Assignment Advice

It feels like my life is like a never ending cycle of doing assignments for university. It's particular more noticeable as the deadlines get closer and the time to complete assignments are running out.
I have completed all of my assignments now. I just need to read over and submit one more then that will be my second year over and done with. That's because I have this experiential learning in my university after Easter for five weeks which is like doing a work placement but it's set in university and basically it's just like doing a 9 to 5 job.

Now as I have only one more assignment to submit and I've spent most of my time freaking out about all the assignments I've had to do, I thought I would share some advice with you guys on what I have learned.

Let your housemates know you have assignments
Honestly, my housemates have been so supportive as they also have assignments to do with similar deadlines to me so letting them know all my deadlines and assignments is really great. They will support you and tell you to go do your assignment. It's such a benefit to be with housemates that are sort of in the same boat as you who have assignments to do too. They're kind of a motivation for you to work on your assignment.

Don't stress yourself out about them
Stressing about your assignments just gives you way more stress than there actually is and it's not good. The time you are spending freaking out about the upcoming deadlines could be time spent actually doing your assignment. It's not an optional thing assignments sadly unless you want to fail but they have to be done so you may as well just do them. Come up with a plan of what you need to do, set yourself little goals you want to achieve during the day for your assignments. Just do an hour of working on your assignment and see how you feel. If you are like me then you normally want to work longer after that hour is done so then you end up working for two or three hours which is amazing because you have progressed more on your assignment and you are one step closer to completing it.

Pull all dayers, not all nighters
Some people feel the need to pull all nighters for their assignments and I give you props if you do actually manage to do it while not feeling like a mentally exhausted pigeon. I've tried doing assignments all night but I just get so tired. My mind and body are literally telling me to sleep but I'm forcing myself awake to do the assignments. I realize that I can't focus on what I'm writing or reading and my brain just wants me to give up. I find it a struggle then when I do finally go to bed, I don't wake up until later on the next day. I've then wasted a days worth of doing my assignment because I've been sleeping. It's not good. However, some people like to do it. I however prefer the all dayers. I know that sounds weird but it basically summarizes it up. I wake up early at 7am or until 7:30am. I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and have coffee then I take my bag with all the stuff I need and go to the university library which opens at 8:30am. When I get there I feel a sense of happiness because I have such much time to do my assignment. I could do it for twelve hours if I wanted to (I don't by the way, I usually end up going back home later in the afternoon). Just the knowledge I have so much time to work on my assignment for the day makes me feel so productive. I have actually written a thousand word assignment in four hours because I got up and went to the library early in the morning. I'm not even tired because I've had a good nights sleep the night before and I've sort of trained my body to get up early. I sometimes wake up by myself without an alarm at 7am even though I didn't even need to get up then. If you get into a routine of doing this then you will get so much done and you'll get the seven to eight hours sleep you need.

Reward yourself
Give yourself a reward for doing your assignment. If you have said I'm going to do a thousand words of my assignment today then reward yourself with something. It's like a motivation knowing you are getting something at the end of doing those thousand words. Also take regular breaks as a reward. Don't work out flat out for eight hours with no breaks. You'll feel so stressed out. Just give your brain a rest and take like a fifteen minute break.

Try not to leave your assignments to the day/night before
Even though your working under pressure because you literally have no choice because the deadline is the next day, try not to do this. At least if you're going to do your assignments last minute try to give it a week or a few days before the deadline just so you have just the right amount of days to do it. The day before means you have to do it flat out because you have no choice and you might miss out on the things that could have been worth adding to your assignment to make it better. If you are doing your assignment last minute, try to give yourself enough time to do it before the deadline so you're not stressing out and if you don't get it all done in one then you'll have the next to finish it off.

Anyway, I hope these tips were helpful to any of you doing your assignments. You're nearly over with them so just keep going and you'll be fine. Get to that point where you've done them and you can relax because trust me, not having any worries about assignments is the best feeling ever.

I'll be back again soon with another post.

See you then

Megan x