It is True that most of the students don't have a deep interest in what they are studying, especially subjects that they don't like. And whenever a student studies he/she always expects to get great marks after putting his/her hard work in studying. But this is where these Expectations can turn into stress and anxiety because these expectations can not be met easily and within a short period. Due to which there is always a uncertainty in the mind of a student whether he/she will be able to achieve good grades in tests or exams.
Studying should not be meant for just achieving high grades as the focus should be on learning rather than gaining marks. Also, it is also not possible to always study with more interest and don't expect in return. As interest is expected to lose if you keep on studying and studying. So, Instead of always studying with more interest, Focus should be on learning from what is studied and expectations of getting high grades should be kept aside while studying as these expectations will increase pressure and stress instead of increasing interest.
So There are following points that you can follow to study with more interest and at the same time keeping less expectations and also an implementation procedure will be given, to help you know how to use these tactics better :-
Take breaks/rest:- First and useful tactic to develop interest is to take breaks after a study interval say after 25 to 30 minutes, a very useful technique famous for this is pomodoro technique. Why is this so important? Because whenever you, especially a student who doesn't study much, are studying with focus for a long period, you tend to lose the high focus that you have in the beginning.
Taking a break of 5 to 10 minutes just after having a study session of 25 to 30 minutes proves great for relaxing your brain muscles which get tired after involving it with effort. Just like you do exercise and in between sets it is necessary to take rest, in studying also it is necessary to take rest for a few minutes. Also in between rest it is also important to not involve in using social media, playing games etc. that possibly can take a lot of this time. So this should be avoided.
Implementation procedure:- For the first few days just try studying 2 sessions of 25 to 30 minutes with full focus if normally you are not able to study consistently for a long time and take break of 5 to 10 minutes in between these 2 sessions. Then after some days of consistently following this technique increase the number of sessions or timings of the sessions depending upon what feels best for you.
After a month or so you should be able to get daily 3 hours of focused study without involving much effort which will help you develop your interest in studying.
Revise topics often: No student can always learn any topic within just one study session and in the first time normally interest is not developed at such depth that you understand and enjoy the topic well. Revising the topics often after a time interval gives you a chance to understand a topic in depth and learn it at ease. Because in one go, learning and remembering a topic becomes very hard due to which anyone can lose focus.
Revision on the other hand gives you a chance of understanding the aspects of a topic in which you were not able to understand in the first go. Second, by revising the topics often, remembering the topic for a long term also becomes easy. So, revision just only takes time and during revision efforts should not be put on remembering everything but to understand the majority of the topic well.
Implementation procedure:- It is also necessary to implement the revision strategy in the right manner. This strategy cannot be the same every time. But a standard method can be the following. In the first revision of a topic, just try to understand the main aspect of a topic well and if it is easy then go on to check in detail further the other aspects. Second revision can happen after a day or so, in which you focus on other related aspects of the topic which helps you to understand it deeply, but again you should not be focused on remembering it.
Third revision can happen after 4 to 5 days of second revision and this time you will have an in depth understanding already and focus should be given on recalling the topic after a reading which will strengthen your memory about the topic.
Study in advance:- This is one of the secret tactics that many toppers use for gaining more interest and expecting less about the rewards in study. Study the topics in well advance, which is going to be studied within a few days in class. First, This will help you gain advantage over others by having some level of understanding in advance. Second, when a topic will be explained by a lecturer or teacher in the class, It will help you gain more understanding over the topic or some new viewpoint over it, thus it will serve you more to go in depth in the topic.
Thirdly, When the topic will be discussed in a class, You can get all your doubts and queries resolved which might have arised while studying the topic in advance and It might create some new doubts and queries as well, which you can ask after the teacher or lecturer is finished. So, Slowly when you understand the topics deeply and better than your classmates, you will start study with more interest in your subject and in return you will also have a few expectations from the study you do.
Implementation procedure:- In the beginning, you should start taking one topic in a day from 2 or 3 subjects that you know within 2 or 3 days is going to be discussed in class. And then start studying from the Books that you have. You can take help of the concerned teacher as well for asking some of the aspects about the topic, but focus should be on understanding much of the topic yourself as this will let you use your capability which in turn will give you better confidence that you can study on your own.
Also you can check some articles over the internet about the topic as well but again focus should be on studying from the book material majorly, as you can take notes on book or highlight the important aspects which will not be possible on the internet. Once you do this for a few days say 10 to 15 days consistently and start developing interest, you can increase the topics you study in advance or keep studying with the same amount as doing this consistently will build your interest in studying more by this overtime.
Teaching and discussing with others:- This tactic will prove not only useful to you but to the person as well with whom you use this. This tactic simply means that you can teach and discuss a topic or study session with your friends who want to understand that topic or who are interested to know about it. Teaching a topic first hand will help you know whether you are explaining the topic better or not because you understand the topic well if your friend is able to understand the topic from you.
Also second, in discussion your friend can raise many other doubts and if you start resolving those doubts, you will be able to go in depth about the topic and in turn gain interest over the topic as well.
Implementation procedure:- Start discussing a topic with one of your friends who are interested to better know it. Also you can share knowledge over a topic in any of your general discussion which on one hand will help develop interest over topic in your friend and at the same time will seem a normal discussion. This proves very powerful for using this tactic as often as possible. Also keep discussion as simple as possible in the beginning because going in depth over a topic or making it too complicated will lose your friend as well as your interest.
And if you are not finding anyone interested to discuss, you can write about the topic on a paper which you wanted to discuss.
Ask More questions:- This technique might seem silly but it's beneficial. Study with more interest by raising more unique questions related to a topic. This will not only help you understand the topic more, but also will give new views over a topic that others might not be asking.
And getting answered about all your questions will help you understand in depth and gain knowledge better than the majority of the other students.This advantage in turn will boost your interest in studies
Implementation procedure:- Whenever you are studying something or a lecture is going on, start asking questions in your mind first related to the topic you are studying or being discussed in the class. Then go on to ask questions to the concerned teacher when the topic is finished. Also while a topic is being discussed in class, try writing in a few words on notes if allowed and later on after discussion ask your questions by getting permission
Also try finding answers to a question from one of your family members, say your parents, your brother or sister who knows well about it or you can also take help of the internet. This tactic can also be used more when you are studying a topic in advance.
Involve in a hobby or Play Outdoor games: This might seem not relevant for gaining interest in studying but Trust this tactic can do wonders. Daily involvement in a hobby for some time, say one hour or so, will help you gain a sense of satisfaction on one hand and will let you feel joy when you will be doing everyday what you want to do. For example:- Singing, dancing, painting etc. or Playing outdoor games like Basketball, cricket etc.
Also secondly, It will help you relax your mind from any study related thoughts which will lighten your expectations from study. Performing a hobby or playing outdoor games has proven scientifically in the development of physical and mental health, by taking you out of the boundations which study can cause physically and mentally like stress, anxiety, being a couch potato etc.
Implementation procedure:- There is no fixed time that you should allocate between your study and your hobby. But remember that study is preferred over the hobby. So Majority of your time should be on studying, say for 1 hour of involvement in a hobby in a day, you should study at least 3 to 4 hours. Also you can set the majority of the weekend time for your hobby or playing outdoor games and on weekdays you should be focused only on study.
Conclusion:- The development of interest in study and expecting less in return takes time as normally due to a lot of expectations from study, stress and anxiety increases when the expectations are not fulfilled which also decreases your interest in them. But following the above tactics can surely turn a non interested student to an interested one if these are followed consistently and gradually. Also while following these tactics, You should not expect that some magic will happen within a few days with which you will become a scholar or a topper. But following these tactics are meant to develop more interest in study rather than getting high grades, which these tactics will surely offer after following them in a disciplined manner.Also reading this whole article shows that you are a serious student who wants to develop more interest and not studying for grades. So Prove this by following these tactics