Horsham College Newsletter

Academic Councellor News

Jenna Argall | Senior Student Academic Councellor

USING TIME WISELY

Now is a good time to reflect on how your study sessions have been going. Use our school Academic Support Resource Google Drive for inspiration (including revision lectures)!

 

Have you been:

 

A. Prioritising tasks? 

The ideal order of tasks would be:

  1. Upcoming assessment preparation
  2. Homework 
  3. Revision
  4. Class preparation
  5. Topic revision 

Remember to set study goals before you begin studying each day. 

 

Managing commitments

There will be times when things don’t go to plan and it may feel really stressful trying to get everything done. Actively change from “Crazy Busy Mode” to “Ready Mode.”

 

B. Understanding and avoiding procrastination?

Reasons that could be preventing you from starting your study include: Putting off the work and anxiety.

 

Perhaps you feel:

  1. Self-criticism and doubt - The task seems too difficult, or you think you will get bad marks. Learning is a process, and you will not learn if you never make any mistakes.
  2. Perfectionism -  Nothing is perfect. Focus on what you need to do to get the grade you want.
  3. Overwhelmed - Make a plan and break tasks down. Sometimes all you need to do is make a start and the rest will follow.
  4. Fatigue - Remember to take care of yourself and factor in time to do so.
  5. Disengaged - Remind yourself of the end goal if there is difficulty in finding relevance.

C. Identifying and removing distractors? 

Use these as rewards instead!

 

D. Overplanning?

Plans are tools to get work done; they are not part of your study.

 

E. Maintaining focus? 

Shorter, more frequent sessions work better than one long session. 

Try the Pomodoro technique: study in a 25 minute block followed by a 5 minute break. Repeat this four times maximum before having a larger break (at least 30 minutes).

 

F. Maintaining motivation?

Having an end goal is something to work toward.

Small frequent rewards can help you feel good and stay on track.

Studying with others can be great for motivation and understanding.

It is very satisfying to track your progress and mark things as completed.

 

You may be doing all, some or none of these things! Give them a go and remember to keep practising. It takes time to change habits. 

 

Jenna Argall,

Senior Academic Counsellor