How to Focus When Studying: 6 Fixes Backed by Research

To focus when studying, put your phone in another room, decide the exact task before you sit down, work in fixed blocks of about 25 minutes with short breaks, and test yourself instead of rereading your notes. Start with the phone. When researchers watched 263 school and university students study at home for 15 minutes, the students stayed on task for less than six minutes on average before switching, most often to texts or social media.

Each fix below comes from a published study, and you'll find the full sources at the end of this guide.

1. Put your phone in another room

Moving your phone out of the room removes the most common reason students stop studying. In a 2013 study, psychologists Larry Rosen, Mark Carrier and Nancy Cheever recorded what 263 middle school, high school and university students did in every minute of a 15-minute study session at home. The students averaged less than six minutes on task before switching, most often to social media or a text message. The same study found that students who used more study strategies stayed on task for longer.

Leave the phone charging in another room for the length of each study block. If you use it as a timer, switch to the clock on your computer or a kitchen timer. On a laptop, close every tab you don't need for the task and turn on Focus or Do Not Disturb. With the phone out of reach, checking it means getting up and leaving your desk. Our breakdown of Ofcom's 2026 screen time figures shows how much of a teenager's day the phone already takes.

2. Decide the exact task before you sit down

Writing down exactly what you'll do, when and where, makes you more likely to do it. Psychologists call this kind of plan an implementation intention: “At 16:00, at my desk, I will answer questions 1 to 10 from the 2023 biology paper.” In a 2006 review of 94 studies, Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran found that plans in this form had a medium-to-large effect on whether people reached their goals.

A vague plan such as “study biology” doesn't tell you when you've finished. Write each task as something you can tick off, such as ten past paper questions or the flashcards for one chapter.

3. Work in fixed blocks with breaks set in advance

Studying in fixed blocks, with breaks you set before you start, leaves you less tired and less distracted than stopping whenever you feel like it. In a 2023 study at Maastricht University, Felicitas Biwer and colleagues split 87 students into three groups for a day of real study. Students who chose their own breaks studied in longer stretches and reported more fatigue and distraction, and less concentration and motivation, than students on fixed blocks. The fixed-block groups finished the same amount of work in less time.

One fixed group worked for 24 minutes and rested for 6, close to the 25 and 5 of the Pomodoro technique. A later study comparing Pomodoro, Flowtime and self-chosen breaks found no overall difference in fatigue or motivation between the methods, so use 25 minutes as a starting point and adjust it once you know how long you can hold your attention. Our six-week exam study plan builds a full revision timetable from blocks like these.

4. Test yourself instead of rereading

Testing yourself makes you produce an answer, which is harder to do on autopilot than reading, and it is one of the two study techniques with the strongest evidence behind them. In 2013, John Dunlosky and four colleagues reviewed the research on ten common study techniques and rated two as high utility: practice testing, and distributed practice, which means spreading your study of a topic across several sessions. Rereading and highlighting both rated low.

Practice testing means closing the book and answering questions from memory, using past papers or flashcards. A blank page works too: write down everything you remember about a topic, then check it against your notes. Our guide to active recall shows how to set it up, and the CambriLearn study planner shows how to spread topics across a week.

5. Move during your longer breaks

A 20-minute walk before you study can sharpen your attention for the session that follows. In a 2009 study at the University of Illinois, Charles Hillman's team tested 20 children aged about nine and a half, once after 20 minutes of walking on a treadmill at a moderate pace and once after 20 minutes of sitting. After walking, the children answered an attention task more accurately and scored higher on a reading comprehension test. Their spelling and arithmetic scores didn't change.

The study was small and tested younger children, so treat it as a reason to spend your longer breaks moving. A walk round the block or a bike ride both count, and the phone stays where it is.

6. Protect your sleep in exam season

Teenagers aged 13 to 18 need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night, and children aged 6 to 12 need 9 to 12, according to a 2016 consensus statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The panel found that sleeping that much on a regular basis goes with better attention, behaviour, learning and memory, and that sleeping less goes with attention, behaviour and learning problems.

A revision plan that cuts sleep to fit in extra hours costs you attention in the hours you do study. Keep the same bedtime through the exam period, and stop studying an hour before it.

When trouble focusing needs more than study tips

If you've used these fixes for a few weeks and still can't hold your attention for ten minutes at a time, talk to a parent or your doctor. Ongoing trouble focusing can come from ADHD, anxiety or a sleep problem, and each one has support that study tips can't replace. Our guides to ADHD study methods and managing exam stress are good places to start.

How parents can help a teenager focus

Agree the phone rule with your teenager before the exam period starts, and make it a house rule for study blocks: every phone in the house charges in the kitchen between 16:00 and 18:00, for example. Ask what the task is for each block, and save your check-ins for the breaks.

The same habits carry over to online school. At CambriLearn, lessons are live and timetabled with specialist subject teachers, so a school day has fixed start and end times, and study blocks fit around them.

Questions students ask about focus

Why can't I focus when I study?

Your phone is the most likely cause. In one study of 263 students studying at home, the average student switched tasks in under six minutes, most often to social media or texts. After the phone, look at the task itself. If you can't say what finished looks like, write that down before you start, then check your sleep: teenagers need 8 to 10 hours a night.

How long should I study before taking a break?

Start with blocks of about 25 minutes and a 5-minute break, with a longer break after three or four blocks. In a 2023 Maastricht University study, students on fixed 24-minute blocks with 6-minute breaks reported less fatigue and distraction than students who chose their own breaks, and finished the same work in less time. Adjust the length once you know how long you can concentrate.

What is the 1-3-5-7 rule in studying?

The 1-3-5-7 rule is a revision schedule popular with students: you review new material on day 1, day 3, day 5 and day 7 after you first learn it. No study has tested those exact days, but the idea behind the rule, spreading your study of a topic across several sessions, is one of the two techniques that Dunlosky's 2013 review rated as high utility.

How do I focus on studying when I don't feel like it?

Make the first task small enough to finish in 10 minutes, such as five flashcards or one past paper question. Write it down with a start time and set a timer. A plan that names exactly what you'll do and when is the kind of plan that Gollwitzer and Sheeran's review of 94 studies linked to people following through. When the timer goes, decide whether to stop or start a full block.

Sources

• Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M. and Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.
• Gollwitzer, P. M. and Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119.
• Biwer, F., Wiradhany, W., oude Egbrink, M. G. A. and de Bruin, A. B. H. (2023). Understanding effort regulation: Comparing 'Pomodoro' breaks and self-regulated breaks. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(S2), 353-367.
• Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.
• Hillman, C. H., Pontifex, M. B., Raine, L. B., Castelli, D. M., Hall, E. E. and Kramer, A. F. (2009). The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience, 159(3), 1044-1054.
• Paruthi, S. and colleagues (2016). Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: a consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(6), 785-786.

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