Describe a library or place where you like to study

The place where I like to study is the Balme Library, which is the main library of University of Ghana, in Accra. It's a big old building in the centre of the campus, and my favourite place is a desk next to the window on the second floor, in the reading room.

I go there around four days in a week, usually after my lectures finish at two o'clock, and I stay until the evening. During the exam period I go almost every day, even on Saturdays.

Most of the time I am doing my revision there. I'm studying accounting, so I practise with past questions and I make summary of each topic in my notebook. On Fridays I book a small group room with my friends and we are discussing the difficult topics together, because some of them I can't understand alone.

The main reason I like studying there is that I can concentrate very well. At home my small brothers are always making noise and the TV is on all the time, but in the library everybody is serious, so it push me to work harder. Also, I like the atmosphere, the ceiling fans are going slowly and you can only hear pages turning. I put my phone inside my bag, so I don't get distract. Honestly, I think I passed my last exams because of that window seat.

Where I really get work done is the Balme Library, the main library at the University of Ghana, just outside central Accra. It's a grand old building right in the middle of campus, and I've more or less claimed a desk by the window in the second-floor reading room, which looks out onto a row of trees.

I'm there about four days a week, normally from the end of my lectures at two until it gets dark, and when exams are coming up I practically live there, weekends included.

What I do depends on the week. Most days I work through past papers, because I'm doing accounting and the only way to get faster is to practise under time pressure, and then I condense each topic into a page of notes. On Fridays a few friends and I book one of the group study room and talk through the topics none of us can crack alone, which is surprisingly effective.

The main reason I study there rather than at home is the focus. My house is lovely but chaotic: my younger brothers are always shouting over the TV. In the library everyone around you is working, and somehow that's contagious. I also like the atmosphere itself, the ceiling fans turning slowly, the sound of pages, the smell of old books. I leave my phone zipped in my bag, and I can easily do three hours without looking up. I'm fairly sure I owe my last set of results to that window seat.

My study spot of choice is the Balme Library at the University of Ghana, on the edge of Accra. It's a stately old building at the heart of the campus, and over the last two years I've quietly colonised one particular desk by a window in the second-floor reading room, looking out over a line of trees.

I'm in four days a week as a rule, from the moment my lectures finish at two until the light goes, and in the run-up to exams I'm there seven days a week, which my mother finds slightly alarming.

The work itself varies. Most afternoons I'm grinding through past papers, because I'm studying accounting and speed only comes from doing questions against the clock, and then I boil each topic down to a single page of notes. Fridays are different: four of us book a group room and thrash out whatever none of us has managed to crack on our own. It's often the most productive two hours of my week.

Why there and not at home? Mostly it's the discipline the place imposes. Home is warm and noisy, with my younger brothers competing with the television, whereas in the library you're surrounded by people with their heads down, and that kind of concentration is oddly infectious. The setting helps too: the ceiling fans turning lazily overhead, the rustle of pages, that faintly musty smell of old paper. My phone goes into my bag the moment I sit down, and I can lose three hours without noticing. If I'm honest, I suspect my last results owe more to that window seat than to any natural talent.