#studyingathome

I officially finished my spring term and am now doing general physics during the summer term! Some things have changed, and some things have remained the same.

Still go to your zoom lectures when scheduled!

I know way too many people that slept in late last term and didn’t go to our 9AM ochem zoom lecture and were very lost as to what was important and what wasn’t for the test. Thankfully physics lecture is at 11am so I can sleep in more and still attend class on time. Also friendly zoom reminder, mute yourself if you’re not talking, and turn on your video when your professor allows you to so you can collaborate better!

Do prelecture assignments the day before.

I am truly awful at this and then spend 10am to 11am trying to watch the prelecture videos and answer prelecture questions. It sucks so much because I don’t get to truly understand anything as I’m just rushing through it, and I really do need to go back to doing it the day before like I did in the first week or else I feel like I’m going to continuously be stressed, lol.

Work with others on homework when you can!

For our MasteringPhysics homework, I worked together with one of my friends over zoom and having him be able to call me out on my tiny mistakes and vice versa was extremely helpful for me to understand the material. Plus the other day, I went to the ER with really bad stomach pains and my friends helped me out with the homework due that night knowing I wasn’t in a good state to do it alone.

Take breaks and eat lunch and snacks on time.

Students in general are prone to disordered eating habits as we often snack on the go or miss meals because of classes. Take advantage of the fact that classes come to you and make sure to eat at good times.

My current favorite study tool? Notion!

I’ll post about this soon but I really have been loving using notion for both my physics notes and my job training (contact tracing for COVID-19) notes. It’s a bit difficult to get used to at first, but there’s plenty of videos on Youtube you might find helpful to get you started!

Enjoy your other hobbies as well during this time. :D

For me, sometimes it’s been hard to separate work times from school times from hobby times when everything is from home. So I’ve been doing my work stuff and hobby stuff on the weekends and evenings and doing my school stuff in the mornings/afternoons.

My current hobby is making and selling art on Redbubble! Here’s the link to my shop, I’m hoping to make studyblr-related content soon but I’m not sure what y’all would like so feel free to leave a comment or DM me. :)

Hi y’all! I hope staying home hasn’t gotten to you too much during this time. I know it can be hard to stay productive, and it’s totally okay to have moments without any productivity at all! Here’s tips I’ve been doing while I’m studying from home and trying to stay productive, and I hope some of them might help you out too!

Go to classes on zoom when they are scheduled (even if there is an option to watch lectures later).

I know it’s not super fun to attend a 9am ochem lecture four times a week when I could just stay in bed but it gives me some sense of routine since I was used to going to that class when school was still in-person. Today is my one day of the week where I don’t have 9am lecture so I slept in and boy let me tell you.. today was extremely unproductive lol.

Create somewhat of a weekly schedule on Google Calendar.

When classes were still on campus I had them down pat in my calendar with times and such for my meetings and extracurriculars. Now things are a little different because I only attend one class (out of four) at its designated time because the professor does lecture during that time. My other classes I put on google calendar based off what I know I should get done that day. For example, I usually have 3 to 4 modules for psychology so I put in blocks of about an hour every other day labeled “PSY 202- mod 1″ or something similar. This then brings me to my next point which you know is my favorite..

Make a daily to-do list!

When I’m not feeling too productive I put my to-do list on a post-it note and stick it to my laptop but usually I make my weekly schedule on Google Calendar and then switch over my tasks to my bullet journal. I put about 3-5 things to do every day within the week, leaving out Saturdays because I learned this year in college that I should always take off at least a day from classwork entirely for self-care. I put due dates, zoom calls, calls I need to make, etc. on there so I know what’s up.

Work during productive times (and don’t continue working all day).

Even though I really dislike waking up early (or at any time for that matter), I know that my most productive hours are between 9am and 12pm with another lil spark of productivity from 6pm to 8pm. So I’ve developed a routine where I work on schoolwork from about 9am to 2pm when my mom gets home from work (shoutout healthcare workers!!). Anything I didn’t get done during that time either moves to the 6pm time slot if it’s something I can do from my room easily (since I do work in my dad’s office in the morning time) or to the next day if it’s not due too soon.

Set timers and take breaks.

If you saw my last post you know I’m currently in love with the Focus To-Do app because it’s the only thing I’ve found that keeps me truly productive. Forest also works well as a pomodoro timer, but I like to be able to pause without my tree dying in case I really need to take a break or something. So set your timer for a decent time (25 minutes seems to work the best for people), do your work during that time, and then take a break (5 minutes). I only really work through my breaks when I’m super close to finishing something otherwise I take my break. On these breaks, I walk around my house, maybe go outside for some sun, grab a snack, look at my social media, etc. Then it begins again! This really helps me not feel so burnt out by classwork.

Self-care!!

Y’all already know how important self-care is (it’s so important I dedicate my whole Saturday to doing only things that make me feel good, accomplished, relaxed, or happy lol!) and I don’t need to repeat it but here’s some self-care things I enjoy!

Go outside and sit in the sun.

Read a book.

Watch favorite youtubers.

Watch favorite shows (mine is currently Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on Hulu).

Bake something (bonus points if its with the fam!).

Water your plants!

Do a mini-workout.

Journal/bullet journal.