Student life in the time of coronavirus: How to stay on track with studies during lockdown

by Joyce Chong

What challenging times we are all facing during this coronavirus pandemic. Schools, colleges, and universities have closed and moved teaching online, or holidays may be ‘extended’ as institutions try to adapt online. Parents may end up homeschooling or co-teaching. Students in their teens and adulthood may find themselves increasingly having to self-direct their studies (i.e. manage time better, limit procrastination and perfectionism).

Let’s be clear about the landscape ahead - school as we know it may look different, but this is NOT the time to take your eyes off the prize. It will eventually return, as will exams. So what can we do to prepare ourselves for (more!) changes ahead?

Let’s look to athletes - athletes will continue to train during this time to maintain peak fitness because they recognise the importance of keeping fitness up so that when sporting events such as the Olympics resume, that they are in peak physical condition. You won’t find them dropping everything to sit on the couch with donuts because they know what they do NOW impacts on their future.

Similarly, NOW is the time to keep studying and to keep maintaining your fitness for study. and we can certainly do much to maintain peak student fitness.​ Here are some quick tips to help you get there.

• Boost your study skills. Focus on becoming a better student. Learn how to make notes more efficiently so that you can remember them better. Learn how to organise yourself better as well so that you work at peak times when your mind is clearer, and you blend studying with completing assignments.

• Catch up on what you've missed so far. Students start the term/semester/year with the best of intentions, but these can fall by the wayside when we get overloaded (coronavirus pandemic, anyone?!). With social distancing, and potentially changes to work, use the extra time to catch up on readings or lectures that may have fallen off your radar.

• Continue with your student training by focusing on subject-specific skills. Depending on your subjects, there may be certain skills that are helpful to build during this time. If you do science you may get into the headspace of writing lab reports. If you’re completing a thesis it can help to immerse yourself in scientific journals to get into the headspace of academic writing. You can also practice how to reference correctly.

• Maintain your physical health. Not only will it be more important (as many of us self-isolate) to look after your physical health so that your immune system is strengthened, exercise is also important for boost your mood.

• Manage mental health in coronavirus times.​ During this challenging time we can experience a range of strong emotions. Learn how to look after your mental health as strong emotions can affect your ability to concentrate and focus.

• Keep up your social connections. Connect with other students in your course through virtual study groups and video chat with friends and family. Social isolation and being away from school/college/university can lead to loneliness, so make extra sure you hop online regularly to connect.

• Watch for distractions and procrastination. This can be a particularly challenging time if you’re prone to procrastinating and getting distracted. You have to work on computers so it’s easy to have distractions open. Take extra care to set firm boundaries around this - try disabling certain apps or setting timers, taking off email alerts, or setting time limits for self-care activities.

• Work on exam stress or anxiety NOW! This is where many students fall down, and it’s helpful to start working on this now rather than a few weeks prior to exams. Here’s our go-to when it comes to learning about what to do for exam stress and anxiety.

And if you feel like you could do with more guidance on this, WE ARE CURRENTLY TAKING 40% OFF NIMBLE NOODLE, our online study and exam preparation course, which covers how to manage exam anxiety (exactly how your psychologist would work with you). Grab it now (before April 25th!) using this link bit.ly//NN40offCorona or you can learn more about Nimble Noodle here.

References

[1] Headspace (2017). National tertiary student wellbeing survey 2016. https://headspace.org.au/assets/Uploads/headspace-NUS-Publication-Digital.pdf

[2] Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health (2017). Under the radar: The mental health of Australian university students. Melbourne: Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. https://www.orygen.org.au/Policy-Advocacy/Policy-Reports/Under-the-radar/Orygen-Under_the_radar_report.aspx?ext=.