it also teaches your child to appreciate the nuances of the English language. Students in an English enrichment class will learn skills like inference and critical reading – these skills are highly important even when students graduate out of school and go into higher education or the working world, as it will teach them to process and filter information to determine what is being said and evaluate the veracity of the information.

4. How Does My Child Benefit From Writing Classes?

Writing classes build systematic thinking and logic in children. Crafting a story plot is the same as thinking, step by step, what events chronologically happen in the context of a given scenario. Students will be able to express their ideas and thought processes in a coherent and concise manner, which will help them in their other subjects as they will be able to formulate sentences to better understand the material. English proficiency is a highly transferable skill.