By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
There are many reasons why a class might feel boring. You could have a low-energy teacher, it could be a topic you don’t find relevant, or you may be in the wrong level course for your ability. Regardless of the reason, knowing how to stay focused during a boring class is a key skill you’ll need time and time again.
Staying focused in a boring class is hard. Like, really hard. Sometimes it even feels impossible. That’s why I’ve made videos and blog posts about this topic before.
But here’s the thing: Not all classes are exciting. Sure, when you’re in second grade you get to play with clay and make puppets, but you soon reach a point when it’s not the teacher’s job to entertain you. It’s the teacher’s job to teach you, and it’s your job to participate in your own learning.
In other words, if you think a class is boring, it’s on you to figure out how to stay focused and learn what you need to learn. (I know that’s not warm and fuzzy, but it’s how it works.)
In this blog post, we talk all things related to maintaining concentration in boring classes – from how to recognize when you’re losing focus, to what concentration strategies you can use to decrease your chances of zoning out in the first place. We also talk about focus and ADHD.
How Losing Focus in Class Ruins Your Grades
We only learn what we pay attention to. That’s a fact. I’m going to write that again: We only learn what we pay attention to. If we don’t attend to something, we don’t perceive it, which means we have no chance of learning it.
In other words, when we lose focus in class, it is literally impossible to learn. And what happens when we can’t learn? Our grades tank.
Conversely, when we can focus on what’s being taught in class – by using some of the strategies I share below – we increase our retention of the material and the chances of being able to recall it at a later point.
Signs You’re Losing Focus in Class
Have you ever read a whole page of a book without paying attention to a single word? Me too. It happens to the best of us, and it can happen during a non-boring class too.
It’s normal for the mind to wander, but it’s important to catch ourselves when we begin to zone out. It’s when we don’t catch ourselves that we end up zoned out for so long that it’s hard to recover.
The following is a list of signs that you’re losing focus in class and it’s time to check back in:
- You’re confused by most of what the teacher is saying
- You keep checking your phone
- You’re on a website during class unrelated to the lesson
- You miss the teacher’s instructions and can’t figure out what the other students are doing
- You’re doodling (this isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s bad when you’re more focused on your doodles than on your work)
- Other students are taking notes but you have no idea why
- You’re daydreaming
Catching yourself as you’re losing focus in class requires self-awareness and self-management. It starts with the ability to say to yourself, “Oops, it’s happening” – and then to immediately jump into some strategies to regain your focus.
How to Stay Focused in a Boring Class: 6 Strategies
The following 6 strategies can help increase your concentration in boring classes. Remember, it’s not the teacher’s job to entertain you. It’s amazing if their teaching style is engaging and energetic, but at the end of the day, your focus skills are entirely on you.
1. Prepare for Class
Boredom increases when we’re confused. So, if we can reduce confusion, we can reduce boredom.
A good strategy to reduce confusion is to prepare for boring classes by reading assigned materials and doing homework with the intention of asking questions about it. As you read your assigned readings, take note of questions you want answered in class. Write these questions down, bring them to class, and ask them.
Doing your homework and readings with a purpose (to create questions to ask in class) makes the assignments less boring. When the assignments are less boring, you understand the material better. When you understand the material better before class, you’ll understand the material better during class. And – you guessed it – this makes the class less borning and you more likely to focus.
Here are my best tips for how to prepare for a class. You might think some of the tips are overkill, but this is what top students do.
2. Try Question-Based Listening
This focus strategy is similar to strategy #1 because it’s based on the idea of asking questions. You can increase your ability to concentrate during a boring lecture if you listen with the intention of forming questions as you listen.
A good place to start is to ask clarifying questions about anything you’re truly confused about. Either raise your hand in the moment or write down your question to ask during a break in the lecture.
You could also ask the teacher to give an example of what they’re explaining. Or you could ask them to explain the content another way. (Say something like, “I’m sorry, I’m confused about XYZ. Could you please explain that again?”) Or you could ask the classic how or why follow-up questions, regardless of whether you’re that interested in the answer.
Here’s why question-based listening can help you stay focused in a boring class: It gives your brain a concrete purpose to lock in on what the teacher is saying. Having a purpose for what we’re doing increases our ability to pay attention.
3. Take Notes During Class
Taking notes during class is one of the most effective ways to stay focused. Again, this comes back to giving our brains a purpose. When our brains have a specific job to do that’s more concrete than “listen to the teacher talk,” we can often concentrate better. (Our brains love clarity!)
Many students resist taking notes during class. A common excuse I hear is that taking notes takes too long. While it’s true that note-taking is a slow process for some people, taking notes increases your understanding of the material. And we have to ask ourselves what’s more important: Taking notes fast or understanding the material? (That’s a rhetorical question because you know the answer is the second one.)
I have many note-taking tutorials that teach you how to take notes. Below are some of the most useful resources for taking notes in class:
- How to take notes in a lecture class (blog post)
- How to take notes in a lecture class (video tutorial)
- Digital notes vs. paper notes: Pros and cons (blog post)
- How to take notes that are easy to study from (blog post)
- How to take notes if you have ADHD (video tutorial)
4. Stay Edgey
Yep, this focus strategy sounds weird, so let me explain. When we are super comfortable and relaxed, it doesn’t take much for our bodies or minds to cross the line and get sleepy. But when we’re juuust a bit uncomfortable, our minds and bodies tend to stay more alert.
If you’re losing focus in a boring class, you can try to stay just on the edge of discomfort. What does this look like? Below are some ideas:
Sit upright in your chair.
Slouching forward or backward can signal to your brain that it’s time to rest. This slouching posture will make it very hard to stay awake and focused.
Dress in real clothes.
I understand the allure of wearing pajamas to school, but save your pajamas for your bed. We want to reduce the number of associations our brains make with sleep.
Stand when possible.
When I was taking classes for my Master’s Degree, I would often stand in the back of the classroom during lectures. Almost every time, other students would eventually join me. If your teacher allows you to stand without being disruptive, try it.
Drink cold water.
Whenever your focus begins to fade, reach for a water bottle with ice-cold water. Drinking ice-cold water can increase your alertness and help you lock back into the lecture.
5. Try Mental Summaries
This is another odd tip, but it works. It also pairs nicely with taking notes.
During slower moments of your class, like when the teacher is handing out materials or switching lecture slides, try to summarize what you just heard. You don’t have to summarize the entire lecture, just the last bit that was taught.
You can form these summaries in your head (mental summaries) or write them down in your notes.
How do mental summaries help you stay focused in a boring class? Because summarizing is a skill that requires cognitive effort. We can’t summarize something if a) we don’t understand the material, b) we weren’t paying attention in class, or c) we’re sleepy. Knowing that you’re going to attempt to summarize the class content periodically during class can help you stay focused. Again, this comes down to giving your brain a concrete job to do other than “listen.”
6. Participate
Get in the habit of asking questions or providing input during class, even if you’re just agreeing with other students. Raising your hand, using your voice, volunteering to hand something out – all of these kinesthetic actions can help you stay focused during boring classes.
Even if you don’t typically like to participate in class, do it anyway. If you’re reading a blog post about how to stay focused, that means that you’re struggling and looking for ways to struggle less. If you want a different experience, you have to use different strategies.
Focusing in a Boring Class When You Have ADHD
If you have ADHD, focusing in class – whether it’s boring or not – can feel impossible at times. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you just have to “focus harder,” because that’s the biggest piece of nonsense there ever was.
The ability to pay attention starts in the brain. Attention regulation is related to motivation and impulse control, as all three are affected by dopamine. (That’s a fun little brain chemical that controls many brain functions and our mood.) People with ADHD tend to have lower levels of dopamine, which makes it harder for them to sustain attention on tasks that don’t provide an immediate reward. (Listening to a boring lecture has a long-term reward, knowledge acquisition, but people with ADHD often require immediate rewards.)
Also, the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive functions like planning, organizing, and sustaining attention), can be less active in people with ADHD. This makes it challenging to filter out distractions or to prioritize incoming stimulation. In other words, it’s not that people with ADHD can’t pay attention – it’s that they pay a lot of attention to a lot of things, and don’t know what to prioritize.
The 6 strategies outlined in the section above are absolutely relevant to people with ADHD, so please give each of those a try first. But below are two additional focus strategies you might find helpful:
1. Create Mental Checkpoints to Manage Your Attention
Listening to a 45-minute lecture is going to feel impossible if you have ADHD. Try the strategy of dividing your lecture into manageable chunks of time, like 10-15 minutes. Set mental “checkpoints” where you pause, assess whether you’re still following the material, and then refocus if needed. This can help prevent zoning out for long periods without knowing it.
2. Sit Near the Front, But Not In the Front
Sitting near the front of the class can improve your ability to pay attention for a few reasons. First, it’s near enough to the teacher to reduce your impulse to check your phone, go on irrelevant websites, or fall asleep. Also, when you sit near the front, with at least one row of students in front of you, can you use the visual and auditory cues from other students to help you stay on task.
For example, if the students in front of you are taking out their notebooks, that’s a cue that you should take out your notebook too.
Conclusion
I know boring classes are brutal. But they’re part of the school experience that we have to learn how to handle. Remember what I said at the top of this blog post: It’s not a teacher’s job to entertain us.
Learning how to stay focused in a boring class is a skill, and just like any other skill like note-taking or playing guitar, we have to stay committed to it. Experiment with the strategies you learned in this post and put your favorites into action. Because if you do nothing different, then nothing different happens.
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