More often than not, college students listen to music while they do work. We see it all the time in the HUB, the library, or even in their rooms. Is this merely to block out outside noise? Most of the time, yes, but it makes me wonder if certain music could help or hinder a person’s study techniques. Do they tend to focus on their work more and drown out the music, or does it distract them and they find themselves singing along or dancing?

Here is a study I found that deals with the effect of music on college students while taking a reading comprehension exam. With 16 male and 16 female students, the researchers asked each of them to bring in music that they prefer. According to this experiment, all research on this topic until this point dealt with music chosen by the experimenter. In this study they wished to test whether music chosen by the experimenter was harmful or beneficial. The second reason was to test the distraction level of familiar sounds versus unfamiliar sounds. The subjects had to read a passage for ten minutes then answer five questions all while there was no music playing. The process was repeated, this time with music. Researchers varied the passages so they would be read during the music time frame half the time and they also varied it for each sex. The study found that the results during the music portion were 6.9 for males and 6.6 for females. Without music it was 6.6 for males and 8.6 for females. Thus, music interfered with women and not males. The researchers then looked at the results of who typically study with music and found that 11 out of 16 males study with music, whereas only 6 females study with music. This shows that though they enjoy the music they were listening to, the females were distracted by it. This is a rather old study, so I continued my search to find relevant and more current research on the topic considering studying with music is incredibly prevalent in our lives today.

Though the previous experiment showed music had a negative affect on women during a test, this research proves otherwise. This study deals with the effects of classical music on test anxiety, something we have all dealt with or may be currently dealing with because our second SC200 test is tomorrow! In this randomized control trial, 38 nursing students, all of the same age, were assigned to either a round of music followed by silence or vice versa. State anxiety, examination anxiety, finger temperature, and pulse rate were all tested prior to the exam. The following image shows the path of the experiment.

The students, due to their same sex and age, were their own controls. The results showed that there was a great difference between those who listened to music during the exam and those who did not. Researchers stated,”It is clear that lento music that is appreciated by the students is able to improve the students’ relaxation and reduce their anxiety”. Because this study used people with similar characteristics and tested for pulse rate, finger temperature, and different anxiety levels both before and after the exam, it allows them to have a broader understanding of the results. This test proves that classical music can reduce test anxiety significantly, however, those in the silent workplace also had lower anxiety, it was just less significant. A reduction in anxiety could lead to better results on the exam, however, that information was not released.

So while these two studies slightly contradict each other, the first stating that music is distracting, while the other states music reduces anxiety, there are still great differences between the two, so nothing is definitive. The first experiment allowed those being tested to bring in music they enjoyed; we can assume that it probably was not classical music. The second experiment was music the researchers provided, but those being studied were still familiar with it. This leads me to wonder that maybe classical music is the way to go; oftentimes it is calming and the lack of words allows us to focus on our work, rather than the lyrics. If it indeed is calming, that also serves as an added benefit. In short, if you typically study with music and continue to perform well academically, keep doing what you are doing. If your grades have been lacking, try classical music instead; it will drown out outside noise without providing too much of a distraction. Lastly, if you study without music and are doing well, there really isn’t a reason to change a thing!