Being organised, attending classes, writing assignments and spending hours in library doing research can be hard, but not as hard as getting back to all this after those long summer months.
Missing a proper routine for the duration of two or three months can be tough. Same as coming back from Christmas Holidays, the first two weeks back are always dreading, tiring and long and you can only think of another break.
However, sooner or later your body and mind will get used to the routine and you will find yourself being motivated and focused same as (or better – more than) a year ago.
GOOD OLD TO DO LIST
You might have heard this over and over again, but the good old TO DO LIST can be an irreplaceable helper during your studies.
You can either stick with the basics and use paper to do lists, which you an either create yourself, use sticky notes or a notepad.
However, if you still don’t have enough apps on your phone or laptop, you can download (or use online) a TODOIST app. This platform allows you to assign tasks or workload to your teammates (or who you invite) under one project and monitor the progress. Moreover, you can add notifications or alarms when the task is due.
This way, you will never miss a deadline, there will be no excuses from your teammates (cause everyone checks the phone at least 3 times a day, am I right?) and it is an easy way to keep all your assignments, tasks and projects in one place with added notifications.
CLEAN YOUR DESKTOP AND DRAWER
The best way to get prepared for the upcoming semesters of classes both mentally and practically is to clean up your computer or laptop desktop.
Move the folders with last year’s materials, assignments and presentations to your external memory stick and leave some space for the gigabytes of fresh knowledge.
Same goes with your stationary and notebooks. Buy new and clean ones to keep your notes organised and together.
However, don’t throw last year’s materials away, you never know if you may need them to refresh your mind!
Find a new academic year diary and keep track of deadlines, homework, meetings and prepare well for upcoming lectures. If you keep the record of your plans and assignments at one place, there is a bigger probability that you will not oversee or forget them.
P.S. My tip is to write a note in the diary three weeks (depending on the weight of the grade and words count) prior to the deadline of an assignment to make sure I start working on it already!
PLAN YOUR NEXT GETAWAY
Summer simply calls for an adventure, but who says you can’t fit a small getaway into one weekend of first semester?
Airlines will offer discounts before the Christmas season begins (October- November), which is an ideal way of fitting a little and cheap trip into your agenda.
This can keep you motivated to get your assignments done in time and can be a nice reward after all the hard work you put in.
Worcester Student Life 