However difficult you find it to arrange your time, it will pay off in the long run if you set aside a certain part of the day for studying - and stick to it. It is best to make a weekly allocation of your time, making sure that you have enough left for recreational activities or simply to be 'with' yourself: reading a novel or watching a television programme.
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As part of your weekly schedule, it is also advisable to consider exactly what you have to do in that week, and make sure that you tackle the most significant tasks first, leaving the easier or less urgent areas of your work until later.
On a physical level, make sure that you have an area or space for studying. Don't do it just anywhere. If you always study in the same place, preferably a room of your own, you will find it easier to adjust mentally to the activity when you enter that area. You should have everything that you might need at hand.
Make sure that all the physical equipment that you use, such as a desk, chair etc. is at a good height for you. If you use a personal computer, there are plenty of guidelines available from the government on posture, angles, lighting and the like. Consult these and avoid the typical student aches and pains.
If you are doing a long essay or research paper which involves the use of library books or other articles, it helps to keep details of the titles and authors on small cards in a card box. It is also a good idea to log these alphabetically so that you can find them easily - rather like keeping telephone numbers. It's all too easy to read something and then forget where it came from.
Make use of equipment that is available to you. If you find a useful article in the library, it is best to make a copy of the relevant pages before you leave. Then, when you get back to your study, you can mark the article and make any comments that you have in the margin.
If you are working on a topic your teacher has set, but finding it hard to concentrate, it may be that you actually need to take your mind right off it for a period of time. 'Airing the mind' can work wonders sometimes. After a period away from the task, having not thought about it at all, you may return to it refreshed and full of ideas.
Similarly, it may help to discuss a topic with other people, especially if you feel that you have insufficient ideas, or too many disorganised ideas. Bring your topic up in conversations at meal times or with other students and see what they have to say. You don't want to copy their ideas but listening to what they think about something may well help you develop or refine your own thoughts.
