Study buddy tip: Don’t listen to metal if you want better grades

There have been many, many studies showing that listening to metal can be good for your mental and physical health. But when it comes to the right music when you’re cramming for a test or assignment, metal may not be the right way to go.

A poll by College Rover has determined that the type of music you listen to whilst studying can impact your final grades. This isn’t terribly surprising since other studies have shown certain genres are better for things like concentrating and getting into that special mental zone. Let’s elaborate on that.

• The worst type of music for studying is hip-hop and rap largely because of its lyrical destiny. It’s just too distracting.
• Metal is the second worst study music. Again, too distracting. Only 8% of respondents say that they find it productive.
• Pop is third on the list, but there’s a disagreement on it being productive (23%) vs. distracting (22%)

The rest of the “don’t-study-to” list looks like this:

• EDM
• Rock
• Indie
• Alternative
• Country
• R&B
• Reggae
• Blues
• Folk
• Jazz
• Lo-Fi
• Instrumental and Classical (just 3% “distracting”)

Reordering things, the best genres for studying are:

1. Pop
2. Lo-fi
3. Hip-hop/rap (60% of people with low grades said that rap is their favourite music for studying.)
4. Instrumental (60% of people with high grades reported preferring instrumental music whilst studying.
5. Classical
6. Alternative
7. Indie
8. Rock
9. EDM
10. Jazz
11. Country
12. Metal (Wut? Then why did 60% of people with high grades also report they listened to metal? Weird.)
13. Folk
14. Blues
15. Reggae

However, the students with the highest grades listened to these genres:

1. Classical
2. Instrumental
3. Indie
4. Jazz
5. Folk

Read more here.