I am in the middle of taking end of year exams and find it difficult to select the right kind of music. I need music that can calm me down but does not cause me to want to concentrate on the music. Otherwise I might forget what I am trying to absorb from revising. My best example of what I mean would be like the music you hear in restaurants. You never really listen to it but you can hear it in the background and it makes the mood of the restaurant feel better. Somebody suggested classical. But I am too young to know anything about that type of style let alone know what to pick. Maybe somebody who has been through this same experience can give me some pieces to try out? I am happy for even youtube links since the playback quality is not so important in this case.
I find that I can listen to any music which is instrumental (i.e., no vocals), and read a book at the same time. Sometimes, music with vocals in a language other than English can be okay, because if you only speak English, you can't understand the lyrics, and that might mean they don't throw you. But I still find it easier to read a book without any music of any kind in the background. And listening to music on headphones might be too distracting, even if it is instrumental music. For some reason, speakers are less distracting than headphones. Maybe that's because when you listen to headphones, they tend to block out or overwhelm the other sounds around you, so they take up more of your attention. And you are also wearing something on your head, which can be more distracting than just having a couple of speakers in the room.
If you are doing end of year exams, I would suggest taking it easy with music. Get a small portable CD player, and have it in a corner of the room. Perhaps try some instrumental music (at low volume), while reading books for some of your easier subjects. You could have the volume low, but not so low that you are straining to hear it. Or you might find you do better with no music at all. Everyone is different.
Some of the music I listen to while reading:
Vivaldi- The Four Seasons
Japanese instrumental music
Beethoven- the Symphonies, all of them except the 9th, which is a little too intense and exciting for studying.