The pandemic has taken a toll on all of us. It is so easy to get distracted because of online classes, and motivation becomes harder and harder to achieve by the day. So, we gathered a few tips to help in improving your studying technique during online classes and beat procrastination!
1. Track your time.
Planning your limited time effectively remains the cornerstone of productivity in the IB. Jot down your to-dos before the week begins, and plan your week ahead of time using a digital or written system that works best for you. As you tick each to-do off your list, the satisfaction will push you harder to be productive!
2. Avoid distractions.
Delete the social media apps or streaming apps you find distracting from your phone. In fact, leave your phone out of your study space to avoid grabbing it every 5 minutes. IB requires dedication and persistence, so practicing self-control in this area will greatly improve your studying technique and will all pay off in the end.
3. Give yourself a break.
Although productivity is important, mental breaks are as important as productivity for an IB student. You need to recover from the stress to improve your performance too! It’s like giving yourself a cup of coffee to wake yourself up: it gives you a recharged state of mind. Shake out your emotions by dancing to upbeat music or painting your stress away! You do you!
4. Take notes by hand.
Writing notes by hand is the old-fashioned way, but it sure does help to take good and effective notes. This eliminates the unnecessary screen-time too. Just grab a notebook and pen and start writing down. It’s that simple!
5. Always remember, quality over quantity.
In our opinion, you should take rough notes during lectures. Your notes must contain the key information your teacher or professor shares rather than the information on the slides that are presented. This would give you time to understand the concepts, and after the class, you could revise the concepts along with your teacher’s slides!
6. Revise according to your learning style.
Customize your notes once the class is over to make them more suited to your learning style. For visual learners, pops of colour, mind maps, flow charts, and diagrams would be helpful. For the scribble learner, written information helps you grasp the information. For the kinaesthetic learner, spend more time on hands-on learning with simulations and quizzes rather than note-taking to understand content.
You may also like…
- Nelly and Sayda share 6 ways to make the most out of your IB experience.
- Rohit talks about how to “cram” for an IB exam.