Student:
Not exactly. My brother and parents try to keep it down when I’m studying, but the phone pretty much rings off the hook, so…
Professor: Student:
So, you might try a place with fewer distractions, like the li—
But the library closes at midnight, and I like to study all night before a test, you know, so everything’s fresh in my mind. I studied six straight hours the night before the mid-term exam. That’s why I expected to do so much better! Oh. OK. You know that studying six consecutive hours is not equivalent to studying one hour a day for six days .
Professor:
Student: Professor:
It isn’t?
No. There’s research that shows that after about an hour of intense focus, your brain needs a break . It needs to, y’know, shift gears a little . Your brain’s ability to absorb information starts to decline after about the first hour. So, if you’re dealing with a lot of new concepts and vocabulary… anyway, if you just reviewed your notes even twenty minutes a day, it’d be much better than waiting until the night before an exam to and try to absorb all those details.
Student: Professor:
Oh, I didn’t realize…
Think of your brain as a muscle . If you didn’t practice regularly with your track team and then tried to squeeze in three weeks’ worth of running practice the day before a track meet, how well do you think you’d perform in your races?
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