When you’re studying for a midterm or cranking out a paper, it’s all about location, location, location — you need to be somewhere where you can work productively. For me, it’s all about atmosphere. Is it comfortable? Does it make crunch time a little less stressful? I have a couple of spots where I like to study, so read on and check them out!
First, there’s my bread and butter of studying locations: my fraternity’s house’s library. It rocks a huge table for you to spread out your laptop and textbooks on (and an extra monitor if you need it), comfortable chairs that recline or lock depending on what mood you’re in, and it’s a good place to find other people studying if you need someone to chat with for a refreshing break. Also, sometimes it’s useful to study where you live, just in case you forgot something or need to run and grab some food.
Sometimes, I prefer to take a scenic approach, and I’ll head out on campus to the Engineering Quad. This is more about relaxing ambience than getting into turbo-study mode. It’s outside, has a fountain, and has the happy sounds of passersby to contribute to a relaxing atmosphere. It’s about a 10 minute skate from my house, so this is a good place to put myself when I need to study for a chunk of time- and if I get distracted, I can pop into the computer lab next door for a more traditional study environment.
That’s all I have for this week- hope you enjoyed seeing the kinds of places I like to study! It is important to always be aware of what factors contribute to or take away from your studying efficacy, so I always try to keep adapting if I find one of these places aren’t working. To that end, be sure to check out the blogs from other VSAs on their favorite study spots!
