Study tips for the Covid-19, 2020-2021 school year

The school year has begun and is underway.  The start to the school year has been staggered, here in Ontario, Canada, anyway. Some schools started the second week of September and others the third week.  Everyone has had at least two weeks of school under this new Covid-19 format.   We will look a some study tips for the year going forward. But first, the few scenarios of how schools are running that have been seen so far are:

At the high school level

• Alternate days of in school, in person instruction; alternate days of at home, virtual schooling.
• Alternate days of in school – in person instruction; alternate days of at home self directed study.
• One week, one subject; the other week, the second subject.
• Or, both subjects each week.
• Complete at home, virtual schooling. (This option does not seem to be quite as prevalent among the high school students, yet, but who knows depending on if, when, how hard a “second” wave of the coronavirus hits.  There seem to be already some school lockdowns due to too many positive cases of the coronavirus at a school already.)
• At the high school level,
• The school year has been divided up into either 4 semesters, quad-mesters or 8 semesters, octo-mesters.  The first requiring students to take up to two courses, the second only one course.  Quad-mesters are about 2 months long, and octo-mesters about 1 month long.

At the elementary school level

• Complete in school – in person instruction.
• Complete at home, virtual schooling.

Of the two levels of schooling, high school seems to be posing the greatest challenge to the student in terms of time management, study habits and more.  The study tips presented here will be based on what has been observed at the high school level in Canada.

Trying to learn two subjects in two months, is a lot.  It takes time to absorb new material, practice it, put all the pieces learn throughout a course together and perform well on a test and exam.  College and university students have been struggling with this for years and their terms are usually 3 – 3.5 months long with anywhere from 4-6 courses at a time and many fail.  So, it’s not easy!

Covid-19 Study tips, 2020/2021

1. Don’t fall behind. There is so little time that there will barely be enough to “catch up” thoroughly if you do fall behind.  That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to catch up if you do fall behind but try not to.
2. Review class notes and corresponding textbook sections. The teacher will probably be moving an accelerated pace during class.  Or in some cases may not even cover everything that would normally be covered during normal times.  This all lends itself to a greater chance of gaps in knowledge developing.  You cannot rely on just want is being taught by your teacher in class.  You will have to start going over the material and filling in those gaps. 
3. Alternate between subjects when studying. This only applies if you’re doing two subjects at a time.  While it may seem like a good idea to work on one subject until you’re finished your assignment or all the homework, there is value in taking a break from one subject and working on another.  This will give you brain time to absorb the material from the first subject while you are working on the second subject. 
4. Prioritize. This is challenging for anyone at any age in any area: work, school, personal life etc.  With the school format that is being forced on everyone, prioritization is going to make a huge difference.  The weeks and days are not being treated equally by the school board so you should not treat then equally either. For example,
   • The day you’re at home, virtually learning, work on your note taking skills when watching videos or listening to lectures; make an effort to participate and ask questions when there are online-real time classes; work on your homework problems and exercises.
   • The day you’re at school, learning in person, take advantage of that time to really listen, pay attention to the teacher, the questions of other students, ask questions of your own, bring your questions from your at home, virtually learning days into the class. Socialize with friends and classmate, talk about the homework and more.  When you go home in the afternoon, get back online and finish off you school day, even if you don’t feel like it. 
   • The week you’re learning a subject, really take advantage of interacting with the teacher, in class, with other students. This can be in the form of listening more attentively, taking more notes, asking questions, watching more videos. The week you’re not learning a subject, take the time to review what you learnt in the previous week, practice exercise, discuss the material with friends, tutors, anyone else in your circle.
   • If you have a test coming up, prepare for that. Make that a priority.  You want to gather as many marks as you can. With a condensed semester, there will only be so many opportunities your teacher can evaluate your so make the most of them.

These are just a few ways to prioritize your time.  Ultimately, you’ll figure out what works best for you and gives you the best results.

5. Ask questions. If you are finding something difficult or challenging, ask questions.  There is value if struggling with a problem and trying to figure things out on your own.  But when there are time constraints, it can lead to stress and anxiety which will make it harder to focus on the problem you are struggling with. Consequently, it will be harder to solve the problem on your own.  It ends up being a vicious cycle.  To prevent this cycle, ask questions.  Have some resources at your disposal where you can go to get questions answered or at least where you can ask.  Some possible resources are

• • Your teacher
  • An older sibling
  • A parent or guardian
  • A friend or other student in the class
  • Private tutor
  • Online forums
  • Online sites dedicated to your subject

These are just a few resources.  Your school and teacher are your first resources.  If they can’t help you to your satisfaction, go somewhere else.  But, don’t give up on asking your school and teacher.  They are, after all, the ones that are there to teach and help you.  Remind of that by asking questions and being in their face!

6.  Stay organized. This is tough but it will help in the long run. Have a separate binder for each subject.  Have a separate folder on your computer, in the cloud, for each subject.  Date everything whether it’s a piece of paper in your binder or a document online.  Find a consistent naming convention for your digital documents. It’ll be so much easier to find when it’s time to review for the final exam. 

7.  Schedule times. This may sound silly but pre-Covid times, our lives were very scheduled by school  We had to be at school at a certain time, we had to be at different classes at set times based on the schedule provided, lunch time was at a specified time, school started and ended at a certain time. Every day was pretty much the same.  We had a routine imposed on us.  But now, this routine is a little less structured.  It is also varies less visually.  You’re either at school or at home learning in your room.  The latter is probably where you end up spending most of your time. It’s so easy to lose track of time.  Don’t.  Schedule study time for each subject.  Schedule time to eat. Schedule time to go out. Etc.  It seems like over kill but after awhile you will naturally adapt and you won’t have to schedule as much.  If you have a cell phone, set alarms.  If you are at your computer, you can find an online alarm

• • https://kukuklok.com/
  • https://onlinealarmkur.com/en/

If you have a Fitbit, that’s a great way to schedule in breaks.

8. Focus on the end goal. There will be many times when you will be discouraged.  Whether it is not being able to do the homework; not understanding the teacher’s notes; not performing well on a quiz or test; and more.  Don’t let these short term and immediate disappointments drag you down.  The end goal is what is important. The end goal is to do well in the course overall.  While the first couple of quizzes and homework problem sets may not be going well, that does not mean you won’t start picking things up and start performing better.  Remember, it takes time for your brain to absorb the material.  During the first few quizzes and homework problem sets, your brain hasn’t had much time to absorb the material. 

There are probably many other study  tips and suggestions out there that are just as good if not better. These are just a few.  While you may seem lost, unfair that you have to learn like this, challenging to adjust, in many ways you’re learning and developing skills that will be important for the rest of your life.  Below are how the above tips are transferable skills that can be used in life after school.