hi! i’m starting university next year and i’m really worried because i have to commute by train and bus more than an hour a day :’( my school is only like a 10 min walk from my house so i’m worried about getting tired or not having enough time to study, what should i do?
Hey there! There are like heaps of things that you can do on a long commute in order to be more productive, and they don’t even have to be things related to studying! I’m making this post a generalised one about what to do in different time blocks.
Short Sessions (<30 minutes)
Read ahead on your lecture slides. It takes 20-30 minutes to read through the slides for a lecture, but this way you’re able to circle areas that you might find confusing ahead of time. When you get to the lecture, write down explanations in your own words so that when you revise this in two months’ time, you won’t have any missing info.
Catch up on sleep! It doesn’t have to all be uni work. Sleep and taking care of yourself is important so that you can concentrate in class. Twenty minutes is all you need for a power nap to refresh your mind. Just remember to set an alarm so that you don’t miss your stop!
For health science students, go through your clinic routine. Time management, flow, and better flow; trying to improve your clinical performance can be difficult if you don’t think about what order you’ll be tackling things like entrance testing. Short bus rides can be a great time for you to reflect on the order of testing; try and imagine yourself actually doing the testing
Preview additional readings by reading the abstract. If you’re strapped for time, reading through the abstract of any journal articles in science usually summarises all the main points you need, particularly for those where original research has been done. Reviews or papers which create definitions for different conditions are often also summarised - not through the abstract, but through the tables spread throughout the paper. Usually all the text is devoted to explaining how they got to making those tables, so you can skip them if need be.
Reply to emails and send any questions you might have. It actually can take around 10 minutes to send an email to your professor because of wording and introductions and explanations. So I find that short bus trips are a great time for doing any sort of communication.
Along those lines, catch up with your friends as well! I’m often so busy that I can’t meet up with my high school friends in person, so we all have a group chat that we still keep in touch in.
Make a study plan - you only need around 10-15 minutes to plan out your whole week. Having a plan written down and allocating a set time to do each task will make you a lot more productive than just saying that you’ll ‘study’ on Friday night.
If you’re at home and have a short break you can also clean up your desk/house or do chores - at least have organised chaos so that you have a clear mind.
Medium Sessions (30 minutes to 2 hours)
Type up your study notes. Granted, this takes a bit longer, but you’ll still be able to get a good chunk of it done, meaning that you’ll be able to relax a bit more when you get home. On that note, get your tutorial questions done as well!
Complete additional readings. If you skim the abstract and have a bit more time on your hands, it’s also good to read the results and discussion as they talk about other authors’ findings as well as the benefits and limitations of the present study, which are important in your learning.
Doing tutorial questions. Often math tutorial problem sets will take you around 2-3 hours to complete all the questions because of the difficulty, so if you do them on the trip to and from uni, you can usually get it done in one day.
Might as well talk about long study sessions too at your study place of choice!
Get essays and assignment done! You can’t really get stuck into writing essays unless you have at least a good chunk of time. It’s a good idea to get the outline ready in one of the shorter breaks you have though!
Study for exams! Long periods are the best time to cover the most difficult subjects or concepts, or just to churn through a lot of different topics.
Please see my #optomstudies tag or my study tips directory (web only) for the full list of study tips + see my kpop vocab lists + stationery + bujo spreads! ^_^
WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES
0 Choosing a Degree , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10-1 , 10-2 , 11 Adapting to Uni Study , 12 Using Textbooks in Uni , 13 Dealing with Lazy Group Members , 14 Staying Productive (No Matter How Much Time You Have!)
