These are the five strategies to help youovercome these newfound challenges and crush your next semester. We must first address the biggest hurdle students face with online learning, and that's the lack of structure and organization. As a student attending class in real life,you have a place to be at a specific time, which forces some function of structure intoyour life. With online learning, that structure is largely gone. Some classes must be attended live, but manycan be viewed asynchronously as a recording at a later time. Same with reading and assignments. Compared to before, you're more independentand distanced as a student, and it becomes almost natural to simply fall behind. To combat the natural tendency of allowingyour studies to fall by the wayside, we need to set up systems leveraging structure andorganization to keep you on track. Here are a few ways to get started.
First, use your calendar as it was designed. Put in your recurring events into your calendar,such as classes or small group sessions or office hours, including any additional useful information. That includes links to pages or Zoom conferences. The idea here is to form life easier for yourfuture self. Second, find a task manager and stick with it. My favorite for the last several years hasbeen Things3, which is exclusively for macOS and Apple products, but there are other greatoptions like Todoist that are available on Windows. Your calendar should be used to categorizehow time will be spent each hour. Your task manager is where you ought to organizethe specific assignments and tasks you want to complete, including due dates. Mixing their intended function leads to amess that discourages you from using either one. As a part of your recurring calendar events,I recommend having a 30 minute block every weekend to review your calendar and task managerto consolidate and reorganize any loose items. It's completely natural to fall behind. I use 30 minutes every Sunday evening forthis exact purpose, to recalibrate my task list and calendar. Next, make sure your class materials and filesare organized and not scattered around multiple apps.
You should have a folder on your computerfor each class, with subfolders for every project or larger task. Ideally, all of your class files will be organizedin just one or two places. Chances are it will be an app on your computeror tablet, rather than a paper notebook, in which case you should aim to limit the numberof apps to reduce confusion and disorganization. The exact app you employ will depend upon yourunique use case. For some, Notion or Evernote would be thebest option, and for others Notability or One Note. Last, sit down and deliberately create a daily routine. This may seem like overkill — after all,you didn't have to do this with real life classes,
so why should you start now? The reason is that the lack of structure inremote learning often leads to inertia derailing us from our plans, placing us into a funk. You should have a consistent wake up timefor every weekday, a consistent morning routine including a healthy meal, scheduled breaksthroughout the day, consistent study blocks, exercise scheduled, and also time to decompressand let go of all work. If you need help on where to get started,check out my scheduling & routine playlist for examples and thought process behind the strategy. The biggest obstacle most students are facingin transitioning to online learning is the lack of separation, both in time and space. It's common for one's day to feel like anamorphous blob when you haven't left the house, haven't changed your clothes, and haven'tinteracted with other people. This is the part that can wreak havoc if unaccounted for. Don't fall under the trap of thinking thatthe longer you spend ahead of the pc trying to review , the higher your grades will be. Quite the contrary. If you do not have adequate separation, you'remuch more likely to blow out , get into a rut, and see your effectiveness plummet. Let's start with optimizing your physicals pace. In an ideal case, the space you attend classand study should be separate from the space in which you relax and unwind. This physical separation allows you to compartmentalizeyour mental states, one for work and one for play.
If you reside during a small apartment, like manyof us, then you will have to be creative. For some, you may have your desk and computerset up in your bedroom and study there, and unwind and relax in the living room by theTV and in contact with your roommates or family. For others, the reverse may be better, wherebythe dining room table is your work space, and the bedroom is your space for relaxationand unwinding. When studying from home, the most important enemyto your productivity and focus are going to be distractions. Use this opportunity to audit what types ofdistractions you're facing, and how to best minimize their influence. You may opt for noise cancelling headphonesto block out the noise of roommates, or perhaps move your desk such that you aren't facinga busy window or the TV isn't in your line of sight. Distraction blocking apps, such as Freedomor Focus, are some of my favorite tools, and they restrict you from browsing distractingwebsites while you are supposed to be studying.
Putting your lectures into fullscreen to blockother apps helps too. Your phone is the biggest offender, and Irecommend placing it in another room entirely, out of sight and out of mind. While you're working, notifications shouldbe limited or blocked entirely. The only exceptions I allow for myself arephone calls and calendar events, but text messages, Instagram DM's, emails, and justabout everything else has notifications turned off. When it comes to time, think about ways youcan break up your day. Having work blocks versus meal times versusrelaxation blocks in my calendar with event notifications helps me move from one taskto the other, without getting caught in a slump. Studying in different locations, like a coffeeshop or library, is probably not going to be a good idea right now. But there are still some options to consider. An extended break outside the house can work wonders, like hitting the gym or going outside for a walk or bike ride. Having something you look forward to everyday, such as a meal with your family or roommates, or perhaps a favorite TV show in the evenings,is also going to be beneficial. To further delineate work from play, I'vefound it beneficial to pursue new hobbies. At the beginning of lockdown, I took a keeninterest in cooking and developed my skills, which was intrinsically rewarding while alsogetting me away from screens.
I also took cycling more seriously and didmy first ever century, or 100 miles on a bike in a single ride. Currently, I'm practicing drawing and calligraphywhile picking up my Kindle and reading more often. The assignments and exams in the virtual worldaren't the same as those in the real world. To best navigate online learning, you'll needto account for the changes in what impacts your final grade. With in-person school, you probably had oneor two midterms and a final. With online school, many programs are requiringa higher frequency of assignments and assessments in a poorly executed effort to discourageprocrastination and keep you on track. Ultimately, the importance of organizationin juggling the added assignments and assessments becomes even more paramount. Most of your assessments will be open-bookin nature, which many students erroneously believe allows them to skip studying, sincethey can look up what they need to during the exams. On the contrary, you must ensure you havea solid comprehension of the content, as the exams won't be testing your ability to regurgitate facts.
After all, that would be near meaninglesson an open book exam. Instead, they will test you on your applicationof concepts and depth of your understanding. Whether that's creating concise lab designsfor biology or thinking deeply on scenario-based analytical chemistry questions, your creativityand mastery of the content will be tested. The most apparent benefit is that you don'tneed to waste time memorizing obscure facts since you can look them up in the book. On the other hand, this highlights the importanceof active learning and strategies such as the Feynman technique to ensure conceptual mastery. Despite getting your organization dialed in,routine set, and physical space optimised, isolation is still tremendously challenging. As humans, we're social creatures. Virtual study groups with classmates or friendsis an effective way to not only help each other work through difficult concepts or practicethe Feynman technique, but also get that sweet sweet social interaction. Scheduling regular phone or video calls withfriends and family should go without saying, and doing this regularly at least a handfulof times per week is best practice. Your professors and teaching assistants areaware of the added stress and struggle for students in the virtual learning world. If you are experiencing difficulties in the process, definitely reach out to them for help. Office hours and small group sessions areeasier to attend than ever, as you can drop in quite literally from the comfort of your couch. You can even do assignments or homework shortlybefore scheduled office hours, so you have the option to drop in virtually should youhave any questions or issues that arise. Classroom discussion boards are also muchmore active than before, and allow you to receive a quick response from a peer or TA. Finally, get creative with your extra-curricular.
Pipetting and doing bench research isn't goingto happen, and traditional hospital volunteering is also unlikely to work, but there are stillseveral opportunities to consider. If you're intent on optimizing your extracurricularsfor getting into medical school, see what types of clinical research you can do remotely. Working with your PI or mentor, you shouldbe able to work through book chapters, literature reviews, database analyses, or even conductchart reviews for clinical studies. Remember you're not alone, and both sidesof the research equation need each other. Students need PI's for the research opportunitiesand mentorship, and PI's need students for assistance with various tasks. If you put in the time to look for opportunities,you will be rewarded. Apart from research, search your universityand online for virtual volunteering opportunities as well. There are also safe in-person ways you canhelp out, such as delivering groceries to the elderly, mental health non-profits, andmore.
Now is also the perfect chance to explorethat hobby or interest you've been putting off. Maybe you want to start a YouTube channel,or make art. Now's the time to document your journey, regularlyupload your content or creations, and build a channel or a portfolio of your work. And if you still cannot find any clubs orexperiences that pique your interest, don't be afraid to create your own. One premed I spoke with founded a mental healthinitiative for struggling students in this trying time. There's tremendous upside in taking initiativeand doing something like this, whether you look at it from the perspective of personalgrowth and leadership skills, to positive impact on the world and others around you,to impressing admissions committees with your ambition.