During difficult times like these, our life gets disrupted badly. The pandemic of COVID-19 or Coronavirus has affected lives all over the world and with the Government issuing a lockdown means a huge hit to not just the normalcy of life but to the mental health as well. However, it is during these difficult times that we learn the best lessons. If taken in a positive stride, you might come out of it with some precious lessons. If you are a student, your studies must have been affected and even though a lot of the academic institutes have started online classes, the truth of the hour is, the transition to home-schooling is very difficult because of various factors like distractions, mental state, or simply finding your parents become your teachers.
However, there are some ways that as a student you can do to make the best of the circumstances.
- Create an ideal work station for yourself. Put up a timetable, sticky notes, motivational quotes, or maybe some drawings of yours on the wall in front of your table. An ergonomic workplace is critical for a student's academic performance, time management skills and even memory. Even the type of chair matters, since posture directly affects your physical health.
- Classroom learning means learning from your peers as well. Try to keep in touch with your friends and keep motivating each other. School learning sure means learning from your books, but it also means picking things of other children. Healthy competition leads to better motivation level.
- Be more aware, read the news, increase your aptitude. This is a good time to focus on things on increasing your IQ by learning from sources other than your books. Watch a documentary. Play strategical brain games. Doing these activities is refreshing as well as informative.
- Shift to e-learning. There are various online classes being offered. Join one that suits you. A lot of coaching institutes, for example, FIITJEE are taking their classes online. This is great for students who are preparing for their JEEs or other competitive exams. You can make the best of this situation since the classes will continue into offline mode and no time will be lost.
- Test Series. Many online platforms are also offering Free Test series for JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, BITSAT, NTSE (Stage-II), NTSE (Stage-I), and Fundamentals of Engineering & Medical (for Students of Class IX & X). Doing practice test is really important as it gives you an idea of your speed and provides a real exam like environment. These tests are great for practising and evaluating your own performance. Analyse your weaknesses and focus on those areas.
-Divide and conquer. The weightage of questions is divided into difficulty levels. 25% of the questions are easy, another 25% is difficult and the rest 50% is averagely difficult. This will be key during your preparation because to get a high rank you need to focus on every type of questions equally. Remember, hard work will get you there but smart work will get you there quicker.
- Practice is the key. Practice again and again till you understand a topic or formula. Try and apply the formula in different types of questions to get a broader understanding and better preparation. Solve last years' question papers, revising or brush up on topics that you think require extra attention and if need be go back to understand the basics.
- Spend some time away from books. Though it is very important to focus on your scholastic studies, spend some time away from your school books, and maybe read a good novel, poems, stories or write one. Today there are so many portals like Google Books, Project Gutenberg, Open Library, Scribd, etc. You can even listen to audiobooks on portals like Audible, Youtube, etc. If you are someone who has a very imaginative brain and likes writing stories, you can try your hand on Wattpad.
- Eat a well-balanced diet. Include a healthy portion of vegetables and fruits in your daily meals. Avoid eating fried or heavy meals, that will make you sleepy. Start your day with a healthy, hearty breakfast which will fuel you for a good portion of the day. Stay hydrated. Drink 1.5 litres of water every day at least.
- Get sufficient sleep. A human body requires 7-8 hours of sleep to work well. It is important for your mental and physical health, both. Do not stay up late at night. Avoid looking at a screen just before you sleep.
- Exercise at least thrice in a week. There is a strong mind-body connection, which means a healthy mind will have a healthy mind too. Do some small exercises for a few minutes. Try yoga. Or just walk around your house for a few minutes. Simple things can have a bigger impact too.
Studying in the comfort of your home doesn't need to be all bad. Although, you do need to put in a little to stay on track and make the best out of the situation presented to you. Soon the COVID-19 will pass and you will be able to continue your preparations in classrooms, however, one should be able to adapt to the circumstances and stay positive in difficult times too. With little adjustments and careful planning, you can achieve all your goals even during a pandemic. All the best to all JEE aspirants.
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