Madi's Study Blog

Hi there! So for my first post I’m going with something topical: education during coronavirus. COVID-19 has really messed up our lives but we don’t have to let it stay that way. I’m personally trusting God that we will come through this the other end and that there is hope! In the meantime, we can take hold of our own education and do something a lot of students (mainly private candidates) do every day anyway: work from home.

However, this is admittedly a lot easier said than done. I know- it’s way more fun to lie in bed getting an extra three hours sleep, playing games on your phone or the multitude of other pointless things available to us right now (yes, I too have visited Bored Button far too many times this week). But somehow I have managed to stay relatively focused on my A Levels during quarantine and today I’m going to share my top tips for doing this.

1. Follow your school timetable

This has been invaluable to me so far. By waking up around my usual time, taking a short walk, and returning to my desk on time for school, I have managed to avoid extensive procrastination and keep a regular sleep pattern. I complete my set work within my lesson times and take breaks at the usual time (instead of hanging out with friends at break I just video call them, read a book or watch videos etc). Following the timetable helps keep order in this extremely unordered time. Trust me, a lack of structure does eventually get difficult and personally I eventually get more tired after I have wasted a day- it makes me feel worse about myself! And the pile of work just keeps getting bigger for tomorrow, stressing me out more. Not fun.

2. Don’t spend too much time messing about on Microsoft Teams/Class Group Chats etc

Seriously, just learn how to use it and then keep it to a minimum, unless you are using it for video lessons. My school hasn’t used Teams for that and some days I have spent way longer texting people from my classes on it than actually doing work. Therefore also leading to the pile of work building up. You can silence notifications, so I suggest if you have a chatty class do it! (Although outside of doing work, this can be a great resource for keeping in contact with people from your classes socially, as long as it doesn’t eat too much into your lesson time.)

3. Take some exercise

Even if you don’t usually exercise, a short walk, run or cycle can really boost your concentration and help you stay positive. Look after your health first!

4. Keeping a balance is key

If you work non stop (like I am sometimes guilty of doing) you will eventually burn out. Some devoted students might be tempted to use this time to get ahead on revision etc which is good, but don’t take it too far. Make sure you still have time for yourself to 1. socialise, 2. exercise, 3. do an activity that stimulates your mind (like reading or playing an instrument) and 4. an activity you enjoy just because (like playing video games). It is totally okay to take time to do all these things in moderation.

5. Leave your phone alone

Honestly, if I have my phone on me, I get so distracted by notifications, messages or even random thoughts that pop into my head that I need to check my emails, the news and the like. By leaving my phone in another room it eliminates these distractions (and obviously I’m too lazy to get up to go and check it) and I get so much more done. Another useful technique to stop you checking your phone very five seconds is using a productivity app. A useful example of these is Forest, which costs £1.99 on App Store (or Saplingy is a free app with a similar concept). When you go onto the app and start a study session, it grows a virtual tree, which finishes growing by the time you finish your study session. If you don’t leave the app for the whole time, you gain points. If you leave the app at any time, the tree dies and you lose points. Trust me, though it sounds stupid, it is a major incentive to stay in the app, especially as in Forest you can help plant real trees by using the app. This has been really helpful for me to focus on what really matters rather than gravitating to my phone out of boredom.

6. Don’t beat yourself up if you get it wrong 

We’re all still learning with this work from home thing. If you get behind or not do a few lessons, don’t stress yourself out too much. As long as you catch up eventually, it will be okay. Just don’t let procrastination become a habit, or it will be a bigger problem to fix.