Creating the perfect revision playlist

Every year I kick off my revision by making a humongous timeline of tasks and of course the yearly revision playlist. I thought I’d go through what makes the perfect revision playlist from the opinion of a easily distracted English student.

1- Calm music: I think we all know we don’t want anything too upbeat or crazy to revise too, or anything that will result in a crazy solo dance party in your room. For me I tend to look for new artists as well, as I find listening to music I know all the words too can be hugely distracting. My go to’s for chilled music are Bon Iver, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, Volcano Choir, Ben Howard, Fleetwood Mac, Birdy, The Lumineers. Basically anything that is of a similar beat so it doesn’t cause too many distractions.

2- No sad songs: theres a fine line, as a lot of calming music can be sad. But finding ones that aren’t horrifically sad will be extremely helpful, as it means you won’t get into those revision induced episodes where you sit staring into the distance in the library wondering what on earth you are doing with your life.

3- Piano and classical music: as someone that has to read a lot as part of my revision, music with lyrics sometimes isn’t ideal for me. I find that listening to piano and ballet music instead keeps me concentrated and calm, and it is also really pleasant to listen to. I have a separate playlist for reading and for actual revision so I can easily switch it up between tasks.

4- Motivating music: something that keeps me in a good mood is listening to motivating and upbeat music when I wake up and in my revision breaks, as it enables me to feel wake up and have a good start to the day and keep me motivated at frequent periods throughout the day. My current favourite for this is the Greatest Showman soundtrack, but this can be anything that you enjoy listening to.

5- White Noise: Alternatively, when I am really struggling to concentrate or I am revising a hard topic, I opt to listen to white noise. When you first do this it kind of seems like its going to be a boring and painful experience. However, I find I work so much faster as it blocks out any background noise (if you have good headphones) and allows no opportunity for distractions. I highly recommend this if you haven’t tried it already!

Molly x