People spend three billion hours a week playing video games! That’s an unacceptable amount, especially when you consider that most players are high school, college, and university students. Are we wasting our time? For students who want to play games and pass exams with flying colors, it would be ideal to combine the two activities. Today we are going to talk about how you can combine computer games and studying.
Combining play and study all the time will not bring fruitful results. Multitasking is never a good idea, especially from a long-term perspective. However, if you want to play your favorite game and have an essay written due tomorrow, we’ll tell you how to get everything done.
Replace reading with audio
When studying for classes, workshops, or even collecting material for an essay, you can easily use the audio format. You can find tons of both paid and free audiobooks, podcasts, educational videos, and webinars on the topic on the Internet. Just turn off the sounds in the game and concentrate as much as possible on the information you are listening to. We recommend using headphones for maximum focus and minimum distraction to the gameplay.
Records Lectures
If you know you’re an avid gamer and you have to choose whether to review what you’ve learned or play, be proactive. Record your teacher’s lectures on a tape recorder and listen to them every time you play. This way, you can repeat what was in the lecture, play your favorite game, and do more research a little later.
Get Ready for Exams
Preparing for exams is always a very stressful and challenging process. Some look through old notes, others study everything they find on their way, and someone uses flashcards. However, whichever method you choose, the stress will not go anywhere. An hour or two spent at your favorite computer game can help reduce stress levels, distract you, and sit down to study with renewed vigor. But what if you have very little time but still want to play? Once you’ve gathered all the materials like this lab report, and other excellent documents, you need to prepare for exams, record all the answers on the recorder. Such materials with help you identify areas you need to focus more on. Then, turn off the sound in the game, turn on the recording, and listen to the material. Going from reading to listening to the material activates other parts of our brain and makes studying more effective.
Try Time Management
Only the laziest person hasn’t heard of time management. From a top manager of a finance company to an average automotive technician – everyone knows how it helps you do more in less time by organizing your work properly. There are many techniques and methodologies for this approach. We advise you to try at least two. First, you can reward yourself for each completed homework assignment with a small break when playing a video game. Second, you can simply plan your day so that you leave time there for games. Instead of getting stuck watching stories on Instagram, try to cope with an essay or report sooner. The sooner you finish your homework, the sooner you can enjoy your rest and play.
Use Speech-to-Write Tools
Modern technology makes life much easier for students. Now, you can outline your essay or sketch a draft without picking up a pen or touching a keyboard. Special applications in your phone and speech recognition function will help you write down your thoughts, and then you will only have to edit them and write a clean draft.
As you can see, you can always find options for combining the useful with the pleasant. However, you should take responsibility for your studies and remember that multitasking causes increased production of cortisol, a stress hormone that affects everything from mental performance to muscle density. In addition, researchers have found that the very possibility of going into multitasking interferes with getting things done and lowers your IQ by about 10 points. That’s why we still advise you to master time management and resort to the rest of the advice only in the most urgent situations.
