How to Study a Subject You Hate: The Utility-Value Trick (and Its Limits)

You open the stats textbook. Twenty minutes later your desk is reorganised, your water bottle is full, and you've read the same paragraph three times without taking in a word. It's not that the material is impossible. You just can't make yourself care.

A student on r/GetStudying asked how to study a subject you have "0 interest in". Every timetable has that one required class.

There's a short writing exercise from motivation research built for exactly this. It's called a utility-value intervention, and in several studies it raised grades for the students who were struggling most. It also failed in a couple of others, which is worth knowing before you try it.

Why it's so hard to study a subject you hate

Psychologist Jacquelynne Eccles's expectancy-value model is one of the main ways researchers think about motivation in school. It says your drive to work on something depends on two things. Do you expect to do well at it, and do you value it?

The model splits value into four types:

• Intrinsic value. You enjoy it or find it interesting.
• Attainment value. It matters to who you are.
• Utility value. It's useful for goals you care about.
• Cost. What it takes from you, like time, stress or the fear of doing badly.

A subject you hate scores low on enjoyment, probably doesn't feel like part of your identity, and costs a lot of effort. That leaves utility value as the one you can most realistically change. You can't force yourself to find organic chemistry fun. You can sometimes find a real reason it matters to you.

What is the utility-value intervention?

The utility-value intervention is a writing task. Students write about how what they're learning in a course connects to their own life and goals, instead of just summarising the material.

The best-known study is from 2009. Psychologists Chris Hulleman and Judith Harackiewicz ran a randomised experiment in high school science classes, published in Science. Some ninth graders wrote about how the topics they were studying related to their lives. Others wrote summaries of the same topics. For students who didn't expect to do well, writing about relevance raised both their interest in science and their grades. A later review by the same research group put the grade boost for those students at nearly two-thirds of a letter grade.

Other studies point the same way:

• In 2010, Hulleman and colleagues tested it in a lab with math and in a college psychology class. It raised interest and how useful students found the material, especially for those who expected to do badly or were doing badly.
• A 2016 study by Harackiewicz's team ran it in an introductory biology course with 1,040 students over four semesters. It cut the achievement gap for first-generation students from underrepresented minority groups by 61%.
• A 2017 replication in a college general education course found it helped the lowest-performing students most. Students who made more connections between the course and their lives also expected to do better, and the intervention raised students' confidence, which led to better performance.
• A 2019 study in community college algebra, with 180 students, found higher pass rates, although the boost showed up for men and not for women.

Where the utility-value trick falls short

It doesn't always work.

In a 2023 study at Kennesaw State University, students in research methods and educational psychology courses were randomly assigned to the utility-value exercise or a stress-management task. The researchers found no significant change in how much students valued the course, how interested they were, or their exam scores. A 2019 attempt in online high school math tested three versions of the exercise. Only one raised how useful students found math, and problems running it in that setting limited what the researchers could conclude.

Three more honest limits:

1. It helps struggling students most. In the 2009 study the benefit was for students with low expectations of success, and the 2017 replication found the same pattern.
2. In the studies, teachers assigned it. We couldn't find a study that tested students doing it on their own at their desk. Trying it yourself is a reasonable bet based on how it works, not a proven method.
3. It can't fix confusion. If you hate a subject because you're lost, the problem is the "expect to do well" half of the model. Writing about relevance won't explain a concept you don't get.

How to study a subject you hate, step by step

1. Pick tonight's topic, not the whole course

In the studies, students wrote about specific material they were covering, not the course in general. So skip "why stats matters." Use the actual section you're about to study, like confidence intervals or the causes of the French Revolution.

2. Write for 10 minutes about how it connects to you

Answer this. How could this specific topic matter for something I care about, now or later? Write in full sentences, by hand or typed, without editing yourself.

3. Make it personal, not generic

"Stats is useful for jobs" is too vague to do anything. "I want to go into nursing, and drug dosage calculations use exactly this kind of ratio" is the kind of connection the exercise is built around. Some examples to get you started:

• Statistics. Spotting when a news headline about a "50% higher risk" is misleading.
• Chemistry. Why baking soda makes cookies rise, or how the medicine you take actually works.
• History. Understanding the arguments in an election you'll vote in.
• A required writing course. Every cover letter and scholarship application you'll ever send.

4. Do it again for the next topic

One essay isn't the point. In the 2017 replication, students who made more connections between the course and their lives also expected to do better in it. Make a habit of one connection per new topic.

5. Work on the "can I do this?" half too

If part of the hatred is that you feel bad at the subject, build some early wins. Start each session with problems you can solve, ask your teacher or a classmate about the part that lost you, and track what you got right. Our post on growth mindset covers why "I'm just bad at this" is worth questioning.

6. Use other tricks for the boring hour itself

Finding a reason helps you start. It won't make a dull chapter feel fun. So pair it with tactics that get you through the session, like temptation bundling (only listen to your favourite podcast while doing this subject) or an if-then plan like "after dinner, I open the stats notes before my phone." Our wider guide to beating procrastination has more.

FAQ

How do I make myself study a subject I hate?

Start by finding one specific reason today's topic matters to you, and write it down. Then make the session easy to start, with a small first task and a set time. If you're struggling with the content, get help with that part directly.

Why can't I focus on subjects I don't like?

Motivation depends on expecting to do well and valuing the work. A subject you dislike often scores low on both, so your attention drifts to anything more rewarding.

Does finding a subject useful really improve grades?

In several studies, writing about how course material connects to your life raised grades, mostly for students who were struggling or doubted themselves. A 2023 study in psychology courses found no effect, so it's helpful but not guaranteed.

What if I can't see any use for the subject at all?

Then the use might be the grade itself. "Passing this keeps my GPA high enough for the program I want" is a real connection to a real goal. It counts.

Try it before your next session

Before you open the subject you've been avoiding, take a blank page and write for 10 minutes about how tonight's topic connects to something you care about. Then start with the easiest problem in the set.

If seeing yourself get questions right helps you believe you can do this, upload the slides you've been dreading to StudyLab and take a short quiz on them. Watching your score go up over a week is a decent answer to "I'm just bad at this."