How to recover study habits for the next course

Most university students become demotivated after the summer when they have to resume study routines and find that no matter how much they spend hours and hours; the pace of learning is not the same as in the months before finishing the course.

This situation tends to get worse when the first exams arrive, and you see that your classmates get better grades than you do. At this point you begin to think that you have had a summer of excessive disconnection and that you do not have the same capacity to memorize or concentrate as your classmates who did not disconnect so much. And you may be right, possibly your study habits are not the best right now and you need to change or adapt them after such a long period of disconnection.

We encourage you to adopt different study habits than you used to, even if it means making an effort.

Most common problems when studying calmly analyze the reasons why you lose your concentration or are not motivated. Perhaps these are some of the reasons:

• You feel that your studies are useless, and you want to live in summer forever.
• You think that you can fail and that generates an anxiety that you don't know how to face and the only thing you get is to lose your concentration.
• You feel that you don't have the right material to study. Everything seems uncomfortable.

Emotional concerns take center stage: whether it's family, boyfriend, girlfriend, friends, social relationships in general.

You still have too many summer plans outside of your studies. You keep up with the pace of summer leisure activities and this affects your study time negatively.

It's been a while since you've sat at the study table in your student flat in Barcelona; we recommend that you reconcile with it again, it's super comfortable!

You haven't played sports for months and that leads to a demotivation loop because you can't find the time to go back to it.

Once you have identified the possible reasons, start changing those study habits to solve your problem. 

Study tips and techniques that can help you with your new study habits.

1. Underlining technique: a classic and one of the most comfortable, effective and simple techniques that can significantly improve your results. It consists of underlining the most important parts of the text, highlighting the most significant aspects of the subject. This technique forces you to do a first reading of comprehension, and then underline and study what you have underlined.
2. Creating outlines or concept maps: this consists of creating an outline to summarize and/or organize your ideas. The advantage is that it saves you hours of study, consolidates your knowledge and makes it easier for you to review it.
3. Plan your study time: an hour of planning means a considerable improvement in your productivity. You must be clear about which day and how much time you are going to dedicate to each subject.

Not assuming your study habits will mean assuming the consequences the next day.

Share your concerns with your fellow students in your student flat in Barcelona. I'm sure they have been through the same thing at some point and can help you overcome this stage of distraction.