In this day and age, it can be concluded that students use music almost religiously; whether it is lying in bed, finishing math homework, or even talking to one another–music has integrated itself into the lives of many young people. Supporting this is a study conducted by OnePoll on behalf of CSU Global, which concluded that 58% of 18-25-year-olds listen to music while studying and that two-thirds of Americans listen to music while working. While music is highly prevalent, which music is best for which subject? To answer this question, I chose three subjects- math, reading, and writing -to test out which music is more beneficial personally. 

A few constants that I maintained for all three tests included the same level of complexity for each assignment, the same studying environment, and the same period starting at 5:00 PM over the three days. I also listened to the same type of music: R&B, classical, Country, and Rap for 20 minutes each. The only variables that were altered were the type of music and the homework subject.

Starting with the subject of math, I first tested out the music of R&B on my 25-question PreCalculus homework. During this time, I listened to the artists The Weekend, Frank Ocean, Daniel Caesar, and SZA. I then moved on to the sweet harmonic sounds of classical music, regarding the composers Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, and Bach. I then switched over to the country music of Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, and Luke Bryan. Finally, I concluded the first day of the trial with Rap artists Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Dr. Dre. Over the 80 minutes of studying, I found that R&B helped me get through six homework problems in 20 minutes. Moreover, I concluded that while listening to classical music, I finished seven problems; for country music, four problems were completed. Lastly, Rap music was last but not least, and I achieved five problems. 

The next day, I focused on the subject of Reading/Writing. To maintain a constant, I kept the same artists for each category I listened to the previous day. Over 80 minutes, I allocated time to read Into the Wild, a 224-page book by John Krakauer. Regarding R & R&B music, I completed 13 pages, and using Classical music, I completed 17 pages. Further, I completed the same amount of 8 pages during country music and rap. 

While I had been testing out which music suited the subject better, on the third day, I decided to test if no music was the best option. Using the same artists and the 80 minutes, I concluded that I achieved seven problems with my PreCalculus homework and 18 pages with Into the Wild. When asking a student about his study system, he relayed that he never uses music to study; Ethan Hayashi conveys (11), “The best music is no music. If I have to listen it will be to Hebrew music … but usually I believe that when I’m delving, studying music becomes a distraction.” 

However, while these genres may be practical to me, they can be different and unique for each individual. Journey Mou (11) states, “ I often listen to R&B for the majority of my subjects; I find that the most effective study music.”