Working While Studying

selfie

Going to university is much like going to high school or having a job of its own — except, at this job, your work doesn’t finish when your contact hours end for the day. So, as most students know, there is usually little to no free time left when you factor in your lectures, tutorials and practicals (your contact hours) along with study, social time, any hobbies, commuting to the university and a little bit of rest and relaxation. Try fitting in a part-time job in there somewhere and, well…you almost have a recipe for madness! Continue reading Working While Studying

Amelia’s Weekly Study Tip 3: Daily Planning (Part 2 + Bonus Tip)

DSC_0142Hey guys, today I’m going to share with you two important tips for staying organised and feeling on top of things. I know that when I’m not organised or feeling in control, I lose motivation, but these things really help prevent that snowball effect.

  1. First of all, I want to talk about to-do lists. They come in all sorts of forms to suit your preferences. A Typo store just opened up where I live (heaven for you stationery lovers out there) and I have to say it is worth a visit. From my lovely Instagram photo below you will see A5 sized lists which I use on a daily basis, and A4 ones which I use as a general list to put all those extra things I can think of (e.g. pick up the dry cleaning, submit that form you’ve been meaning to, emails you need to send, etc.). You can also get large weekly planners in notepad form or as whiteboards. It’s amazing the kind of things you can get these days to help with daily planning. I’m obsessed with pretty stationery. I find that an aesthetically pleasing to-do list with tick boxes on it makes me so much more enthusiastic about life (don’t judge me). I also like to write out my to-do list the night before. It makes me feel so much more organised for the day.

Continue reading Amelia’s Weekly Study Tip 3: Daily Planning (Part 2 + Bonus Tip)

Mid-Semester Break

download_20150318_143903It’s the mid-semester break at FedUni and this means one of two things: either study really hard and get loads done in preparation for the last half of semester as well as a jump on the assignments or bake, knit, take lots of shifts and socialise with friends.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with either of these scenarios, it just depends on the coping skills that you have for the workload that you end up with, depending on the one you choose. If you decide to spend the time sleeping and chilling out then more power to you, just be aware that you will have a large amount of work to come back to and you may regret not spending at least some time sorting things out. Continue reading Mid-Semester Break

MEWD: Motivation

Emma Foster - ASK Blog PicMotivation is something that I really struggle with. Or rather, my motivation is one of the things that depression has stolen from me.

This is super unhelpful in all walks of life; Amelia has highlighted how important motivation is. I find it particularly hard when it comes to University since, as we all know, Uni is all about self-driven study. No one is standing over our shoulders telling us we need to attend every class, or when we need to start our assignments or study for our tests. If we don’t want to go to our lectures or our tutorials, we don’t go.

Emma5

Continue reading MEWD: Motivation

Amelia’s Weekly Study Tip 2: Daily Planning (Part 1)

DSC_0142Hello once again! There is something that every university student does: procrastination. It’s part of being a university student. So what is this experience we all share?

We start with so much motivation when we hear about a new project or assignment and tell ourselves that this time will be different. This time we won’t leave the assignment to the last few moments to start and finish it. This time we will follow a schedule and complete little parts over time rather than hastily hack something together at the last moment. It’s something that we all do, plan to do this next assignment in an organised way but inevitably leave it until the last moment. It’s practically the story of my life (don’t tell my lecturers!).

anchorman

Continue reading Amelia’s Weekly Study Tip 2: Daily Planning (Part 1)

Aaron’s Hot Tips: Procrastination

Procrastination is one of the biggest challenges, and there’s a simple way to solve it. Get over to the duck on the rainbow road, who will lead you to a cow being milked by a 4 legged fish. Take that fish to your local fish market and request to see Steve. He has an eye patch and a wooden leg and he can tell you how to find the genie that grants one wish. Then use that wish to help out with Procrastination.
It’s as simple as that 😉

Now it’s time to get serious. I’m going to list a few of my hot tips that help me get my head down to study, which I’m sure will help you all out.

Aaron’s Hot Tips

Aaron’s Hot Tip #1

Step one is the funnest tip and, no, it isn’t ‘just sit down and do your study’. Stopping procrastination starts way before that. My first tip is to enjoy the little things. As corny as this may sound, if you can take your mind off your assignment whilst you are in a different class, playing your favourite sport or even watching a ‘can’t miss’ episode of Glee, enjoy it. The more you can de-stress throughout the day, the easier it will be for you to study and remember all your information. I’m sure there are studies that back me up. Probably…

Aaron’s hot tip #2

This next hot tip is all about your study area. If you are like me and look for any decent excuse to avoid studying, cleaning my desk is a must. That way I have a nice, neat desk that will make me more proactive, right? Then, since I’m already cleaning, I may as well clean up the rest of my room, and you don’t have a clean room unless its vacuumed. And since I’m already vacuuming, I may as well do the entire house, and I then conveniently remember I haven’t done my washing for 3 weeks (or since my last study sesh).

I think you get the point I’m trying to make. There is a simple solution: take 5 minutes after you finish your assignment to clean up the war zone so that the next time you can just sit down and study without wasting 2 hours cleaning your house.

Aaron’s hot tip #3

Cry. Cry and prepare yourself for work. We all know that you would much rather spend hours trolling through various Jenna Marbles videos but they will be there later. Your due dates do not move. (Please don’t actually cry. Assignments can be fun and stimulating!)

Aaron’s hot tip #4

Make your favourite drink to take into battle with you. This is your ally and you should drink it wisely. I find it helps me de-stress when things start to get heated, like when I lose my leg or something.

The reason I say prepare your drink before you start is because once you have started studying you will look for any excuse to get out of studying. For example: I like to drink tea with my assignments. It’s pretty quick to make, right? Turn the kettle on, then one minute later you pour the water into your cup with a tea bag and you’re good to go. WRONG! I find that if I’m in the middle of an assignment and need a drink I’ll innocently go out to make tea and end up making one of my famous triple-chocolate peppermint ruffle cakes before I return to my assignment (tune in next time for recipe).

Editor’s note: I am so looking forward to that post.

Moral of the story, brew your tea (or make whatever drink you’re having) before you commence studying!

Aaron’s hot tip #5:                 

Second last hot tip here, and it’s important!

START! Just start as soon as possible, and remember my mum’s favourite saying (for greater effect, imagine this in an old, whiny voice): “the sooner you start something, the sooner you’re done.”

Aaron’s hot tip #6:

Hand it in, dance, do a back-flip, then go watch that Jenna Marbles video you were dying to see.

And now for a video. It may go a little against my message, but I think it fits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtN1YnoL46Q

-Aaron

Editor’s note: …How?

How does that fit?

I just…I don’t see the connection. It was…

You know what? I’m out.

Amelia’s Weekly Study Tip 1: Making Progress

DSC_0142Hello! Welcome back to uni! I don’t know about you, but every semester I begin filled with motivation to keep organized and on top of my work. I always plan on keeping on top of my readings and weekly tutorial work, as well as starting my assignments early and pacing myself so that they’re not left until the last minute. But what often happens is, a couple of weeks into semester, all of that good intention goes down the drain and I end up getting overwhelmed with everything I need to do. The result is me giving up and spending my weekends napping and eating chocolate, and then pulling all-nighters and cursing myself for my lack of organization.

Over my years at uni, however, I have discovered many tips and hints that have helped me manage my studies and extra-curricular commitments. So what I’m going to do is, rather than write one massive blog post containing all my tips, I’m going to break my tips down into separate, weekly blog posts.

Today, I’m going to start with sharing with you the ultimate truth that underpins all of my learned tips and hints. It is the mother-load. The red pill. The Philosopher’s Stone.

Making Progress

The truth is, I need to feel like I am making progress. And for me, motivation, organization, and time management are three interlinking skills that allow me to make progress when it comes to managing my studies and extra-curricular activities.

No matter how motivated I might be at the beginning, this will fall apart if I am not organized or am not making progress in doing the tasks I need to do. Consequently, not being organized and able to manage my time really damages my motivation. If I’m not organized, I end up feeling overwhelmed with everything I need to do, which results in everything coming undone. Conversely, no amount of organizing or time management techniques will help if I’m not motivated. I just won’t follow through with them, and I’ll end up back at square one.

So when looking to find ways to manage your study better, consider these things: organization, time management, motivation, and making progress. If you want to read more about motivation and the notion of making progress, check out The Game Changer by Dr. Jason Fox. It is a very good read that was recommended by a business executive at a conference I attended last year.

Stay tuned for my next tip!

– Amelia

How to juggle study, assignments, work and family

My initial reaction is DON’T DO IT! But in saying that, I have juggled all these balls and more and survived to tell the tale.

My best tip of all is to get organised! “Not again with the organised bit!” I hear you say. Sorry, but it’s the only way I survived. The Library has resources and planners that can assist you in planning your week, month and semester. Take a few minutes to throw yourself into this rewarding task. Yes, I’m serious! It is rewarding when you allocate time and end up not being totally wasted from anxiety and stress.

It’s important to make sure that, when you slot in lectures, tutorials and assignment writing time, that you give yourself time to chillax. Otherwise, the wheels will fall off and you will be totally smashed.

So if I have inspired you to give organising a try then my job is done! Good luck in your studies. If I can do it, you certainly can!

-Jennifer

Procrastibaking

imageHelloooooo my lovely little kittens!

I’m going to let you in on a secret. It’s a well-kept secret that I am sure absolutely no one knows about (read: almost everyone who has ever met me knows).

I am really good at procrastinating.

Not just ‘avoiding study’ good, but ‘managing to get a whole heap of non-study related things done instead’ good.

I try to not be like this. Every semester I tell myself, “This time it’s going to be different.” But it never is. Sound familiar to anyone else? The age old motto of “I’ve got heaps of time” just keeps going through my head. And then when the due date gets closer that changes to “I’ve still got time”, and then “I’ve got all of tomorrow still”, and finally “OhnomyassignmentisdueintwohoursandIstillhaven’tstarteditwhatdoIdo?!”

To be fair, I always manage to hand in assignments on time, I just often manage to leave myself a stressed and crumpled mess by the time I finally get my assignment in. Everything always feels (and is) so much worse when you have to do two weeks worth of work in the space of 24 hours. And I’m positive this means I have not handed in my best work.

But that’s not what this blog post is about. This blog post is about how I procrastinate. My magical skill is, as I mentioned above, getting everything else done instead of my assignment. This can include baking, cleaning, watching movies, and lately, even blogging.

This brings us to the point of this post. When procrastinating by doing things that are not what you should be doing, I have discovered that you must use the correct vernacular.

  • Procrastibaking
  • Procrasticleaning
  • Procrastiwatchingmovies
  • Procrastiblogging

These words, while not currently in the dictionary, seem to me to be imperative in describing the very important skills surrounding procrastinating by doing other things. They make those other things seem somewhat more important, as though you are doing them for a purpose. Well, that’s how I feel anyway.

And let’s face it, who is going to complain if you bake delicious cupcakes instead of doing an assignment? Your friends and family sure won’t. Okay, your lecturer or tutor might. Perhaps give them a cupcake in the hope they will understand and grant you an extension*?

Anyway, I think I’ve done enough procrastiblogging for now.  If I procrastiblogged as much as I would like I would probably end up writing fourteen pages worth and no one wants to read that. Unless they are procrastireading. So I am off. To do something important. Like an assignment. Or some work. Or perhaps I will just go procrastibake…

-Tegan

cupcake

*Disclaimer: We do not endorse bribing lecturers and tutors with cupcakes. I’m fairly certain that would not work.

Leaving it to the last minute

BecUniversity sometimes can seem like everything is going so smoothly. You’re organised, you have done most of your assignments and you are feeling oh so, great! You’re thinking ‘why not treat myself to a well-deserved study break?’ So you decide to sit back, relax and zone out from university’s study stressors. That one-day break quickly turns into two, then three, and before you know it, it has been a week and you have started to panic. That annoying, loud sarcastic voice in your head rings like an alarm telling you, ‘you’re doomed!’ Your cortisol levels rise and you are now in full stress mode! You begin to panic and those exams that have seemed so far away are right around the corner. What are you going to do?

I, Bec, am writing this blog so all of you who thought that exams were ages away and are suddenly remembering about that assignment that is due tomorrow, can get back on track to passing. I have come up with a set of rules that will reassure you that it is not too late to start getting your study back on track and making sure that the nerve-racking click to view your grades at the end of semester isn’t so daunting.

Here’s how!

Rule one. Stop stressing! A little bit of stress is ok, but overdo it and you will just get sick. So take breaks from study (not week-long ones!). Study for an hour, or what works for you, then go for a jog, paint a picture, watch a T.V. show or do whatever you want, as long as it is not study. If you overdo it and make no time for breaks it is just not going to work. Unless that does work for you. Then keep on keeping on.

Rule two. Make a timetable. I know you probably hear this all the time from all your lecturer’s and people who just want to lecture you, but seriously it works! All you have to do is get a piece of paper or whiteboard (my weapon of choice) rule out some lines and make an individual box for your days. You can choose to study an hour for one subject, have a break then study for something else. Having a timetable is great because you can follow things that have been set and it can help with making designated times for breaks so you don’t get bored.

Rule three. Change how you study. Repeating the ways you study can get boring, tiring and even make you stop studying altogether because you’ve simply lost interest. Be sure that one study session is different to the other. For example, you might use cue cards and test yourself with friends for one, and for the next one you can teach someone about what you need to know. By teaching someone else in your own words it helps reinforce the information in your head, so when it comes to that exam question, you’ll ace it!

Rule four. Drink plenty of water, get you’re your recommend 6 – 8 hours of sleep, and exercise. By combing these things with your study you’ll create a great balance that will ensure you will be on the path to success! Oh, but you can’t find any time for exercise? Or you neeeed to stay up till 2am to study? Ummm… no you don’t! Remember rule two! Make a timetable. You can incorporate these things into your timetable! Make exercise one of your study breaks and if you forget to drink water make some sticky notes or put hourly reminders in your phone. Drinking water not only hydrates you but helps with concentrating. Getting enough hours sleep also helps with concentration levels. So I know you’re not seven years old anymore, but make a bedtime. This way you have a set time, where all books shut and pens drop, for you need to get your beauty sleep so you can get the most of your timetable tomorrow!

Rule five. Because five rules makes it feel complete. If you’re really stuck and you feel like you have tried everything else, ask for help. Although this sounds very simple, it can be very effective. There are a ton of great resources out there.

So start your study timetables, drink your water and stress less. Hey, if it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done!

– Bec