Successful Studying in Your College Dorm

College dorms can be some of the worst places to study. Between students wanting to socialize at all hours of the day, loud music playing, and televisions blaring, you may be ready to give up and hike to the library.

However, if you put your mind to it, you can actually get work done in your dorm. As long as you are willing to put aside the socializing for an hour, you can accomplish just as much as you would in the library.

First of all, you should close your door and put up a do not disturb sign (if you have one). This will make your room off limits to visitors while you are studying. If your roommate is going to be there, let him or her know that you have work to do and ask if he or she is expecting guests. If they are, politely ask them to meet their visitors elsewhere or offer to let them have their space in the room later. If the latter is the solution, then you should offer to leave the room for them.

In order to further block out the noise, put on headphones when listening to music. Everyone is already playing music anyway; you can play yours while staying focused and without distracting anyone else on your floor who wants to relax or study.

Don't study on your bed, especially if you are feeling tired. Even if you start out sitting up, you will eventually want to lie down. Worse yet, you could fall asleep for several hours; only hurting how productive you are. The thought of being on your bed will be enough to make you set your books aside and take a quick nap or retire for the night. Study at your desk.

If you can't study in your room, many dorms have study lounges on each floor or in other locations, such as in the basement. The bad part about this is that you are out in the open among the noise and friends who want you to hang out. Go here only if you can avoid falling into the trap of doing more socializing than studying.

You can also study while doing your laundry. After you put your clothes in the washer, get some books and head downstairs with them. Your clothes won't get stolen and you can get a little bit of work done. Most laundry takes an hour or so between washing and drying, so that is enough time to finish one reading or one set of exercises.

Study during the day if you have free time. A lot of your dorm mates will be in class at times you aren't. In the first couple weeks of the semester, figure out when most of your neighbors are gone either by quietly observing or asking them about their schedules. If you are in your room when most of them are gone, take advantage of the quiet time. Then at night, you'll have more time to hang out with everyone.

Studying in your dorm is difficult, but not impossible if you know the smart way to do it. These tips will save you a daily walk to the library and keep you working hard when everyone wants to play hard.