Improving Concentration Reduce external distractions: Find a good place to study such as the library or an empty classroom. If it seems too quiet, get used to it by starting with short periods of time there. If you are a commuter student, stay on campus after class or arrive early during the week. On weekends find a library near your home to work. Minimize visual distractions by studying in a place where you will not see classmates walking by. If you prefer studying to music, chose something without vocals. Don't put temptation in your path. Don't turn on the TV until your day's homework is finished. If you're home, unplug your telephone while you study and hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door. Discourage internal distractions: Keep your calendar or "to do" list nearby as you study and record there any reminders to yourself or worries that may distract you while studying. By writing these things down, you can clear your mind for studying. Use a concentration scoresheet. Each time you find your mind wandering, make a check mark on the sheet. Within just a few study sessions you should find that you have far fewer check marks and far greater concentration. When you find yourself consistently daydreaming or working without comprehension, stop and take a break. For 5 to 10 minutes, talk to someone, take a walk, daydream, relax. Then begin studying again. Maintain interest: simple passive reading is not going to be enough. Think of some ways you might create interest in a class in which you are confused or bored: Find a study partner or form a study group. Get to know the professor better. Ask questions in class. Do some extra practice or research, such as exploring the internet. Teach an assignment to someone else. Make the assignment into a speech or song. Develop a strong motivation; think of a reason why you want to learn this. Find a tutor or find an additional book on the subject if the course and/or reading material is too difficult.

Concentration and Your Body The pressure of deadlines and expectations may make you ignore your body's needs. If you don't take care of your body, fatigue can cause anxiety and limit your performance. Throughout the semester maintain good habits of diet, exercise, sleep and rest. Take 10 minutes to relax before meals; eat well-balanced food slowly; make mealtime an opportunity to calm down. During long study sessions, drink lots of fluids, increase caloric intake, and eat frequent small meals. Use coffee, tea and soft drinks only in moderation. Schedule 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night and plan a regular bedtime. Don't oversleep, don't undersleep. If you must cut down on sleep, try going to bed at your regular bedtime and getting up early. Get your sleep at night, and avoid daytime naps. Concentration dips both before and after a nap. If you are feeling anxious, relax yourself periodically. If you can't sleep, exercise during the day and plan to spend 30 minutes relaxing before you go to bed. Choose an exercise you enjoy...jogging, swimming, yoga, etc...and build up gradually until it's a regular part of your week. To fight fatigue, use your body to help you concentrate. Choose or create a study environment with a straight but comfortable chair (but not too relaxing), a desk with all the equipment you need, daylight or indirect light which is bright enough but doesn't glare on your book or strain your eyes. Study according to your biorhythms: schedule your most difficult subjects when you are at peak mental efficiency and plan to do easier tasks when you are mentally at low efficiency. Find your "prime time." For you, this might vary. But for most students, one hour of daytime study is equivalent to one and a half hours at night because their concentration level during the day is much greater. Take regular study breaks, even if you don't feel like it. Plan breaks to include light exercise to help you stay awake and revitalize.

Improving Memory Forgetting is a natural process, with the greatest losses occurring within the first 24 hours of learning. It is essential to review readings and lecture notes within one or two days of initial exposure, with brief additional reviews interspersed in later weeks. Here are some basics ways in which we memorize: Meaningful Organization: We usually remember only five to seven items at a time. If you can organize 25 items into five groups of five, you'll find them much easier to manage. Recitation: Most of us have forgotten just how powerful this tool can be. Recitation works. When you recite something in your own words, you pay more attention. You get immediate feedback. You know if you are able to explain something in your own words out loud that you understand it. And when you hear something, you have used an entirely different part of the brain. So recite as you read, as you review your class notes, and as you study. For material which you need to remember in some detail, reciting should take up 60%-80% of your study time relative to reading. Make use of flashcards as a recitation tool of anything you need to learn. And find a partner to ask each other questions and answer out loud. Mental Visualization: Most of us remember what we see more easily than what we read or hear. If possible, determine a way to visualize each new concept. Convert it to a chart or graph; draw it; make a mental video; find out what the people you are learning about look like, or even make a description up. Association: By making a link to something you already know, you should be able to remember new information more efficiently. Ask yourself: Is this like something I already know? Does it sound like something else? Can I use it for something similar? Is it related to existing information I know? Acronyms: take the first letter of each item to be memorized and spell a word or phrase. For example, in order to remember the names of the Great Lakes, remember HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. An example of a phrase is "Kings play chess on Friday generally speaking." This refers to the the biological classification of organisms. The most basic division is "kingdom," so the "k" in "Kings" refers to it. The next is "phylum," which "play" refers to, then "chess" is "class," "on" is "order," "Friday" is "family," "generally" is "genus," and "speaking" is "species." Rhymes, such as "i before e except after c," can enhance retention as well. Memory is "context dependent" and "state dependent." Studying in a physical situation and emotional mood similar to the one in which you will be tested increases your chances to recall information. Make your studying situation as similar as possible to the testing situation. When possible, go review your materials in the classroom. Being too relaxed during your study time does not match the level of activation you reach during your tests (the reverse is also true-- if you get too psyched-up during your tests, you will not be able to recall your material because your test mood will not match your studying mood). Try to memorize material for each class on a different day, so that the information for one class doesn't interfer with another. It also helps to review the night before or a few hours before the test, so there will be less chance of other information interfering with the acquisition of the test material. Review soon, and in frequent small doses. While longer study sessions are effective for writing or for creative projects, most study is best done in short sessions with breaks (for example, study for 50 minutes and take a break for 10). As you walk to your next class, recall the main points of the lecture you just attended. Reviewing lecture notes for just five minutes after class can be a great help in recalling information later. Then review your lecture notes again that day or the next.