So far I think I have adjusted as best I can to university being conducted online. I’m fortunate that what I’m studying can easily be transferred into an online mode. The only problem is that attending classes in person is often how I engage. Not just with the work but with the world. I don’t religiously attend classes and barely attended them in the first year but even if I’m not doing all of my lectures and notes, being in the classroom has a different effect of sitting behind a computer screen. I think I didn’t realise how valuable being able to attend class on-campus was until it was outlawed.

One of the big things about studying from home is the lack of structure, and I think that I’m lucky I did an online Certificate course when I was preparing to go back to university. I’m not very disciplined, though I do try to be, and it’s discipline that gets you good results. And I don’t say that and mean be hard on yourself or only work hard and not have fun. Discipline doesn’t have to just be about how you associate the word. Know what your strengths are, know what your weaknesses are and figure out how much work you can do before you snap. Know how much fun you need to survive. And look at working smarter, not harder. Burning yourself out is just going to make you hate it more.

I’m a pressure worker. I wait until the last minute and write everything two days before it’s due. Though I still get good results, I recognise that it’s not a good habit to have. I always spend the week after thinking of everything else I could have added to the assignment because my brain is worked up and raring to go… but I’ve already submitted it by then. My efforts to start my assignments earlier haven’t come to fruition but I have started to take notes on what I plan to do with the assignment, giving me direction and enough of a start to get the cogs ticking away in my head.

I have an assignment planner that I don’t use anymore but I still follow the principles of it:

• What’s the assignment?
• How big is it?
• What are my arguments/points?
• How many words am I assigning to each portion?
• When is it due?

I add little bits at a time and then in the week before I start churning out the assignment with my references and criteria open.

Doing my assignments is a lot like writing; if you think of a good idea but don’t write it down, it’s gone.

An important thing to do, even if you have to trick yourself at first, is to find something passionate, or at the very least interesting, about the assignment. It’s too exhausting to fuss over something you hate. Even if it’s just the pleasure of researching or putting together a flashy PowerPoint, find something about it that you’ll enjoy.

Good luck to everyone who is also working online now. Get those assignments done. Don’t miss those deadlines. Have some tea and a leftover easter egg and write, even if you know goddamn well your eyes aren’t leaving Netflix.