How to maintain focus when studying for extended periods of time

How to get through those long study sessions when exams are just around the corner.

Who doesn’t know the feeling of starting a task, starting off well, and then either gradually running out of steam as time ticks on, or just completely hitting a wall at some point.

When your teen is studying or preparing for exams, they are going to be (or should be) spending a lot of time at their desk.

It is inevitable that they will struggle to stay focused 100% of the time. They are not a robot.

There is nothing wrong with needing to take breaks when you’re studying (particularly during intense exam study). In fact, your teen absolutely SHOULD take breaks, because this will help to keep them ‘fresh’ (more on this soon).

But also — because they have a lot to cover in a finite amount of time, they need to be able to smash out decent-sized study sessions without zoning out or hitting a wall every 5 minutes.

Nothing sucks motivation like struggling to maintain focus.

So, what can be done to help your teen stay focused while they are studying long enough to kick those study goals?!

Here are my top 4 tips for maintaining focus while studying for extended periods:

1. Study in chunks

The prospect of studying for one hour is a lot more palatable than the prospect of sitting at your desk for an entire day.

Of course — when your teen is studying for exams in particular, there are going to be many long days spent at their desk. Preparing for exams is a marathon not a sprint. But thinking too much about that long tunnel can be counterproductive. I suggest your teen only thinks about the hour of study right in front of them. They can study for an hour.

What your teen’s ideal ‘chunk’ length of study time is depends on them.

I have mentioned hour-long chunks as a guide. Your teen might be able to focus for three hours productively without a break, or, they might be more productive when they study for half an hour followed by a 5 minute break.

As always, the specifics of how they go about studying will be unique to them. Remember, it’s THEIR Study System that matters, not anyone else’s.

2. Set ONE goal for each chunk

Students often set themselves up to fail when they sit down to study without a goal.

Everyone needs a study plan. Not just in the big picture sense, but every time your teen sits down to study.

Your teen should be able to focus MUCH more easily and effectively if they have ONE thing to focus on and work towards during a chunk of study time.

Their goals for a chunk of study time might include things like:

• Drawing their own diagram or flow-chart of the process of cellular respiration

• Solving 20 maths problems of the same kind (as I have discussed previously, repetition is the key to success, particularly in maths)

• Making an Essay Plan for the book or film you are studying in English class (and during your next chunk of study time, you could write the first couple of paragraphs of the practice essay)

• Making some flash cards

• Completing a particular homework task for that night

• Reading the instructions for an assignment you were given in class

• During exam study, attempting a past exam to see where you’re at

Setting one goal to achieve during one ‘chunk’ of study time is all about setting an achievable task. It’s about having a clear objective.

Your teen’s exam study will ultimately be made up of hundreds of these chunks of study time. As a whole that can sound really overwhelming, but when you focus your mind on just ONE task for each chunk of study time, well that’s something that’s not overwhelming and actually achievable.

3. If you’re going nowhere — stop

I know this article is all about maintaining focus, so it might seem a bit weird that I’m telling your teen to stop studying when they’re not being productive.

But sometimes persevering through a study session when you’re progressing as quickly as a snail through hummus can really hurt your chances of achieving and maintaining focus later on.

Imagine your teen has been sitting at their desk for two hours, and all they have managed to achieve in that time is to write half a page of study notes. This would be incredibly demoralising. And once you become demoralised and frustrated, your chances of picking up focus again are pretty slim.

If your teen has been trying to study for say, 15 minutes, but hasn’t gotten anywhere, I suggest taking a step back from their desk, having a break for a little bit and coming back to their desk when they’re feeling refreshed and ready to tackle things again.

This way, they will have only lost 15 minutes of time, rather than three hours.

In saying that, sometimes persevering works. I don’t want your teen to think it’s best to give up on study when they haven’t achieved focus in the first five minutes. Sometimes it does take a little while to get into a study session before you get into that good ‘study zone’.

4. Make sure your study space is working for you

The environment in which we study matters.

This isn’t the same thing as you telling your teen to tidy their room.

This is about studying in a place that facilitates focus and productivity, and space is an important contributor to that.

I’m not going to say that your teen’s study space needs to be clean and tidy and that everything on your desk needs to be placed at right angles.

What I AM saying, is that your teen needs to figure out and create a study space that works for THEM.

For some this might mean lots of clean space and their pencil case arranged at a right angle to the ruler. For others this might mean tonnes of color and diagrams and study notes and flash cards everywhere.

Whatever helps YOUR TEEN get in the zone and maintain focus is what they need to create.

And finally…

Try to help your teen not beat themself up if they are struggling to maintain focus. We all suffer from it, and it’s something that they WILL experience at some point during exam study.

With so many hours of study to get through, it is simply unrealistic to think that they will be able to maintain focus 100% of the time. Again, they are not a robot.

I suggest giving your teen a bit of time to figure things out, to work on building better habits, and with time, they should find it is easier to maintain focus for longer periods of time.

If your teen is finding any particular study techniques helpful in maintaining focus we’d all love to hear from you in the comments below.

Thanks so much for reading.

Clare