So, you’re at university now and you’ve started your course – only to find out that all of your lectures are online. “Result!” You think to yourself, “Now I can skip lectures and catch up whenever because they’re all online anyway”!
It’s now 3 weeks later and you’ve missed every lecture except one, what happened?! Making the most of a bad situation is what we’re all stuck with at the moment, and that includes uni lectures and work. Making the most of online studying is the same as making the most of in-person lectures: it all starts with being present. Actually turning up to these lectures is definitely half the battle, being in bed and having to pull yourself out for an online lecture may seem harder than waking up for a 'normal' lecture.
The first piece of advice is to know your timetable
Make sure you wake up on time for your 9am lectures, no matter how impossible that might feel. Keeping up with your timetable means you know exactly when you’re free and when you need to work.
The thing that’s worked for me is creating a weekly timetable, not only of your lectures but your entire life, this is the most important education you’ll ever go through and a little sacrifice now can make a huge difference to your final grade. Planning out a timetable allows you to fit every social and exercise-related activity around your studies. On top of this, it lets you plan when you’re going to study or finish projects, etc. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’ve finished lectures for the day and as such you have nothing else to do. The blessing and the curse of Uni life are that there is always something you can be doing to get the 1st that everyone is after.
The second piece is to just look after yourself
Not having to face lectures face-to-face can lead you to being stuck in your room for days on end, with little interaction with others and just feeling generally down.
Getting up at roughly the same time every day might suck at first, but the simple act of getting up a little bit earlier every day to just look after yourself, whether that be through a nice breakfast or just allowing yourself time to get out of bed and brew a very large coffee. Whatever your poison, just make sure to look after yourself in these times, organising your own person means organising your online life.
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Calendar photo: Bich Tran from Pexels