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- Apr 2025
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I was in the same boat not too long ago. My mind would start wandering and I felt like I couldn't stop it. Here's a couple things I did to help me focus:
Anytime I would start to think of something else, I would force my brain to focus on studying. Take a minute or two to literally force the thoughts out. I would imagine shoving the topics to the side and putting a barrier between there and my area of focus. It felt a little silly at first, but it helped.
Caffeine before studying. I also work full time and it would make me super tired to actively be forcing my brain to focus while trying to learn and take in new information after working all day, so I started drinking coffee or energy drinks towards the end of work. Don't jeopardize your sleep though. A good night's sleep is so so so important.
I took more breaks. I would either set a timer for 20-30 minutes and then take a 3-5 minute break or I would set a goal of a certain number of drills and then take a break. When I was really struggling, I would even do a 5 question LR or 1 passage RC, take a break, and go back and review it. The small segments made it more manageable and I was able to work back up to a longer time period quickly.
It sounds counter productive, but take a break from studying altogether. It doesn't have to be a week, but take a long weekend. You could be having trouble because you're burnt out and don't realize this is how your brain is showing it.
Remove distractions. I don't just mean leave your phone in the other room. I mean if you catch yourself frequently thinking about a show or movie you're watching while you're trying to study, don't let yourself watch it. I would only let myself watch my show for one hour at night after I was done studying for the day. The only things I could watch the rest of the day while drinking my coffee or on my lunch break are rewatches or reality TV that I know I'm not going to keep thinking about.
Good luck!
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Something that's helped me improve a lot lately is going back to the basics and making sure I REALLY understand conditional reasoning. I redid the section about conditional and set logic and didn't move on until I really understood it. I also watched YouTube videos about it.
After that, I drilled conditional reasoning, necessary assumption, and sufficient assumption until I would get at least 80% or greater every time.