Welcome to your study room. How did it feel to slip through the back-scratching, knee-bending area between your desk and chair this time? Oh, you need a moment to curl your butt around that crooked seat infamous for rocking the wrong way? Alright then. Wait, did you just get rocked to the floor?
We’re sorry — it’s just that the lights are too dim to see. But let us put on our night vision goggles. Ah! Are those balls of paper rolling on the carpet? Do Pokemons live inside of them? Okay, NVGs off. Now, let’s check out some study space tips… for a friend of yours.
1. Check If Your School Supplies Can Do Their Job
Can you trust your ruler with a straight line? Is your eraser creating more smudges than leaving no trace of getting a false answer for an unknown? If your current school supplies obstruct your academic progress, it might be time for new ones.
The frustration of drawing circles with a wobbly compass is counterproductive and unnecessary. So is the feeling of overworking yourself stapling paper because the last drop of glue left its tube days ago. Pick the right items for your academic tasks, and take good care of them.
2. Keep All Essentials Close
Your calculator is playing hide and seek with you. The notebooks could be in your backpack, but they might also be lying open in the kitchen. Who knows where the textbooks are, the academic calendar, the highlighters, your googly-eyed lucky hat… Is all of that even around?
Essentials are future credentials. Can’t make a note without a pen, can’t push through the semester with a dull one. You must have all you need to absorb your study materials around your desk or somewhere you can easily access it! Yes, that includes your desk and chair, too.
3. Use What’s Available In the Best Way
Often, you have to work with what you’ve got. That may not be much, but you can find a way for it to blend into your idea for a solid study space. For example, your shared apartment might not allow for a stationary desk, but there are foldable and portable alternatives that will fit.
Likewise, you and your roommates might often have to grind challenging academic tasks simultaneously, so you may need to stay in the same room. However, honest, respectful conversations about such situations can lead to acceptable solutions. Ultimately, even if your study space is somewhere near your bed and there is little to dress up, if you feel it works, it works.
4. Eliminate All Distractions
They call them distractions. But to you, they’re a desert oasis, the joy of popping the last Higgs boson out of bubble wrap. To the rest of the world, that’s a phone, an extra monitor, or a dusty TV. But to you, that’s the paradise in a digital version.
And it doesn’t end there. You like your extra fried takeout fries, which you share with your hilarious roomie, who also has a dog that bathes it all on your flimsy mouse pad, which you adore flicking off the desk just because it flops too funny. Well, those are all distractions. And it would be best to have a distraction-free, private place to nail your exams. You need to focus.
5. Boosts Your Focus With the Proper Lighting
It’s all in the lights. Too bright is bad. Too dark is way too bad. But sitting close to a window so natural light can wash over you might be ideal. As for the evening study sessions, here’s one of the best study space tips to ensure you seize more of the day in terms of studying: get a desk lamp!
Experiment, and see what works best for you. If you like your window light on the brighter end, ensure your curtains are on the thinner end or at least open them when reading. Also, some light color temperatures might boost your productivity more than others, so keep that in mind.
6. Regulate the Temperature
Getting goosebumps whenever you circle a math formula is not how your study time should look. You should also not feel like you are in a kiln when preparing for the finals. The temperature in your workspace should feel comfy, low enough to keep you awake, and high enough for you to concentrate.
Too chilly to understand your materials? Turn up the AC. Too hot? Turn it down. No summer, no winter. Aim for the autumn or spring feel instead. That way, you’ll avoid making mistakes you’re unaware of. And if you can’t regulate the temperature in your current area, consider relocating for the moment.
7. Keep Things Reasonably Organized
Some college students thrive as their mainly organized, somewhat chaotic selves. You might fall closer to each of the ends of the spectrum! All is fine as long as you’re okay with it. But almost everyone would agree that too much clutter or minimalism aren’t the optimal building blocks of a cozy study room.
Trash? Too many banners and folders lying around in a disorganized manner? Food and soda cans decreasing the area feet by feet? In that case, you must tidy up a bit! Sure, you can experiment with how clean you want your surroundings to be, but clutter defocuses. And the same happens when you have a tabula rasa of a study space with no furniture for your essentials.
8. Don’t Forget About Comfort
If your learning environment makes you wish you were made of Play-Doh, you must shift things around. Your study area should be large enough to handle an occasional stretch without collapsing over you. The chair should be nice and comfy (preferably ergonomic) and far enough from the desk for you not to feel stuck.
But those are not the only study space tips regarding the commodity your read-and-learn nook should offer. Not slouching and keeping your feet on the floor as you do what you must is crucial. Also, place your PC at eye level and keep your wrists straight as you string the lines of that essay. Stay comfy and healthy as you use your brain!
9. Give Personalization a Chance
Walls in your favorite colors, hints of fantastic aromas filling the air, and all that inspires you to achieve academic success being part of the nook’s decor. Is this how you imagine your ideal place for studying? If so, it’s time for some creativity and personalization.
Past awards will look excellent, highlighted by the radiant light from the desktop monitor. Framed diplomas and certificates will celebrate the best in you! Plants, souvenirs, and memorabilia that matter will bring the space to life and give a chance to the determined student within you.
10. Know that This is Not a One-Time Project
Here comes one of the best study space tips in case you don’t know where to start and feel anxious: designing your learning nook will be a work in progress for a while! It might not take you until your final year in college to complete what you’ve started, but there will always be room for alterations. So, you’ll kind of, sort of, always have something more to add or remove.
But having this important area transform together with you should be fun. Isn’t it heartwarming to witness bits of your personal growth around the wall hangings by the desk? So breathe in — it’s a process of trial and error, and funky pictures and sticky notes dressing all surfaces possible.
Create With Some Cash In Your Pocket
Productivity skills are something to master; being in the right environment certainly helps. But where there is a will, there’s a way. Of course, you could always use some money for the following study setup, and Pawns.app might be your best ally when it comes to that.
For instance, if you plan to hit it off with a badass book rest next semester, the surveys, quests, and other earning opportunities on the application might be worth checking out. Make it, cash it out, and get better grades as you confidently study!
