Even though the library is meant to be a quiet place to study, it can definitely be distracting at times. In this day and age of digital music, most students choose to put in their headphones and listen to music while studying because they think it will help them concentrate. This assumption is not always true as different genres of music show different results while studying, and some contribute to greater academic success than others.
According to Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford University in an article in USA Today, listening to music with lyrics inhibits your ability to retain information while studying, especially in writing or reading, due to cognitive limitations because they are both using the language parts of your brain. It’s essentially like trying to read a book in a room full of loud, talkative people, which isn’t easy. This rules out many types of popular music to listen to while studying, but maybe students these days need to take a page out of their history textbook and go back to the roots of today’s music: classical music.
A study was done at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on the correlation between classical music and test scores. They split 72 undergrad students into five groups, each of the five listening to different classical music while talking a multiple-choice test. The study concluded that the music had “no statistically significant effect on multiple choice test scores.” This is also consistent with previous research, according to the study. This shows that listening to classical music during a test does not necessarily help, but that’s not to say it does not help with studying. 
Classical music is widely known to have a calming effect on people. A study done at Emporia State University holds constant with that assumption, showing a positive correlation between classical music and calmness, security, satisfaction, comfortableness, relaxation, and pleasantness. Even though classical music does not directly help with test taking, we can still see how it can contribute to overall academic success. As I’m sure you’re all aware of, studying while in an unpleasant mood or while stressed/jittery is very hard and often times ineffective. Listening to classical background music while studying will calm your mood and aid you while studying, helping you stay concentrated and relaxed.
Next time you are anxious and have a hard time staying focused while studying, try listening to a classical artist like Beethoven or Mozart. They will help you get ready to ace that next big exam.
I occasionally listen to music when I study, but I agree that listening to music while reading or writing makes it more difficult for me to concentrate. When I’m in a noisy area, listening to music distracts me from the noise outside, but when its too quiet I like having some background noise. I think I’ll try listening to classical music next time because I usually stick to acoustic.
I know I definitely can’t listen to my favorite artists while studying. I always get distracted and want to sing, but that’s me. I feel like sometimes this doesn’t always prove true for some people. I have friends who find that studying while their favorite song blasts in their ears helps a lot, but maybe it’s all in their head. Maybe that song is just motivating them to study. I also think that classical music serves as a sort of barrier. Sometimes silence can make it more difficult to stay concentrated, and the classical music takes that away all the while keeping you from getting distracted. It couldn’t hurt to try and see if it works.
Hi, my name is Dongyuan Li. I found that music cannot make me focus when I am studying. However, when I m in a bad mood like anxiety or sad. Listening to some music can remission my pressure or cheer me up. It is very interesting. I never tried classic music before. I think I will try it after reading your blog. Personally speaking I think listening to the music with headphone while studying is not a good thing and wearing a headphone ina long time is not good for audition, too. Music is good, but listening to it at people time is important,too.
I found your argument really true and it definitely applies to me. I cannot listen to songs that has lyrics while I’m studying because I will get really distracted as I will always sing along… However, many of my friend said can’t understand me because listening to songs with lyrics while studying works really well for them. I think it just depend on different people. I do think listening to classical music can help me focus more and help me avoid distraction from others when I’m working in public places. Also, I like how you related your topic to what we’ve discussed in class. However, I think the study may not be that accurate because it is conducted in such a small scale. Anyway, it is a very interesting article.