A psychologist advises how to get back on track after a break from studying.

The New Year holidays have passed, but it’s still difficult to return to school. Or the vacation is over, but the school schedule is still not set up. Or, for example, you were so busy at work that you were able to start studying a few months later. As a result, you can barely remember the material you have covered, and getting down to business is scary and difficult. We discussed with psychologist Oksana Zinko why such pauses in learning occur and what to do about them. There are different types of breaks from studying. If a teacher organized a break, there is a logic to it: this is done so that a group of students can rest or repeat and consolidate previous material. If the break is initiated by a participant in the educational process, the responsibility already lies with him. Let's imagine that a course student has gained basic knowledge and then takes a break. What happens then? Basic knowledge is gradually forgotten after a break of several weeks or months, and when a person returns to study, of course, the rational part of his psyche says that he has completed 5 lessons, which means he should continue from the 6th. But assimilation of information occurs in a completely different way. Because after a pause, basic knowledge (perhaps not all) is lost. Based on this, we can make the following recommendations:

• Repeat base

If you are returning to training after a long break, it is better to repeat the basic information of the course. Perhaps at a different pace, with a different approach, but first. Because the program is built according to a certain logic, and if you take a long pause, you destroy the learning structure. Why start over? To repeat and refresh everything in your memory. And then the material you begin will not seem too difficult. It will logically layer on the knowledge that you received earlier. You will spend some time on repetition to logically continue your learning.

• Find motivation

For adults from adolescence and older, internal motivation becomes the most important. An adult will rarely be motivated by external motivation. For example, a chocolate bar or a gift. Internal motivation is subject to the question: “Why do I need this?” Before returning to training, analyze why you are returning to it. The key idea behind intrinsic motivation and the question to ask yourself is: What will I get when I graduate? A person imagines himself: how her income level will change, her life will change, what kind of job she will get or what kind of people will be around. You need to ask yourself the main question that is used in self-knowledge: “Why” or “Why.” That is, you can ask: “Why did I pause?” or “Why am I starting to study again?” When a person asks himself this question and answers it completely, without moving on to the next one, then he can identify the internal motivation that he lacks. What to do if learning stops being fun? You need to look at the material you are going through. If learning becomes too simple, then a person loses interest in it. It is human nature to strive for difficult tasks that force you to develop.

• Analyze why there was a pause

By the same principle, when answering the question “why”, it is necessary to analyze why the pause occurred. It is important to treat the pause not as a period when “I took a break,” but as a period “I gained strength.” People generally have a distorted understanding of rest and holidays, which are perceived as “getting caught up in work.” You can say to yourself: “I needed this period to gather all my strength and move forward.” In our culture, it is believed that you need to work hard and then rest. You can do it another way: relax, gain strength and start learning. Who said that we should follow only one path?

• Find surroundings

Environment is a very important factor in learning. When a person learns on his own, incredible costs are required to get involved in this process. Not every person is ready for such a regime. What additional mechanisms do we have to help us navigate this process and remain productive? It is very important to have a so-called support group, that is, to be involved in the profession not only with knowledge, but also with the environment. If you are learning programming online, find resources where programmers communicate and where there is a professional community. This is done so that there is no feeling that the person is alone, so that you can share your victories and problems. You need to understand that you are definitely not alone when you encounter some kind of learning problem. Most likely, someone has already encountered it.

• Practice and then pause

If you understand that you simply need to take a break while learning, you can use the following technique: learn the theory and consolidate it in practice. In this case, even after a long pause, the knowledge will be retained longer.