Hi @Bittersweet_Pony ,
I am sorry to hear that you are struggling with your schoolwork and remote learning. I can imagine it feels like torture sometimes to be sitting in front of a huge amount of work to do and to be stuck inside for lockdown as well!
First of all, I want to say that you are not alone, a lot of students are struggling at the moment, I have a cousin that is in highschool now and often I will skype call with them to help them with their work. It’s difficult for pretty much everyone I imagine. School without the remote learning is hard enough!
In terms of suggestions, I can give you some tips that helped me a lot through my schooling.
Scheduling – Setting aside specific times of when you are working and when you are not working. Typically, I try and break up my study time into 3- or 4-hour blocks as this is the maximum amount of time I can be sitting before I need to go do something else for an hour or two to clear my head.
Pomodoro technique – Search online for ‘Pomodoro Timer’ this is a timer that is used for helping you study in short runs. The standard run is typically around 25 mins of work with a 5 minute short break. Then after three runs you take a longer break of 20 to 30 minutes. You can vary the timer to what suits you. For essay writing, I would often work in stints of 40 minutes of work to 20 minutes of breaktime.
Start early – I found that if I start an assignment (even if it was just writing a paragraph or two) when I got it, it so much easier to go back to it later. Opening a blank page when you have a deadline coming up very soon was too stressful for me. Made it impossible to think sometimes when you have to start from nothing!
Break up tasks - Work in short stints on single tasks, researching one topic, solving one problem or writing one paragraph. If you are stuck on something and getting frustrated, feel free to move onto something else and come back to it later. Momentum is the key!
Acknowledge what you are afraid of – procrastination is set around fear. If we are afraid of failing, we will be afraid of starting. If I am really stuck, I have to sit for a moment and think…okay what is making me afraid to continue, I am worried that I don’t understand the topic I am writing about, have I struggled with this topic before or am I just rushed for time and feeling like I won’t get the quality I want. Sometimes I maybe need to do more research before moving forward, sometimes I need to talk to a friend about how stuck I am, other times I need to put my expectation of what I can accomplish aside and do the best I can in what time I have left.
Getting help – Sometimes just studying along side someone can help a lot. Even if it’s online strangers on discord or a youtube study channel. Seeing other people in your position and being supportive of each other can make us feel less trapped and alone. Or ask a friend or family member to skype in with you for a virtual study session.
I hope these are helpful, please let us know how that counselling appointment goes!
Best of luck!
