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5 tips for studying online
Waking up early, getting ready, driving to university, moving from lecture hall to the cafeteria, to another lecture hall. Something most of you have not done in a long time because of COVID-19. Nowadays you still need to wake up early for your classes, but you’ll be most likely staying in. Studying online is not necessarily easy when you’re not used to it and we understand that. In this blog post, we share some tips on how to manage to study online and get the most out of it!
1. Plan beforehand
Studying on its own needs a lot of planning, which is the key to a successful semester. Try to set a goal at the beginning of the semester. What do you want to achieve? Then go through all your tasks, exams and assignments and make a schedule, but make sure that it’s manageable. You don’t want to set your goals too high, so you end up not achieving them. Make sure you know how you learn best and how long it takes you to finish a task. If you have not figured that out yet, time your work. Consequently, you’ll know how long you approximately need, so you can plan more accurately. Lastly, check in with yourself weekly. This way you can point out what you’ve finished and what is still open. You could do a debrief of every week where you go over your tasks and see to what extent you managed your tasks and if you have to improve your way of planning for the next week.
2. Create a motivational workspace
When you go to university, college halls are made to study and therefore an optimal place to learn, just like the library. For most of you, those places are unfortunately not accessible at the moment, so you have to create a workspace of your own. It’s vital to have no distractions of any kind. Eliminate all sources of distraction, which might keep you from focusing on your tasks. Are you sensitive to distraction from your phone? Put the phone in a different room in the house, or ask a friend to keep it with them until you finish working. Are your books online, but you tend to use Netflix on your laptop while working on it? Print out your books, so you won’t rely on your laptop, which leads to less distraction. Also, a good internet connection is crucial. Ask other housemates or family members to minimize their internet usage while you’re working on an important task. It’s beneficial to have a comfortable environment in your workplace. Make sure you are sitting comfortably enough to work long hours.
3. Get into a routine
Following a daily routine can help you to work efficiently and get your tasks done on time. Try to wake up and go to bed at a certain time every day. This way, your body will adapt to it and you’ll be ready to get to work once you wake up. It’s tempting to stay in your pajamas all day while studying. However, it’ll help you get motivated in the morning when you take a shower and get dressed like you used to do. Adding activities you enjoy to your day can be motivational too. For example, a short workout, reading a good book, going for a walk or watching your favorite tv-show. Once you plan a fun reward for yourself, you have something to look forward to when you finish your task.
4. Stay in contact with other students
The fun thing about college is making new friends and studying together with them. Studying alone in your room can therefore be hard sometimes. It’s nice to have friends around that you can share your frustrations, achievements and questions with. You can partner up with one of your fellow students and help each other get through the semester. They can check up on your schedule and motivate you once you get behind. When you have a long day ahead with lots of assignments and information to read, it can be quite tedious, especially when you spend the entire day alone in your room. You could go on a zoom call with a friend and team up on some tasks. It will be easier to ask each other questions and to get the work done on time.
You might also be interested in: Studying abroad is possible with Beyond Abroad despite COVID-19
5. Stay positive
Lastly, it’s vital to stay positive throughout these times. We’re sure you’ve heard this advice a lot in the past time, but we believe in it. If you feel like you’re getting demotivated and frustrated about your current study situation, try to start every day by writing at least three things down that you’re grateful for. It can be anything! It will start your day on a positive note and refreshes your brain before getting to work. Writing down things you look forward to in the future, can be helpful too. Be aware of your bigger goals and visualize them daily to keep your motivation high. If you know why you are doing it, it’ll be much easier to persevere. That can be for example a semester abroad you’ve planned or would like to do! If you stay positive and make the best out of every day, we’re sure you’ll get through it and make the most out of your semester while studying online!
Are you interested in studying a semester abroad with Asia Exchange? Find out here which destinations are available at the moment!
Asia Exchange is a Finnish company providing study abroad opportunities in Asia Pacific for students from all around the world. Want to get travel tips and new blog posts straight to your inbox? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter! If you have any questions about studying abroad, feel free to contact us! We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
