With the introduction of virtual learning comes a new set of difficulties that students must overcome. Here are some tips I personally found very helpful over the course of the month that helped me get through all the work.

Keep yourself organized

Although it may seem like a trivial detail, keeping yourself organized is vital to one’s success. Even if you have an organized computer, it may be difficult to find the correct file. In addition to that, most students are spending most of their time in one spot, and getting the area cluttered can really be annoying to navigate. I personally record all my assignments and the pathways to them on a notebook. A good tip is to just create a spreadsheet or checklist for it.

Keep track of all the assignments you have to do

Since there’s so much activity going on online, it’s nice to create a sort of guide about where to check which class’s homework. A lot of students have different websites to check assigned work and knowing what to check and what not to check can save a lot of time. Again, you could use a spreadsheet or put what assignments you need to do on google calendar.

Stay active

Exercising is a great way to relax from sitting in front of a computer all day. Nowadays we don’t even have to walk to and from classes, so briefly exercising in the twenty minute break we are given is a good idea.

Print out as much stuff as possible

Again, staring at a computer for eight hours can be really hard on the eyes, and if your textbook is still virtual (textbook pickup is sometime near the end of this month), you should print out your worksheet or the textbook so you don’t have to switch between tabs to answer reading questions or stare at the computer the entire time.

Practice

Since classes are shorter, the teacher doesn’t have a lot of time to go over all of the examples there would be in a normal school day. We also don’t have anchor days to coordinate classes. A good way to really understand the material is to find a couple of problems online or watch a Khan Academy video.

Preview the material

To improve your academic score, you could also look at the material beforehand so that the classes are more like a review for you, so you can catch the things you missed instead of everything being new to you. This way you don’t get overwhelmed by information.

Step away from the computer occasionally

Having everything on a computer is convenient, but everybody needs a bit of a break from the computer. When you’re feeling tired, try doing something else, like grabbing a snack, reading a book, or taking a walk. You might come back more refreshed.