My Favorite Study Music 🎵

If you’re a longtime follower, you already know about my favorite study music. (Or I guess… my favorite “work music” since I’m not a student anymore, lol.)

In today’s newsletter, I want to share some of my all-time favorites along with some new tracks that I’ve been bumping lately. But before we get to my recs, let’s address the elephant in the room:

Should you listen to music while studying?

You’re going to get mixed responses to this question. Some studies show that music can help you focus, whereas others claim that music is a distraction. So what’s the answer?

In short: it depends on the type of work.

To understand why, let’s look at psychological concept known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. This law explores the relationship between arousal and performance, suggesting that performance increases with arousal, but only up to a certain point.

In other words, we need just the right amount of arousal to perform well on a task. With too little arousal, we might not feel motivated. With too much arousal, our anxiety might get in the way.

So here’s where music enters the picture: it can increase our arousal to help us reach the optimal point. If you’re working on a monotonous task, music can lift you our of your slump and boost your performance. But if you’re working on a difficult task that is inherently arousing—such as writing an essay—then music may boost your arousal past the optimal point.

I’m working on a video that explores this in greater detail, but in the meantime, let’s jump over to my soundtrack recs.

My recs for any class

Here are the soundtracks I often throw on for almost any type of task. (Maybe a bit too often.)

• Minecraft: My all-time favorite. It’s peaceful enough that I can focus through almost any task while playing this in the background.

• The Theory of Everything: I was debating listing this here or making this one of my STEM recs, but this soundtrack is peaceful enough to go with almost any task.

• Lord of the Rings: Don’t judge me, but I’ve never read nor watched Lord of the Rings, but I’m still a fan of the soundtracks.

My recs for STEM classes

Here are the soundtracks that make me feel like I’m floating in space. They lean more on the techno/electronic side, and they’re a bit more energetic than the soundtracks above.

• The Social Network: My absolute favorite soundtrack to play whenever I’m coding. Should be pretty self-explanatory.

• TRON: Also a fan of playing this while coding. It’s a bit more intense than the soundtracks below.

• Interstellar: Great movie with an even better soundtrack. Has a bit of an existential vibe, so it’s a solid choice if you’re working on a physics assignment.

• Oppenheimer: This is a bit more intense than the rest. I recommend this if you’re working on a slightly easier assignment.

• Blade Runner 2049: Never watched the movie, though I’ve started listening to this more often as of late.

My recs for humanities classes

And finally, here are the soundtracks that make me feel like an esteemed playwright.

• Succession: Greatest show of all time. I’d only play this while working on an easier assignment because otherwise it can get distracting.

• The Queen's Gambit: Filled with calming classical tunes to help you focus. Makes me feel like a scholar.

• Downton Abbey: Slightly more intense classical tunes. Haven’t listened to this often, but it’s slowly entering the rotation.

Too lazy to search up the soundtracks? I made a Spotify playlist with some of my favorite tunes. Go ahead and save the playlist if you want me to keep updating it!

If you want study help, come join my Discord! We have a global community of students helping each other succeed in school. I’d love to see you there.

And if you need help wrapping up your college essays, check out Next Admit! We have a team of Ivy League consultants who can provide detailed feedback in as little as 24 hours.

I’ll see you next week!

Best,
Gohar