Being stuck at home with your parents or your roommates all day can be a challenge in and of itself, but add school at home on top of that? It can be a lot for anyone. Some of these tips are reminders and some of them will be unique to our world's current situation. Either way, I hope you find a tip that will make your semester the best one yet.
1. Find Your Space
It is important to have a designated space for studying. You don't want to study, sleep, and watch Netflix all in the same room because your brain won't be able to associate that room with any one activity. This means you won't be studying or sleeping well. You also want to find a space that fits your studying needs. Some people study better in a coffee shop-type environment and others need complete silence, so find out what works best for you if you don't already know! It is okay to have to different spaces for different subjects. I do math best when I am around other people who are working and I write best when I am by myself in complete silence. Finding your space is all about knowing your needs and habits.
2. Organize Your Notes
First of all, TAKE NOTES. You may understand everything your professor is saying in class, but in an hour (after a nap and some Netflix) you are going to have forgotten at least half of it. Taking notes allows you to quickly jot down what your professor wants you to know as well as having something to look over for studying. Organizing your notes will also decrease the clutter and stress you encounter every day. Whether you take notes with a pencil and paper or digitally, it is a good idea to keep them organized in folders. You can have them just organized by class, or you can go a little crazy and organize them by exam or lecture. This tip also has room for creativity. You can take rough notes during class and go back over them by rewriting them aesthetically. This will both reinforce the information and give you a creative outlet to let out any stress or frustration with your classes.
3. Organize Your Time
We all learn about time management at some point, but do any of us ever really implement it into our lives? We should. This can also be a creative outlet as you can get a plain planner and decorate it or a digital planner and let your imagination take hold. Organizing your time keeps you aware of your assignments, classes, and leisure activities. Planning is more than writing down what your homework for the day/week is, it is planning your month, week, and day out separately. This allows you to keep track of both short-term and long-term assignments that you may need to get a head start on. If you're like me, you'll find solace in planning your day out down to the hour. I used to be so busy I planned my day down to the minute! Planning your day out will also give you a visual representation of the time it takes to complete certain tasks and the free time you can have once you get all of your tasks for the day done.
4. Take Time For Yourself
This one is very important. Your mental health is more important than anything else, but keeping your mind healthy can also be beneficial academically. When planning your day, always plan time for watching TV, taking a walk, or making a snack. Having a hobby will make social distancing much easier. With depression and anxiety rates increasing, finding a hobby that brings you joy can keep you from getting lost in your head. Always remember that your mental health should be your #1 priority.
5. Read Your Syllabi
Because we aren't in a classroom anymore it can feel like pulling teeth to get your professor's attention. This is when your class' syllabus is more important than ever. I know they're long, but they have the answer to almost every question you could have about your class. They usually have your class' schedule on there (which is important nowadays considering its much easier to forget what's next when you are sitting in the same chair for every class). You also want to make sure that you are aware of any strange rules your professor may have like you need to keep your camera on or no class on Mondays (Yes, these are real examples from my own classes). If for nothing else, read your syllabus so you know how much each grade is worth. You don't want to fail a quiz and then find out it's worth 20% of your grade!
6. Use The 15 Minutes Between Your Classes
If you have time between your classes, even 10-15 minutes, use it to get small assignments done or to work on parts of bigger assignments. You can do things like read a few pages of your assigned reading for the day or answer the discussion board post that is due tonight at 11:59 pm. Using every bit of your time throughout the day will leave you with less work at the end of the day. (This will make the next tip a lot easier to do!)
7. Have A Bedtime
I know it can be hard to restrict yourself when you have just recently gained quite a bit of freedom, but getting a good night's rest will really help make your day so much easier. Teenagers are supposed to have 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep each night, according to studies. I know for most teenagers that seems impossible, but if you allow yourself 30 minutes to an hour of wind-down time before bed you will find that falling asleep is much easier.
8. Use Your Phone!
Your phone is a limitlessly useful tool. You can use it to find the answer to almost any question, but in this context, its ability to give you reminders and set alarms is most useful. Now that we spend most of our day in the same spot trying to remember which zoom link to click next, setting reminders and alarms to help us remember is a fool-proof plan. You can use the alarms to keep yourself on a schedule or to remind you when your study break is as well!
9. Set Times To Eat
If you're like me, you get so busy some days you forget to eat. Forgetting to eat will leave you lacking energy which in turn will make studying and focusing harder than it already is. Setting specific times for yourself to eat will also keep you from lingering in the kitchen pretending to be hungry when you should be working.
10. Treat Yourself!
Have desserts in the middle of the day! Host Zoom parties, join clubs, etc! Getting stressed out is easier than ever, but you can still have fun and relax. Life on a virtual campus is very different from life on an actual campus, but you can still make the most of this semester by using your resources!
BONUS
Stay healthy and social distance. If we all do our part, Zoom University will be nothing but a long-forgotten memory.
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