Do You guys Study with Music?

[Doodl3s]

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so, i mean, im lucky in that at home, everything is quiet. Its like a library here!... so i can study in great conditions. But believe it or not, sometimes its a little unnerving... like TOO quiet and boring. Maybe its cause i used to study in my college's library with at least some page turning and coughing lol. SO, sometimes I put on a little light, chill music, sort of like club music, but very light, like Lounge music for those who know what that is...

so, anyone do this? do you think it will hurt me if i normally dont study with it? just procrastinating my studying with this thread 😀 Feel free to procrastinate with me.

 

[azrael87]

Well, whether or not music helps or hurts during studying depends on a lot of things. I understand the unnerving feeling of dead silence, so if you're used to some background noise I don't think it'll hurt. As long as you can stay focused on the material and don't ACTIVELY listen to the music, you should be fine.

I've also heard that the less familiar you are with a song, the more conducive it is to learning since you won't start emulating it in your head. The more you know a song, the more likely you are to start humming along (even if you hate it...) It seems true for me, but I can't confirm it as a fact for everyone.

As for variety/genre, depends on your noise level tolerance and your taste. Personally, I can study in silence, with light relaxing lounge-esque tunes, or with blaring hardcore metal depending on my mood and what I'm studying. I think it's best to get used to studying comfortably in a variety of noise levels (silence, background shuffling like in a library, light music, loud music). That way you can be adapted enough to take in information in any situation. So even if unexpected noises occur, you can go on without being bothered. However, the tougher a subject is for you, the less distracting noise you want (most likely). Perhaps keep noise and music at a minimum for new or difficult material, but allow a little more for reviewing easy, familiar stuff?

One thing I'll say is avoid music and major background noise when you're doing practice questions and NEVER have music if you're doing some sort of full practice section for a test. When doing a practice section for a test, you want to emulate the actual testing atmosphere as much as possible, so avoid noise, taking breaks, and procrastination with those.

I guess the conclusion here is it depends on your own learning abilities/habits. I hope there was in answer for you somewhere in there, but for now, I think I've procrastinated enough lol.

 

[Winterpegger]

I, too, like page-turning and coughing noises while studying. I tried at home in silence, and with music, and neither worked (got distracted either way). Best alternative to my university's library was....another library. Any library (local, another college, whatever). So try another library, that is, if you have the option.

 

[phEight]

I usually listen to really chill trance / lounge music if I do listen to music while studying. It just keeps me in a nice mood and keeps me a bit from getting distracted. I don't mind the silence either though, in fact coughing and page turning is so ridiculously distracting to me that I have to move if there is a lot of it going on. It really sucks, actually.

 

[loveoforganic]

Complete and utter silence for me. Wish I could focus with music.

 

[muhali3]

When you're studying spray some perfume/cologne in your study area. Use the same one everytime. On MCAT day, wear it, maybe it'll stimulate your limbic system and memory retrieval...or something.

Anyways, no I don't study in a super quiet area, and wouldn't recommend it either. Try to replicate the amount of sound in the test center.

 

[maxepotter]

The other article is also very weird and it doesn't really tell much either about how the survey was done etc. Things that actually matter, how they arrived to such conclusions. I sure as **** don't listen to metal to relieve myself off emotional stress, since "metal" is the normality level to me. When I want to feel relaxed I listen to goa trance or something, and if I feel depressed I put on some depressing rock music.