In high school, I wasn’t someone who could study for hours on end. Instead I would break up my work into small chunks. Not only were 20-30 minute chunks utilising the most productive sections of my study, but it was also super motivating when everything was slightly more achievable. As a student coming home from a long day of school, sitting a 2 hour past paper was not something I was at all interested or motivated to do. However, breaking the paper up into 30 minute sections, is just as effective if not more as it still simulates timed conditions without the dread of a two hour exam.

Similarly, working on one subject for hours used to be so unmotivating and was inherently unproductive. I used to spend all afternoon writing and staring at an essay until I would get to the point where I wouldn’t be able to look at a computer screen. A strategy I used to make this way more manageable was again, chunking. I would do 30 minutes of an essay and then I would do 30 minutes of some other subject like Maths or Chemistry. Something that used the complete opposite side of my brain because surprisingly it was refreshing to stop analysing Shakespeare and start solving maths equations. After completing 30 minutes of maths I would take a longer break feeling very productive knowing I had already tackled two subjects that afternoon. Chunking up my work made studying so much more efficient in my final year of school and my studying not only became shorter but better.

Alana O’Sullivan