As a student progressing through my senior schooling, my peers and I have experienced a range of different challenges that constantly come and go, such as friendship complications, bullying and poor grades. However, one issue that seems to progress and move through the grades with students is finding schoolwork difficult and having trouble concentrating in class. My name is Jessica Walker, and I am a year 10 student currently completing my work experience at Brisbane Wellbeing Psychologists.
Recently it has become more of a trend throughout my year 10 cohort, that students are finding the workload a lot more difficult than expected and are having problems maintaining concentration. One of the leading reasons believed to cause this is the big change from year 9 to 10, from middle to senior school. The class layout and structure are relatively different between the two. Within middle school, more in-class attention and help was provided to ensure students understood the workload and were able to maintain steady time management. However, it has been shown that students have not adjusted completely and are finding it difficult to adjust to the rising academic pressure and the realities of isolated independent learning, without teacher help or guidance. To add to this, the pressure of choosing a career path and subjects for both years 11 and 12 leaves many students with added anxiety. To help cope and adjust with these pressures, my peers and I have been able to come up with a few techniques and ideas that have been helping us offload some of the pressure and panic going on.
Group Studying
Over the past few years, I was never someone who really participated in group study sessions with other students. I had preferred to work through the work at my own pace without the distraction of others. This has helped me to concentrate and just complete the work at my own pace in previous years. However, with the added pressure put upon me from teachers, parents, and even myself, it became a lot harder to stay on top of everything and understand it fully at the same time. Earlier this year the idea was proposed that I should try a group study session. I have found that these have helped myself and many other students in understanding the workload, while also getting to know the people in my grade. These group study sessions are a great way for allowing me and other students to express whatever is confusing them within any subject and gain a variety of different opinions and perspectives, instead of being limited to just a single way of thinking.
Concentration
An issue that I have noticed that is linked with struggling academically is loss of concentration. I have seen that loss of concentration has become much more common within all students throughout my grade. A few techniques that have been proven to help improve my concentration as well as other students in my grade is prioritising work I understand. I have found that I lose concentration when I find the work too difficult. So, by prioritising the completion of the work I understand and skipping over the ones I find a bit more difficult, it allows me to smash through and complete work I understand before allowing myself to give my full attention to the parts I find more difficult.
Exercise
I have found that exercising regularly has also helped my concentration levels and assist in reducing stress from school. Exercising has many benefits and helps with reducing stress and lifting moods. Physical activity helps with boosting the brain’s production and release of endorphins, which helps to improve your mood and sleep patterns. Even though exercising doesn’t directly help with the academic workload, I think exercise is one of the more effective indirect ways of helping to reduce stress during these important years for students.