Set aside a fixed place for study and nothing but study. Do you have a place for study you can call your own? As long as you are going to study, you may as well use the best possible environment.

Before you begin an assignment, write down on a sheet of paper the time you expect to finish. Keep a record of your goal setting. This one step will not take any time at all.

Strengthen your ability to concentrate by selecting a social symbol that is related to study. Select one particular article of clothing, like a scarf or hat, or a new little figurine or totem. Just before you start to study, put on the cap, or set your little idol on the desk.

If your mind wanders, stand up and face away from your books. Don't sit at your desk staring into a book and mumbling about your poor will power. If you do, your book soon becomes associated with daydreaming and guilt.

Stop at the end of each page, and count 10 slowly when you are reading. This is an idea that may increase your study time, and it will be quite useful you if you find you can't concentrate and your mind is wandering.

Set aside a certain time to begin studying. Certain behavior usually is habitual at certain times of the day. If you examine your day carefully, you'll find that you tend to do certain things at predictable times.

Don't start any unfinished business just before the time to start studying. Most people tend to think about jobs they haven't finished or obligations they have to fulfill much more than things that they have done and gotten out of the way.

Set small, short-range goals for yourself. Divide your assignment into subsections. Set a time when you will have finished the first page of the assignment, etc.

Keep a reminder pad. Another trick that helps increase your ability to concentrate is to keep pencil and paper by your notebook.

Relax completely before you start to study. One approach to concentration is to ask yourself, "Do study and bookwork scare me?" If you have to do something unpleasant, something that you know you may do badly, how do you react? Probably you put it off as long as possible, find yourself daydreaming, and would welcome reasons to stop studying. Associate the book with relaxation, not with tension and anxiety. When you study, study; when you worry, worry. Don't do both at the same time.
Source(s):
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/control.html


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