Revising at home vs. revising in the library – which is best?

While home provides the comfort of working in your slippers, the Library holds far more resources than we could ever find on Primo OneSearch. So which do you pick? Fear not, The Tab has it covered.

First up is the Library. Centre of campus and with more books than even a maths student would care to count, but what are its pros and cons?

It obviously holds an abundance of resources. As much as we try to deny it, sometimes opening a book really is the best option for that essay we’ve been putting off. With six floors to choose from, it’s very unlikely that you won’t find what you’re looking for. Score one for the Library.

However, there is the big con – revising with other people. Yes, we’d all like to imagine ourselves silently tapping away at our laptops without a soul bothering us. But in reality we often sit crying in said corner praying that the people in the study carrel next to us will shut up. And God forbid you should sneeze in the Silent Area! In this instance, the familiarity of home wins out.

Now onto home revision. The main benefit, aside from being able to revise in your PJs without judgement, is accessibility. You need that one page of lecture notes from week two? There it is neatly tidied away in its appropriately labelled folder (ahem). Can’t remember what day you were meant to meet your adviser? There it is scribbled on an old bus ticket and pinned to your notice board. Whilst these are seemingly small issues, having such items to hand is a lot easier than having to trek home again from the Library because you’ve forgotten your notebook.

However, home comes with one major con – distraction. “Oh, I’ll start my revision after I’ve tidied my sock drawer”, “Oh I’ll just have lunch first, but oh wait my housemate’s just arrived home and wants me to watch Hollyoaks with her.” We can all admit to having said at least one variant of these during our time at UEA. Whilst the Library may not provide home comforts, it doesn’t provide home distractions either.

Taking your home comforts into the library?

I think it all comes down to personal preference and whether you prefer comfort or being forced to be quiet and revise in fear of disturbing the hard working med student next to you with the sound of Youtube clips. For the moment, I think I’ll take a happy medium and start my revision outside. Wouldn’t want to miss the sunshine now would we?