Being a student can be tough - you know the importance of focusing and studying, but without the right habits, it is impossible to be efficient. It does not matter how many hours you spend revising if you are not absorbing the information and processing it. Luckily, it only takes a few little tips and tricks to bring your study habits back under control. Helpful tools online, such as the plagiarism checker found here, greatly help to speed up your proofreading and editing. 

Using habit loops and re-training your mind to focus more can also help massively. After researching a wide variety of study hacks, we have chosen the ones we think are the easiest to implement with the most benefits. As you are probably procrastinating right this second by reading this article, we will keep it short and sweet, and these are our favorite pieces of advice for busy students.

Go for a walk before an exam

Let’s start with a simple one, before an exam, go for a walk. Or do any form of exercise for at least 20 minutes. In a study done by Dr. Chuck Hillman, at Illinois University. It was proven that students who went for a walk for 20 minutes before an exam, had massively increased brain activity when their brains were scanned before the test, compared to someone sitting quietly.

Positive Reinforcement

This is a way to hack your mind. Find a small reward and a big reward. For example, for the little reward, a piece of candy, a 5-minute break, one song, one episode of a show you like. For the big reward, pick something like playing video games for a couple of hours, seeing your friends, or allowing yourself to binge-watch Netflix. 

The way this hack works is by training your brain, the same way you train a puppy. 

For instance, if your goal is to study for the whole day, say for 6 hours, break that period down into manageable chunks - the easiest way would be 30 or 60-minute increments. After you have successfully completed each increase, you will treat yourself with your small reward. After you have completed the whole block of study, treat yourself with your big reward. 

If you are consistent with this, your brain will begin to associate the rewards, with the study periods. This will give you a massive boost to your productivity.

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Use apps to block distraction

Using an app like FocusMe, to block websites like Facebook or Instagram will allow you to stay focused. You simply set a session time, say 2 hours, and click start. You will then be blocked from the websites you have chosen. You have the option of a soft block, which you can override by typing in a specific annoying phrase, or a forced block, where you cannot override it. After you have finished the session, you will probably be amazed by the amount of times you have clicked onto your social media, only to have it blocked.