The best playlists to study to

I'm a senior and I absolutely hate studying. I always prefer to write papers, I guess it makes sense that I'm a journalism major.

As much as I try, I can't always get out of studying but I can make it as enjoyable as possible. How do I do it? One word: music. It helps me through the dreaded hours of reading and cramming.

I have to listen to music I'm not too familiar with so I don't get distracted and start singing along, which means this is probably the only time I'm not listening to Taylor Swift.

During these hard times without Taylor, I love putting on general playlists from Spotify. Here are my favorites:

Just Good Music

This playlists features recent hits and new songs. 

Chill Hits

New and recent chill tunes you can kick back to.

Mood Booster

A pick-me-up playlist full of current feel-good songs

All of these playlists have enough of a beat to keep me motivated, but aren't popular enough songs to distract me from what needs to get done. It's the perfect middle ground for a dreadful situation.

I personally prefer Spotify because they offer free Hulu for student accounts, but there are thousands of other music apps available if you're not into Spotify. Try Pandora, Apple Music, SoundCloud or YouTube.

If these playlists don't work for you, try creating your own! Spotify, Pandora and many other music apps allow the opportunity to create playlists that fir you needs and mood.

I've created my own playlists that fit what I'm studying in a particular class. Weirdly enough, I find it extremely helpful to listen to classical music when I'm studying for my political science classes.

I know it sounds kind of weird, but don't knock it until you try it.

Sometimes the best playlists already exist. Once I connected to my roommate's account on Spotify and I discovered the playlists they'd created were perfect for my many moods.

Whatever playlist you pick, make sure it allows you to be productive. You don't want test day to come and you only remember the lyrics from the song you listened to. Find music that doesn't distract you from the content on the test. 

Studying can be hard and overwhelming, but finding the perfect playlist can help make the hours less brutal.